Trump is so fond of dictators that I wouldn’t be surprised to discover he cosplays as them in his down time between tweeting and golf.
Wow. This day is off to a weird start. I was just telling my mom this morning that I had a dream that she texted me to tell me that my grandmother ordered a hit on Ted Cruz. I have zero idea where that came from.
I’m not endorsing everything in it, but it seems to me that this video gives us a good run down as well.
First: There are unfolding tragedies everywhere. For example, Puerto Rico. I’m sure Puerto Rico would probably love a full-scale US take over. Re-build some roads! Bring food and medicine! Fix all the shit that was destroyed by the hurricane! The US would literally be hailed as liberators… from the US.
Second. Isn’t Venezuela a shithole country? Why take over that shitty place? Eww! So why is this of particular interest to Trump?
Third: Do you, by any chance, remember the lead-in to the 2003 Iraq War? “Ooh, Saddam Hussein is so bad, human right violations, we can’t possibly leave him in power, we’ll be in and out in 18 months and our legacy will be an awesome, US-friendly democracy in Iraq!”
We destroyed the country, left no viable government, and inspired the creation of ISIS. Oh yeah, and it’s cost us god knows how much because the budget is top secret (but we can assume billions), and we’ve tanked any and all good will we had on the world scene.
But yeah, no, we should totally take over Venzuela. Fall down seven times, get up eight, amirite?
What could possibly go right?
Ha! It had to be something like this!
The reason we are still breathing, such as we are.
Domestically as well as abroad.
I guess it’s something that we share with Putin.
Certainly both are legit concerns. But I don’t think assisting a coup is a good idea.
I think you mean Trump doesn’t care. Or probably even more likely he doesn’t understand how international politics work. I think most of the rest of the administration understands it, though. Or at least that is what we are supposed to think via the NYT op-ed. And there is evidence in that he was advised against it.
I think it’s been going on for decades. If the current government in power is a dictatorship or monarchy or what ever, but they will play ball with our policies and can keep their government stable, we can be very supportive. (Stalin, Mubarek, Saddam before he wasn’t, Anastasio Garcia, the Saudis, etc etc)
It’s both stability within their country, and willingness to align with US policies. If you got both you can enjoy a long, fruitful life in your little fiefdom.
As for an overview of Venezuela, this channel has done several videos on the topic.
I meant to say that the US government, which has pulled away from the Paris agreement, Iran nuclear deal, NAFTA, put kids in cages and who has alienated it’s allies in pointless trade wars doesn’t care about stability.
I realize that it’s the sitting government doing those things but then what’s the difference? Nobody thinks that its OK because it’s Trump and not America, I know plenty of decent Americans who do not support these policies but form the outside looking in it’s still the US acting this way and as a free and sovereign nation it is understood that whoever get’s elected to the position speaks for and does business in the name of it’s citizens. How you guys decide who get’s elected is an internal matter, as well as any disagreements on policy as enacted in the real world.
I don’t mean to sound rude, I may have gone on a bit of a rant there, it’s not personal, I respect you. But I do think this is an important distinction that should not be lost, we may agree or disagree personally, but the official actions of the US government are official and represent the US as a whole.
Here’s a guy that if he understands it at all, understands it a bit to well.
And… how come that guy can’t be this guy instead?
I don’t care much for his work, but in many of the images I just searched through he did look like he was having fun.
I don’t think the US has the wherewithal at this point to do it either. The State Department is a complete mess since Trump took office. Skilled and experienced functionaries have either left in droves, are just lying low waiting until his administration is over, or in outright revolt. Trump has gotten into the habit of calling people in civil service who are competent “The Deep State” and blamed them for his own failures. That does not do much to get people to snap to action for you.
To take your question as an honest attempt at dialogue, because historically the ensuing war and instability kills far more people than even catastrophic misgovernance. Look at the history of US involvement in awful regimes and ask if they’ve improved the outcomes. The iconic example in recent history would have to be Iraq under Saddam. Saddam was awful, but his policies led to only a couple hundred thousand deaths after we turned on him. Our invasion killed a disputed number, but the Lancet puts violent deaths over 600,000. In turn that invasion also destabilized another country with an unpopular leader. We became militarily involved and we’re looking at something like another half million dead. Our history of involvement in Latin America isn’t notably better. That’s true whether we’re talking about the overthrow of Allende or our support for the Guatemalan genocide.
As far as anyone can tell, the Petro does not exist. And Venezuela is not the first country to attempt to move oil transactions to a non-USD currency for the purpose of sanctions evasion; it’s not going to work this time either. Heck, the CNY isn’t even fully convertible.
Of course not, unfortunately Venezuela is in no shape to do anything, merely pointing out that the US has a lot riding on the us dollar as the de facto currency for oil trading, and what sort of interests it can serve to protect when considering the possibility of violating the sovereignty of an oil rich nation.
Consider for a moment the likely connection between (a) the popularity of the promotion of climate denialism amongst the US ruling class, and (b) the US’s penchant for using energy starvation as a weapon.
The rise of renewable energy represents an opportunity for the rest of the world to get free of this weapon. Hence the US opposition to it.
the region’s nearly united stance against him
Trump: 46% at 60% turnout = 28%
Maduro: 68% at 46% turnout = 31%
Oops.
You would have to rest from that a bunch of people that voted Maduro because they were pressured.
Still, more or less, they are the same shit, different polarity.
The title is very unfortunate. The news article report that the Trump admin had meetings with Venezuelan officers planning a coup; but the title transforms it into yet another “the US does stuff in South America” like it is the only player with any agency there.
Frankly, the best help the US can give now is to help with the refugee crisis; anything else will just be used as propaganda for Maduro.
I find more interesting from the article that some people have realized that part of the problem is that finding a non-corrupt Venezuelan officer is more difficult than finding an unicorn. Having to peg hopes of change on them is … well, is just that there seems to be no hope whatsoever of any change in Venezuela.
Yup. Just how counterproductive that was can be seen by the subsequent history of Venezuela. "We’re not paranoid: they are collaborating with foreign actors to undermine democracy, see? "
I really enjoyed the recent PBS documentary on Vietnam, part of my enjoyment was watching self-pitying US talking heads. They kept on complaining that their allies were corrupt and if they weren’t they would have won.
Wrong.
If they weren’t corrupt they wouldn’t have been your allies.
