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?

@PerkingFaintly I think you’ll find that the majority of the populations of most European countries are in alignment with Vance on this. Hence the rise of populism and increasing antagonism to immigration.

That is quite different to suggesting they would invade and kidnap our prime minister. Sadiq Khan is wise enough to never go to the US.

That’s a clear video. Why is USA doing so much with light oil ( fracking) if it needs crude oil ? Does it not produce any crude oil anymore? I read that it sells off the ( refined) crude oil amd makes millions. With a shift to fracking/light oil has this affected the profits of the old beneficiaries of crude oil sales? Don’t know if that is true or not

This is my worry.

Basically Trump has gone into another country and acted like Putin has done.

Perhaps you'll have difficulty getting your head round this, @StrawberryShieldsForever , but you are not the arbiter of "Western culture".

In fact many countries within "the West" include cultures I find to be anathema.

For example the minority US culture of the Christian Right, with its focus on removing reproductive rights from women. Is that a "Western culture"?

It's a culture which exists within in a Western country – and indeed currently within a US administration.

But it's not my culture. And I'm British, white, and raised Christian.

But that is a major thing - the mayor of London absolutely should be visiting New York if so needed - they are the two big finance centres that always had so much traffic between them - Khan absolutely should be visiting there without fear - it’s crazy to think he couldn’t.

Exactly my point. No military needed.

And what a world we now have. Where the elected Mayor of London should avoid travel to the US because POTUS does not like tweets.

Quite.

In any event, if Trump wanted to humiliate Khan he’d just have him turned away at the airport!

And FWIW, I find I have a great deal more in common with my Muslim neighbours – who are not extremists – than I do with extremists of any stripe, be they Christian extremists, Muslim extremists, ethno-nationalists, rapey Andrew Tate groupies, whatever...

@Fleurdeville The City of London is governed by the City of London Corporation which in turn reports directly to the Lord Mayor of London . So Sadiq Khan has little to do with our financial institutions, thank god.

I just checked if the London Mayor gets a diplomatic passport, and it's no.

Oh, and which Muslim majority country do you find admirable?

You (rightly) cry about the reproductive rights of American women. But somehow I don’t think you’ll find much to admire in Muslim countries where access to abortion is not even a thing.

Western liberalism is a vanishingly rare species. You’ll not find it much outside the West. Do not be in such a hurry to give it away—it won’t go well for any of us.

Well it looks like the VP of 🇻🇪 was in cahoots with the US administration and has now taken over. Throws rather an interesting light on things doesn’t it? Also seeing multiple posts on SM from cross Venezuelans telling stupid, clueless Western “socialist” commentators to mind their own business 😁 probably means all of us on these kinds of threads.

Can't watch the vid, but not all oil is the same. US has light crude, so fine for gasoline but not for tar or diesel. That's why even oil rich counties still need to import oil and oil products. Texas sweet crude is fine for running cars, not so good for making roads.

Yeah but America gets it cheaply from Canada (and it’s better quality) so uncertain extraction from Venezuela is not going to displace that

Some views from Venezuelans in the UK.

I had no idea how many have been displaced from their homeland.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/jan/03/its-impossible-not-to-feel-relief-uk-venezuelans-on-maduros-capture

Nearly eight million Venezuelans have left the country under Maduro’s leadership – a quarter of the nation’s population. Venezuelans began fleeing their country en masse when its economy collapsed in 2014, generating rampant inflation, poverty and insecurity. It caused a migration crisis that is the largest in the history of Latin America and exceeds the number of people displaced from war-torn Syria.

You've ducked my question.

Is the US Christian Right a "Western culture"? It's clear it is.

Do you therefore think I should accept it as my culture, here in Britain?

I don't think I'll do that.

I also value Western liberal democracy... and I believe the current US administration does not. The US tech broligarchy doesn't seem keen on it either. They both value oligarchy.

I don't think I'll embrace the oligarchy piece of "Western culture" either.

Do you see why you can't stampede me into supporting Vance's values? Because I look at the actual values themselves. Rather than trying to chuck everything into a box with a label on the outside and buying it wholesale.

Vance's sales technique is a classic false dichotomy: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/False_dilemma . He defines two teams, and then says if we haven't bought his team jersey and whole package, then we must be wearing the other team jersey. As soon as we realise there is no obligation to wear either jersey, his illusion falls away...

For sure. But they need to get it from Canda to the Gulf. And Trump is not exactly on best terms with Canada, given he has threatened them too.

@RedTagAlan why are they sending it to the Gulf? ( bear with me on this, I’m as daft as they come)

They make a fair point tbf. I’ve seen those posts too.

I think it means Gulf of Mexico rather than the ME Gulf.

I think it’s much more that they want European countries to be Christian. Religion and culture matter far more than skin colour.

I wish I could find that clip of Faisal Islam schooling some protestors who were getting physically threatening towards to a nearby politician (IIRC), with "If you disagree with them, vote them out. That's why we have democracy." (Words also per IIRC.)

Just to watch it blow the minds of the Vance supporters.

Freedom of religion not an American value, then?

The italics part just says no to Islam-adjacent politics. It doesn’t matter if the EU work together to pay for more defence.