General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsDonald Trump's Attack on Venezuela Is Illegal and Unwise
Donald Trumps Attack on Venezuela Is Illegal and Unwise
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/01/03/opinion/venezuela-attack-trump-us.html
-Snip-
Few people will feel any sympathy for Mr. Maduro. He is undemocratic and repressive, and has destabilized the Western Hemisphere in recent years. The United Nations recently issued a report detailing more than a decade of killings, torture, sexual violence and arbitrary detention by henchmen against his political opponents. He stole Venezuelas presidential election last year. He has fueled economic and political disruption throughout the region by instigating an exodus of nearly eight million migrants.
If there is an overriding lesson of American foreign affairs in the past century, however, it is that attempting to oust even the most deplorable regime can make matters worse. The United States spent 20 years failing to create a stable government in Afghanistan and it replaced a dictatorship in Libya with a fractured state. The tragic consequences of the 2003 war in Iraq continue to beset America and the Middle East. Perhaps most relevant, the United States has sporadically destabilized Latin American countries, including Chile, Cuba, Guatemala and Nicaragua, by trying to oust a government through force.
-snip-
The nominal rationale for the administrations military adventurism is to destroy narco- terrorists. Governments throughout history have labeled the leaders of rival nations as terrorists, seeking to justify military incursions as policing operations. The claim is particularly ludicrous in this case, given that Venezuela is not a meaningful producer of fentanyl or the other drugs that have dominated the recent epidemic of overdoses in the United States, and the cocaine that it does produce flows mostly to Europe. While Mr. Trump has been attacking Venezuelan boats, he also pardoned Juan Orlando Hernández, who ran a sprawling drug operation when he was president of Honduras from 2014 to 2022.
A more plausible explanation for the attacks on Venezuela may instead be found in the Mr. Trumps recently released National Security Strategy. It claimed the right to dominate Latin America: After years of neglect, the United States will reassert and enforce the Monroe Doctrine to restore American pre-eminence in the Western Hemisphere. In what the document called the Trump Corollary, the administration vowed to redeploy forces from around the world to the region, stop traffickers on the high seas, use lethal force against migrants and drug runners and potentially base more U.S. troops around the region.
-snip
TACO has no logical explanation for his dump on Venezuela. He is creating international and internal crisis. The Constitution requires congressional approval, otherwise his actions violate United States law.
Oh yeah: Jeffrey freaking Epstein!
bucolic_frolic
(54,059 posts)Mighty humanitarian of you!
Blue Full Moon
(3,171 posts)spanone
(141,025 posts)marble falls
(71,104 posts)... with apologies to Groucho Marx and the Humadinga, Humadinga, Humadinga and Humadinga law offices.
Irish_Dem
(79,859 posts)It has served their diabolic goals well.
marble falls
(71,104 posts)Irish_Dem
(79,859 posts)We don't know the full extent of it, but it scares Trump a great deal.
marble falls
(71,104 posts)Irish_Dem
(79,859 posts)Too many rich and powerful men involved.
AZJonnie
(2,836 posts)Venezuela is not the distraction from Epstein, it's the other way around. Like I've been saying for months. Trump's not worried about the Epstein thing, he never was, and this action to take control of VZ's oil was the goal, everything was set up while the public focused on Epstein.
UTUSN
(76,960 posts)Irish_Dem
(79,859 posts)The dictators have divided up the planet.
No one has noticed or cared.
marble falls
(71,104 posts)Irish_Dem
(79,859 posts)And largest Navy in the Pacific.
He is in charge of that part of the world.
And Trump won't stop him.
marble falls
(71,104 posts)... retreated.
Even the Chinese understood involving itself in Asian war was not the best idea.
Irish_Dem
(79,859 posts)And Xi will take over the Paciifc.
marble falls
(71,104 posts)... weaponry and an ability to make a presence anywhere in the world, and the US Navy is the only Naval power in the world capable of doing that.
The largest air force on the planet is the US Air Force. The second largest air force? The US Navy.
It's about a lot more than numbers. We don't outspend the next seven nations put together for "defense" and achieve nothing. We aren't ignoring social programs and the welfare of the weakest of US citizens for nothing.
Irish_Dem
(79,859 posts)marble falls
(71,104 posts)... to the detriment of our weaker citizens and the national health and education of us all.
Irish_Dem
(79,859 posts)education, science, etc.
China and Russia have already won the war they rage against the US.
Now they get the spoils of that war.
No one noticed, no one cared.
marble falls
(71,104 posts)AZ8theist
(7,102 posts)...to China in the name of corporate greed. No other reason.
Just so a select few could become insanely rich at the expense of 99.9999% of the rest of us.
marble falls
(71,104 posts)... overspending. They were investing on the US sterling reputation for repaying our debts with interest.
walkingman
(10,352 posts)a decent country. Our foreign policy is terrible, and our leadership is disgusting.
GoCubsGo
(34,670 posts)marble falls
(71,104 posts)dalton99a
(92,146 posts)
jfz9580m
(16,576 posts)(Also classic understated NYT douchiness
)
But this guy is just crazy. Everything that put this idiotic Hitler in power has to be shutdown.
The forces that fucked up enough and get away with it and profit from it for having inflcited this giant asshole will install MTG next to finish off this rot. They must be held accountable along with this braindead Hitler..
I mean our criminal, parasitic, amoral, mercenary, conscienceless tech oligarchs and this worthless ai and big data fueled garbage panopticon they are building with sleazy, reckless, brainless accelerationism.

This picture should never be forgotten.
And as things get crazier till 2028, I dont want his lame nouveau Goebbels shit clogging up everything because it is inevitable!!!! That is growth!!! No it isnt..it is a tumor.
niyad
(129,586 posts)are complicit.
marble falls
(71,104 posts)niyad
(129,586 posts)and judith miller.
aeromanKC
(3,819 posts)Johnny2X2X
(23,693 posts)Havent been able to find that information yet. Bombing a densely populated city certainly killed scores of civilians.
jfz9580m
(16,576 posts)But I just saw it on tv. Its horrible. Another damn war zone polluting earth. So now Israel-Palestine, Russia-Ukraine etc and now this.
It is just one year. The fucker is crazy.
This was supposed to be his like one thing..he is an anti-war isolationist..bs of course. Stupid creep. Wtf will it be like by this time next year?
Johnny2X2X
(23,693 posts)Surprised not more.
Initech
(107,453 posts)Holy fuck.
jfz9580m
(16,576 posts)I am hazy on these things, but that was the first thing that came to mind.
Throughout last year that was the question that came to my mind, wrt what he was doing to the public sector, to immigrants etc Wait, can you do that? (A question I ask about the tech industry all the time).
So my question is: Can he do this? If some more knowledgeable DUer can enlighten me, I would be grateful.
marble falls
(71,104 posts)Initech
(107,453 posts)And Trump will do whatever they tell him. That shitty network needs to be purged from DC.
GoodRaisin
(10,736 posts)But Krasnov loves him.