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Trump says Venezuela’s Maduro captured after strikes

reuters.com

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Re: Trump says Venezuela’s Maduro captured after strikes

#291

Post by krona »

pavlov wrote: post #264

Last month the US president pardoned a Honduran politician who had been sentenced to 45 years in prison for trafficking 400 tons of cocaine into America. Whatever is behind this attack, it has nothing to do with drugs.

Many might not like it, but given US interests and Chinese ambitions, the Monroe doctrine is one of the few parts of American foreign policy that makes sense (in a realpolitik way) in the current geopolitical landscape.

The state sponsored drug smuggling is symbolic of a country not paying sufficient fealty to its master, but is secondary to the larger strategic issues in play.

Re: Trump says Venezuela’s Maduro captured after strikes

#292

Post by reaperducer »

SchwKatze wrote: post #282

As a Latino and friend of several people that scaped from Maduro's regime I can easily say that people in South America are happy as ever. Also, some people seems to miss the fact that South America military power is very weak, and we, culturally, are way less proned to fight and die than people in middle east. Yeah, we know this is all about oil, and I'm interested to know what kind of democracy will emerge. But the…

Yeah, we know this is all about oil

"War for oil" is always the easy go-to to criticize any American military action, even in countries that don't have oil.

And while Venezuela has oodles of oil, is this really the case of America wanting Venezuelan oil?

America has more oil than it knows what to do with, and because of that, prices are so low that there are lots of newspaper articles about how American oil companies have dramatically slowed exploration and production. Plus, even under the current administration, America is using more and more renewable energy sources (some states now get more than 50% of their energy from wind/solar).

With the whole Chevron situation, I'm willing to think that oil may play a role here, but again the "war for oil" seems like nothing more than a convenient slogan for a high schooler's protest sign.

Re: Trump says Venezuela’s Maduro captured after strikes

#293

Post by onlyrealcuzzo »

isodev wrote: post #152

I wonder if Tim Cook is enjoying how his “investments” are being spent. As for the rest of the us, I suppose now we should sanction the US

Why wouldn't he?

He didn't give Trump a gold CD to invade Venezuela.

He gave Trump a gold CD so you didn't have to pay a 30-50% tariff on iPhones, and it worked.

If it was as simple as giving Trump a golden CD to stop being a moron, some billionaire would've done that already. Turns out, that problem is much harder to solve.

Re: Trump says Venezuela’s Maduro captured after strikes

#294

Post by 6P58r3MXJSLi »

unionjack22 wrote: post #271

Here's a trick I've learnt to get an authentic view of events like these, a nice way to parse through the keyboard warrior and ivory tower voices and noise is to hear what Venezuelans, the millions of Venezuelan migrants, and the citizens of neighboring countries who've had to reckon with the legacy of Chavez think about this. You can extend this to anything really with good results. No valuable insight will be glean…

True, but it is like saying that to know China you have to ask the nationalists in Taiwan. Or that to understand Italian resistance you have to ask the millions of people in Italy that supported fascism.

It doesn't work.

Re: Trump says Venezuela’s Maduro captured after strikes

#295

Post by yuppiepuppie »

unionjack22 wrote: post #271

Here's a trick I've learnt to get an authentic view of events like these, a nice way to parse through the keyboard warrior and ivory tower voices and noise is to hear what Venezuelans, the millions of Venezuelan migrants, and the citizens of neighboring countries who've had to reckon with the legacy of Chavez think about this. You can extend this to anything really with good results. No valuable insight will be glean…

Yeah, I agree. But it’s also very hard to gather those voices in one place. Any thoughts on where to find these voices beside a personal network?

Re: Trump says Venezuela’s Maduro captured after strikes

#296

Post by toenail »

unionjack22 wrote: post #271

Here's a trick I've learnt to get an authentic view of events like these, a nice way to parse through the keyboard warrior and ivory tower voices and noise is to hear what Venezuelans, the millions of Venezuelan migrants, and the citizens of neighboring countries who've had to reckon with the legacy of Chavez think about this. You can extend this to anything really with good results. No valuable insight will be glean…

We have an ongoing war in Europe because one President tried to remove the President of another country. You can perform all sorts of mental gymnastics to justify military actions, and depending on who you ask you will always get the answers you want.

Re: Trump says Venezuela’s Maduro captured after strikes

#298

Post by kypro »

SchwKatze wrote: post #282

As a Latino and friend of several people that scaped from Maduro's regime I can easily say that people in South America are happy as ever. Also, some people seems to miss the fact that South America military power is very weak, and we, culturally, are way less proned to fight and die than people in middle east. Yeah, we know this is all about oil, and I'm interested to know what kind of democracy will emerge. But the…

That's good to hear. As a European, I do hope our leaders keep this in mind... It may be an unconventional move, but it's hard to argue this is a bad outcome.

I get the concern about forever wars some are raising, but this clearly isn't going to be a forever war for the reasons you state. Plus if the US secures some oil and the Venezuela people get to live better lives, that's ultimately a great outcome for everyone.

It's controversial to say these days, but I think this is exactly how the West should be using it's military force – to promote democracy and freedom around the world.

Re: Trump says Venezuela’s Maduro captured after strikes

#299

Post by didntknowyou »

SchwKatze wrote: post #282

As a Latino and friend of several people that scaped from Maduro's regime I can easily say that people in South America are happy as ever. Also, some people seems to miss the fact that South America military power is very weak, and we, culturally, are way less proned to fight and die than people in middle east. Yeah, we know this is all about oil, and I'm interested to know what kind of democracy will emerge. But the…

[ ok let's just say ] it's a one side deal
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