Somehow, I'm starting to agree with Russia's reason for launching the war because Ukraine wanted to join NATO.
Because...?
Trump says Venezuela’s Maduro captured after strikes
531–540 of 1001 posts
Re: Trump says Venezuela’s Maduro captured after strikes
#532Two wrongs don’t make a right. Regardless of your opinion on Maduro, you can still acknowledge that the head of a sovereign state being captured in an unannounced/unnamed military operation by a superpower is wrong from a principled standpoint, and that it’s destabilising a country with 30+ million people if not the entire region.
Russia already attempted it, failed, and now are into the 4th year of their debacle. The US pulled it off in one night.
The only thing it reinforces is the US' military superiority.
Re: Trump says Venezuela’s Maduro captured after strikes
#533I think people are overindexed on the US's failures to turn Islamic theocracies into democracies. The people in Venezuela want democracy. It's a fundamentally different situation.
> The people in Venezuela want democracy. It's a fundamentally different situation.
"We will, in fact, be greeted as liberators" - Dick Cheney (but I'm sure it'll work out this time)
There is a whole lot of directions this can go after we arrest the dictator, but a liberal democracy magically immediately popping isn't on my list. There might be one in the future but there will be a lot of chaos and violence between now and then.
Re: Trump says Venezuela’s Maduro captured after strikes
#534If the last couple of years have taught anyone anything, your country is an open target if it doesn't have its own Iron Dome.
Or nuclear weapons.
Bin Laden found in Afghanistan? Invade and occupy the whole country.
Bin Laden found in nuclear-armed Pakistan? Quietly sneak in with a handful of SOF operators to shoot him in the face then GTFO.
Re: Trump says Venezuela’s Maduro captured after strikes
#535If you're wondering WHY, good to read the Maduro indictment from 2020[1] and the press release at the time[2] [1] https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/6819579-Maduro-Indic... [2] https://www.justice.gov/archives/opa/pr/nicol-s-maduro-moros...
I'm generally confused about how the US DOJ has jurisdiction in Venezuela.
Re: Trump says Venezuela’s Maduro captured after strikes
#536Two wrongs don’t make a right. Regardless of your opinion on Maduro, you can still acknowledge that the head of a sovereign state being captured in an unannounced/unnamed military operation by a superpower is wrong from a principled standpoint, and that it’s destabilising a country with 30+ million people if not the entire region.
An observation:
> This argument means that any time a president wants to invade a country "legally," he just has to get his DOJ to indict the country's leader. It makes Congress' power to declare war totally meaningless.
* https://x.com/JamesSurowiecki/status/2007450814097305734#m
Also, the irony:
> the administration's position is that American courts can hold any president accountable for crimes, except the American president
Re: Trump says Venezuela’s Maduro captured after strikes
#537As someone old enough to have seen the US invade too many countries, I'm struck by the lack of effort put into justifying this sort of military action these days. There is going to be a lot of debate over whether this specific operation was legal and I have no idea where the courts or history will ultimately land on that decision. But the way they don't even try to convince us this is necessary anymore is a sign that…
And let's not forget that the stated rationale in this case, drugs, is very obviously pretextual.
Re: Trump says Venezuela’s Maduro captured after strikes
#538I think people are overindexed on the US's failures to turn Islamic theocracies into democracies. The people in Venezuela want democracy. It's a fundamentally different situation.
The funny part of that narrative is the US government currently being led by people who have been trying to tear down the concept of democracy in the US. Maybe once Venezuela has their democracy back, they can help out the people in the US?
Re: Trump says Venezuela’s Maduro captured after strikes
#539I will spare saying the obvious illegality of such actions and how serious this is. I will just say something else: I grew up as a kid between the 80s and 90s, when the world felt like it was going towards a brighter age of peace and respect. Berlin wall falling, China opening, Apartheid ending in South Africa, even Palestine and Israel were moving towards a more peaceful future. But since then the world has just pro…
Yeah as someone being born in the early 90s to Eastern European parents who experienced generational joy when Causescu and his wife were shot dead, the globalization that followed hasn’t exactly delivered for people - mostly so in the West.
Yes, millions of people in the poorest nations have been raised out of absent poverty since, but beyond that, wealth has flowed to the top 1% any country you look at (check median wealth ownership in the US, basically plummeted for the average Joe since the mid 80s), the environment has gone to shit and the generational promise that the children will have it better than their parents has gone over board with asset prices ballooning.
I‘m right there with you, the societal promise of meritocracy and the middle class was broken in the early 90s and so far there is no replacement in sight.
Re: Trump says Venezuela’s Maduro captured after strikes
#540Laws often fail to matter in cases where they should. If a country as powerful as the USA wants to handle a problematic country (from its perspective) by whatever means, they will do so and with a glaikit smirk on the faces of its leaders and politicians. "Here's democracy and justice on your face," has been a typical American foreign policy for a long time whether we like it or not. A lot of people thankfully do see through this pretence, but also at the same time, the fierce followers of Cheneyism are trying hard to find possible explanations to legitimize this.