What’s happening in Venezuela and what does it mean?

[theotherfossilsister]

I’m confused- has the US gone to war with them? What are the implications if so?

I suppose the accuracy of the podcasts comes down to if they are coming from a left or wight angle.

Democratic socialism is not classic socialism as in a step towards communism. Mamdani is not a Marxist. He is not advocating for state ownership of the means of production. Democratic socialism is about having a mixed economy, as every state has, controls on rampant capitalism, as most states have, and a fair tax system.

Chavez was a socialist. He nationalized much of Venezuela's Industry. State ownership of means of production.

I hope you’re right. I don’t automatically see them as a threat, but they are amassing vast military and AI capability.

Most of their success is just investment rn and selling stuff, which we buy but we couch in being wary politically too. I always find it hard to know where they’ll go in terms of what will be used or not militarily, there seems to be a strong threat narrative in play.

Another thing that seems to be picking up is that it will be US v China for AI and how much that impacts us all.

Trump has captured Moduro and his wife who face indictments for drug trafficking and other offences in the United States.

It’s a very similar situation to what George Bush did with Noriega in 89 in Panama.

What happens next who knows. It looks like alot of people in Venezuela are celebrating it. It looks like some elements of the government in Venezuela also supported it.

I think it will take a bit of time for the whole picture to come out. I think it goes further than just Venezuela. I think it will also be used against their allies - like Iran.

Doubt you literally think they’ll spirit away Starmer if you vote ‘wrong’ seems ur just indulging yourself by whining really

I don’t think the US is worried about that, in fact they want the EU to stump up more and stop relying so heavily on them. Hence the 600bn euro after the NATO discussions.

As for removing someone else, you’ve skipped over the voting part and what Venezuelans are saying.

An interesting theory I’ve been reading about today is that Trump has acted in Venezuela to close off a potential escape route of the IRGC. The two countries are of course very close allies with inextricable military and economic links.

You think it’s not far-fetched to suppose that Trump might send special forces to drag Starmer or Macron or Merz out of bed and spirit them away?

Seriously?

@DenizenOfAisleOfShame people seem to be overlooking the fact that Maduro was not the legitimate President of Venezuela and was guilty of drug smuggling, fraud, theft, violence and breaking sanctions on a gargantuan scale. Aside from all that he’s just like Starmer, Merz or Macron 🙄

It's all illegal and trump is a dictator scumbag. Our crap PM has done nothing.
This country will be as unbearable as the US if reform get in.

Yes, they certainly want Europe to stump up, no question. I don't know if they're worried, but still, they don't like the UK-France military alliance and certainly treat it as a nuisance. I think Vance's recent statement says it all frankly:
https://www.eurasiareview.com/27122025-europes-destructive-moral-ideas-could-jeopardize-nuclear-powers-jd-vance-says/

Vice-President JD Vance warned on Friday that France and the United Kingdom could pose a future security risk to the US if what he called “Islamist-adjacent” ideas were to gain political influence.

The UK-France alliance is an impediment to the total 'divide and conquer' approach, and as I've said in other posts, what bothers me deeply with the situation in Venezuela is the nature of the operation itself (and not at all the removal of an absolute bastard who dragged his country into poverty and oppression and deserves his comeuppance). I know that Maduro remained illegitimately in power and that does give a bit more grounding to the decision - but the US intervention is still unlawful, still unilateral and completely arbitrary. It's the principle I find extremely worrying. What's really to prevent the same from happening elsewhere on different grounds, for example if one country's government is labelled as not 'civilizationally compatible' enough to be an ally and thus a threat to the interests of the US?
I know it sounds like a stretch right now but we are being warned repeatedly.

Trump will do whatever he thinks he can get away with.

I think it smacks of Western privilege to assume that's an impossibility.

That’s even more bizarre.

What does spirit them away even mean?

Take them away. In Maduro’s case to a New York courtroom and prison.

In Starmer’s or Macron’s or other European leaders’ cases, who knows. Maybe house arrest in Mar-a-Lago? Perhaps a chain gang in Louisiana? 🙄

I haven’t followed your conversation within the thread closely enough to work out if you believe this is possible or not but I don’t believe it is.

Whilst DJT seems to be capable of many things, I don’t think this is remotely possible given that most of the things he had done has been under some other sort of pretext eg drugs, immigration, the welfare of people living under dictatorship. Much like the theories on invading Greenland or Canada, it just seems a bit too far fetched to think that he would swoop in and abduct Starmer. There is no reason to sell to the world or to the American people that would fly.

I’m sorry but this is just daft. Do you really believe the British and French armed forces would allow US bombing of either Paris or London? Let alone the kidnapping of our elected leader? Trump is a despotic dictator, but he really really isn't going to invade the UK or France. He won’t need to though if Farage gets in at next election, as we’ll just become a lapdog vassal state to the US.

There will be no need to spirit Starmer or Macron out of bed if the US (or any other hostile body) can influence elections in the UK or France – primarily through social media.

It's cheaper, easier, and encounters less resistance, if you can just take over a country at the top without shooting.

For which of course you need your friendly insider candidate, whom you'll help into office in return for them serving you once there. Who could that be?

The US has already started on this programme. Which is why we have Elon Musk appearing on giant screens in Trafalgar Square telling us what to think. More insidiously, he's on our children's screens in their bedrooms via his algorithms boosting his choice of messaging.

There's a link to the US's National Security Strategy in this article, which also provides some analysis. (The article additionally discusses a supposed longer, draft version of the NSS, but the link is to the officially published version).

https://www.defenseone.com/policy/2025/12/make-europe-great-again-and-more-longer-version-national-security-strategy/410038/

From the US National Security Strategy (p27):

Over the long term, it is more than plausible that within a few decades at the latest, certain NATO members will become majority non-European. [...]
Our broad policy for Europe should prioritize:
[...]
• Cultivating resistance to Europe’s current trajectory within European
nations

"Non-European" refers to race. This US administration wants European countries to be white, and it wants our cultures to be what the US decides us our cultures should be.

And they'll actively encourage ethno-nationalist groups in our countries to achieve this.

Presumably our US-permitted cultures won't get to include genuine democracy, given this current US administration seems so keen to undermine and ignore it...

Er, yes. That was my point. A pp had suggested that it was “really not that far-fetched” to suppose that Trump might do to us or France or Germany what he’s done to Venezuela.

It’s patently absurd. That was the point I was making.

Oh I am not so sure.

Let's change it a little. Sir Sadiq Khan lands in NY for a city Mayor conference. Canadian PM Carney turns lands in NY to go to a UN meeting, alongside Danish PM Frederiksen.

Arrest on trumped up charges becomes a real possibility. No armies involved.

Yes, this.

The UK has basically been a lapdog to the US since decolonisation. So what has changed?

If you become outright hostile to Western culture, then how can you be a good ally to other Western countries?

In other words, if you become a Muslim majority country, your interests necessarily change. Maybe you will not tolerate your Christian minority. Maybe you will become an expansionist power in the region, because you want to spread your religion and see yourselves as part of a unifying global ummah. Stranger things have happened