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Robert F wrote…
“The U.S. has just made a wanton and unprovoked military attack against the territory of another sovereign country and its leader, detaining its leader and his wife. The U.S. has done plenty of vile things not completely unlike this in the past, for instance the invasion of Panama and detention of Noriega, but never with this level of contempt for justification for its actions, without debate or inclusion of allies, without going through a process of authorization from Congress. It’s obvious to anyone who has eyes to see that this war of aggression is not over drugs, but oil and territorial hegemony and presidential aggrandizement; China is watching and the likelihood of an invasion of Taiwan by China has just been given a tremendous nudge. This is a day that should go down in infamy. It is a disgrace to every American, it is a crime against humanity. And there is more to come. God save innocents around the world from America; God save America from itself.”
I’ll say the amen…
Trump wants to divert attention from Epstein and Jack Smith’s testimony.
I think the trump has also now put Greenland and Canada on notice. He’s saying that the U.S. is in charge of the Western hemisphere and can do whatever this administration says it can do. Resist at your own peril.
Terry and Bob have spoken wisely…
The purposes of this invasion and attack are multiple. To Bob’s point, Epstein and Smith’s testimony are things Trump (when I say that name, I more often than not am not just referring to one man, but to numerous enablers and government allies working both front stage and behind the scenes: like Legion in the gospels, Trump is many) that Trump is always trying to distract from, and he’s using this as another opportunity to do that.
But the main purposes are appropriation of Venezuela’s oil and other natural resources; and, far beyond that, establishing a beachhead for the spread of hegemonic power in South and Central America. If that were being done solely for furthering American national interest, that would be evil in itself; but Trump has personal, pecuniary intentions in his actions, which are meant to advance his and his rich friends’ business empires in the region. Trump is forming a government of oligarchic rule that, like Putin’s, is intended to reach far beyond the boundaries of the U.S. No doubt, to Terry’s point, Canada and Greenland will be part of this agenda, though whether that happens sooner or later is uncertain; I would imagine Greenland would happen sooner than Canada. In support of these goals, Trump is creating an international atmosphere of terror and uncertainty, “Resist at you own peril,” intentionally and maliciously. Each chapter of the unfolding of this project will be more outrageous and immoral than the last, and there are many chapters yet to unfold. The lawlessness is intentional. Trump is many, and these many are a man of lawlessness.
I wonder if the evangelicals who elected Trump recognize that America is now a beast empire…or if they care.
And it’s likely that Trump’s actions have radicalized criminal narcotics organizations. Remember they have networks everywhere, they have many security personal with high level military training, they have operatives in governments throughout Central and South America, and they have the ability to attack here in the U.S. through the same networks that heretofore have delivered drugs, but could easily deliver other things. Trump’s actions may easily turn the narcotics organizations, which were criminal business organizations, into terrorist ones. Or he may go into the business himself; after all, our own CIA has done so in the past when it was deemed in our national interest.
Robert F,
Based on my long years of research on the drug trade, I would almost expect Trump to get in the business, if he isn’t already.
strictly from a capitalist point of view, if one wishes the drug trade to stop, the demand must be reduced and or eliminated. Supply infrastructure is going to continue to be built and managed because it is a profitable/lucrative venture. This administration has not uttered a peep about dealing with the supply and demand issues related to drug addiction and abuse within our borders. If it were the issue they claim it to be, there is little/no evidence to back that up.
47 issued no coherent/verifiable justification for these actions. Oil and Epstien are the likely issues. Claiming another country took “our” property when it was international corporations who lost investment infrastructure in Venezuela (but continue to do business there) is a conflation of interests that belie 47’s real motives.
His inability to coherently read a prepared statement, constant diversions into nonsense statements, and off-point answers to questions should clearly signal his mental decline and easy manipulation by the hawks around him. 25-47.
The clown car of this current administration has demonstrated little ability to manage the tasks within our borders, now, they imagine they have the personnel and skill set to run Venezuela!!? Dismantling the State Department and appointing Rubio to manage our international issues have proven disastrous. Where are the voices of reason and intelligence to talk down these ridiculous ventures? 47 has bombed Yemen, Syria, Somalia, Nigeria, and Iraq; now Venezuela…and he wishes for world peace and a Nobel? Oh, by the way, China and Russia are both close allies of Venezuela…I imagine Ukraine peace proposals are off now too.
fil,
The ramifications of this could be staggering…especially for Ukraine and Taiwan…
The Trumps have announced that the U.S. is now governing Venezuela, until such time as there is a “proper transition.” Can anyone say “Puppet State”?
Incidentally, I didn’t say what I did above about the reaction of the cartels to Trump’s invasion because I think the attack was intended to thwart the cartels; far from it. It’s about oil, resources, hegemony, and building an oligarchy throughout the Americas. They could react that way because his actions are producing an instability in the region that can only threaten their own kind of dominance, and their profits; he’s on their home turf, they know how operate on that turf, and don’t intend to be easily evicted. However, Trump is now in a position as strongest of strong men in the region to do business with them, and make them a deal they can’t refuse. He’s already pardoned drug traffickers convicted in American courts, one of them a former president of Honduras. Trump wants to be Godfather of the Americas; he’s on the way.
I’ll say it again: Trump’s lawlessness has moved this country into the same internationally lawless category as China and Russia.
filbertz,
Clowns are scary, particularly when they are driving Clown Cars.
