Trump says Venezuela’s Maduro captured after strikes • Hacker News Board

Re: Trump says Venezuela’s Maduro captured after strikes

#611

Post by Kapura » Sat, Jan 03, 2026, 4:31 PM UTC

Baader-Meinhof wrote: post #583

To steel-man and provide a more charitable interpretation of last night: 1. Maduro stole an election. He is not legitimately in power. Many other people in power, like the military and other political factions, opposed this and wants him removed. 2. These people quietly oust Maduro in the middle of the night. 3. With the tacit approval of these folks, the US arrests Maduro for previously indicted crimes. 4. The US bo…

You don't need to do this, actually. Nobody needs you to lie for the regime, to invent a charitable reading of their actions.

Re: Trump says Venezuela’s Maduro captured after strikes

#612

Post by 303uru » Sat, Jan 03, 2026, 4:31 PM UTC

ofalkaed wrote: post #345

I just spent way too much time reading through this thread looking for a single post more concerned about Venezuela and its people than the poster's own politics. I gave up when I noticed I was only a 1/4 of the way through thread, should have started from the bottom.

Why does it matter? Illegal actions are illegal. On the 1 in a million chance this results in things getting better for Venezuela the outcome does not forgive the action.

Re: Trump says Venezuela’s Maduro captured after strikes

#613

Post by thrance » Sat, Jan 03, 2026, 4:32 PM UTC

The USA are a blight on the Americas and the larger World. Their fanatic population will immediately jump in to justify a violent, naked attempt at stealing this country's mineral resources. This already happened dozens of times, always with terrible outcome, yet here we are again. The fall of the American empire can't happen fast enough.

Your enlightened president, a few minutes ago on Fox News, when asked about Venezuelan oil: "What can I say? We have the greatest oil companies in the world, the biggest, the greatest, and we're going to be very much involved in it."

Re: Trump says Venezuela’s Maduro captured after strikes

#614

Post by cryptoegorophy » Sat, Jan 03, 2026, 4:32 PM UTC

Baader-Meinhof wrote: post #583

To steel-man and provide a more charitable interpretation of last night: 1. Maduro stole an election. He is not legitimately in power. Many other people in power, like the military and other political factions, opposed this and wants him removed. 2. These people quietly oust Maduro in the middle of the night. 3. With the tacit approval of these folks, the US arrests Maduro for previously indicted crimes. 4. The US bo…

So as long as we have excuses we can bomb a country? Right? This time we don’t sanction and shut off swift, visa, Mastercard? Because this time we are the good guys?

Re: Trump says Venezuela’s Maduro captured after strikes

#615

Post by fallinditch » Sat, Jan 03, 2026, 4:33 PM UTC

Baader-Meinhof wrote: post #583

To steel-man and provide a more charitable interpretation of last night: 1. Maduro stole an election. He is not legitimately in power. Many other people in power, like the military and other political factions, opposed this and wants him removed. 2. These people quietly oust Maduro in the middle of the night. 3. With the tacit approval of these folks, the US arrests Maduro for previously indicted crimes. 4. The US bo…

Good background explanation: USA motives, oil, history ... https://youtu.be/4N9-qop-R8M

Re: Trump says Venezuela’s Maduro captured after strikes

#616

Post by saubeidl » Sat, Jan 03, 2026, 4:33 PM UTC

Baader-Meinhof wrote: post #583

To steel-man and provide a more charitable interpretation of last night: 1. Maduro stole an election. He is not legitimately in power. Many other people in power, like the military and other political factions, opposed this and wants him removed. 2. These people quietly oust Maduro in the middle of the night. 3. With the tacit approval of these folks, the US arrests Maduro for previously indicted crimes. 4. The US bo…

Alternative explanation: The election was stolen overnight by US barbarism, prepared by years of reactionary rhetoric by the election stealer in chief.

Re: Trump says Venezuela’s Maduro captured after strikes

#617

Post by throw0101a » Sat, Jan 03, 2026, 4:34 PM UTC

Baader-Meinhof wrote: post #583

To steel-man and provide a more charitable interpretation of last night: 1. Maduro stole an election. He is not legitimately in power. Many other people in power, like the military and other political factions, opposed this and wants him removed. 2. These people quietly oust Maduro in the middle of the night. 3. With the tacit approval of these folks, the US arrests Maduro for previously indicted crimes. 4. The US bo…

> 1. Maduro stole an election. He is not legitimately in power. Many other people in power, like the military and other political factions, opposed this and wants him removed.

Can US administration claim a domestic election (like the upcoming 2026 mid-terms) was stolen and… do stuff?

> 3. With the tacit approval of these folks, the US arrests Maduro for previously indicted crimes.

Concern:

> 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

Re: Trump says Venezuela’s Maduro captured after strikes

#618

Post by wseqyrku » Sat, Jan 03, 2026, 4:34 PM UTC

"Officials from the United States and other countries have questioned the legality of the strikes."

Look, this is getting tiring. You have no idea what the people in this country went through and they might as well see it as a "good thing". I think the same applies to Iran, an intervention by the US could be the best thing that ever happened in these countries, so the "legality" issue doesn't quite sound warranted in my opinion.

Re: Trump says Venezuela’s Maduro captured after strikes

#619

Post by saubeidl » Sat, Jan 03, 2026, 4:35 PM UTC

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…

That's how you get the most reactionary voices. The ones that liked Maduro presumably stayed in Venezuela and didn't start complaining online.

Re: Trump says Venezuela’s Maduro captured after strikes

#620

Post by cryptoegorophy » Sat, Jan 03, 2026, 4:35 PM UTC

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…

You simply can’t. Just enjoy the show. Sorry, last 5 years have been a complete destruction of common sense and logic, just focus on something else to remain sane.