It is common to depict the Antichrist as suave, sophisticated, brilliant, charming, ruthless but statesmanlike, etc.; the reality is likely that the Beast slouches toward Bethlehem dozing in the back seat of a clown car; and is the biggest boor at any cocktail party, the kind that, as D.B. Hart said some years ago in an article, one does the utmost to avoid.
Not sure whether the president’s name should now be Vladimir Trump or Donald Putin. This sh/t is scary.
and once again all the GOP eunuchs are lining up fanning him with palms. When and if we have midterms, say no to the Republican’ts.
again, I’ve been a lifetime GOP voter, so don’t come at me with that drivel.
fil, I too voted GOP for many years. Those days are over, at least for the foreseeable future.
It seems like the vice president of Venezuela is resisting the plans Trump has for her country. It seems like “regime change” must involve more than taking the leader out, while leaving the rest of the regime in place. Is Trump using an old A-Team script?
Another quagmire is in the making.
Right before I had to leave Colombia in September of ‘92, Hugo Chavez staged a coup. The Venezuelan government went on military alert, caught him, and locked Chavez up for several years. Then, they let him out. He went “legit” and got himself elected in 1999. He also began human rights abuses, killed the economy, and was going to be dictator for life until cancer caught up with him in 2013. But, bringing Maduro to the States for trial ( especially after Trump just pardoned a former Honduran president who had a hefty sentence due to drug running. The president paid a “donation” for his freedom,) I think that this whole thing will be a disaster. I guess Trump has no knowledge of Cuba, Haiti, Afghanistan, Iraq (I lost a nephew there in 2007), Somalia…wars we could never win. I’ve always wondered what would happen in some of these countries if churches sent more missionaries and the government sent more aid workers. It will be very interesting to see what the reaction is with the Spanish brethren tomorrow. One of my Venezuelan friends thinks Trump is already nuts and that Maduro is evil. The news certainly woke me up this morning!
Just a side note…Venezuela’s economic needs are huge, and we spend trillions of dollars to just feed them. I sense a huge change may come either way the midterms, especially for people with big markups on medical insurance.
Capt. Kev.
I simply identify myself as a moderate without identifying my conservative roots, but quickly add the qualifier that progress always happens in the middle, regardless of party. The current GOP majorities are a farce in congress, neither chamber gets anything done; hence my reference to “Republican’ts.”
Linn, I’m with you, and so sorry to hear of the loss of your nephew. When our children are expendable to the whims and decisions of ambitious men, terrible things are afoot.
Filbertz,
Thanks for your kind thoughts about my nephew. I almost lost the second one in 2013, but he thankfully survived two IED attacks. The longer he was in Afghanistan, the less faith he had in why we were there.
The reaction from Europe is discouraging. It’s very clear. The fear of the economic and/or military violence that the U.S. is capable of has cowed Europe into a muted response to the aggression against Venezuela. They are afraid. They are trying to wait it all out. Perhaps the U.S. will go after Iran or Colombia next; maybe Cuba then; but at some point, probably in less than three years, it will be Greenland. And then the militaristic international monster that the U.S. has become will be over the European threshold; what will Europe do then? I imagine some or much of it will go Vichy. The best we can hope is that Trump will bungle the takeover of Venezuela so badly that it will slow down any further international American aggression; but that will depend on Venezuelan resistance, and the development of a real quagmire in Venezuela. Such a quagmire would be at horrible cost to Venezuelans and Americans, but it would be the best possible protection for Europe and much of the rest of the world against the American aggression that has been let loose. If the U.S. is successful in Venezuela, the world will be divided up like a turkey among the three mafias of Russia, China, and the U.S.
In the meantime, the federal Government has suspended all child daycare subsidies to all the states on the basis of a social media influencer’s (influencers: the new unquestioned experts) accusations of child daycare fraud in Minnesota. That means millions of children and their families will lose access to childcare, which in turn means they will be sunk further into poverty. Oh, there is no doubt that child daycare subsidies have been misused in MN and elsewhere– but that is because of the privatization of child daycare in the states that the Republicans legislated and insisted would save so much money and make services more efficient!! What it actually did was feed corruption. And now that corruption grown by privatization is the justification for making children suffer. It has become evident that the political faction in this country that talks so much about protecting children actually couldn’t care less about them, maybe even hates them.
History shows that tyrants are always brought low.
It’s pretty clear now. The U.S. is holding the threat of another, wider attack to the head of the Venezuelan vice-president. If she doesn’t do what the U.S. expects her to do — which, no matter what the U.S. says to the contrary, has nothing to do with democracy or drugs, and everything to do with oil/resources/regional dominance — the trigger gets pulled. This is pure mafia stuff. The U.S. is now operating as an international protection racket. Your tax dollars at work. I’m at the stage where I want to pray for the judgement of God to fall on the U.S. Jesus calls me to a different way, but the temptation is strong.
William Stringfellow did a public exorcism of the second Nixon administration at its beginning. Maybe there is a need for a similar exorcism now.
Talking to The Atlantic, Trump says that if Venezuelan vice-president Delcy Rodriquez doesn’t “do what’s right”, she will probably pay a price “bigger than Maduro.” The man is like a mobster with the entire U.S. security apparatus as his enforcer, and he uses the language and threats of a mobster. He is depraved and lawless.