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?

A good war always boosts a politicians popularity while it's on. He needs to distract from the Epstein files and the Economy. The Falklands worked wonders for Thatcher.

I read it was to add a diversion to the release of Jeffrey Epstein dossier.

It's strange the USA taking action against drugs when the CIA was allegedly both controlling unwittingly citizens with drugs and involved in drug cartels. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CIA_drug_trafficking_allegations#:~:text=In%20the%20early%201970s%2C%20Alfred,them%2C%20much%20less%20proof%22.

Adding that this piece praises the Eddie Fishman book Chokepoints: how economic warfare is changing the world. I looked and this is currently 99p on Kindle, for anyone like me interested in some more reading about this. I've just bought it.

Republicans reverting to type. Read about how the legitimate government of Hawaii was overthrown and the island annexed, who the major players were (Republican expansionists) and why they wanted Pearl Harbour - all of which only happened 126 years ago.

Or the American invasion of Grenada in 1983.

He's after their oil. Plain and simple. "US security interests" is the chatch phrase under which they have given themselves the power to do almost anything, including taking over any country under that pretext, maybe Greenland next, or Canada. What's the world going to do? For decades the rest of the world stood by happily allowing the US to become the most powerful nation in the world with absolutely no checks on its power. Now we reap the consequences watching it go off like a runaway train.

I am not going to cry over the demise of the Maduro regime but this is a very worrying sign of things to come. Iran -another regime that really deserves to go- has already been mentioned as a target. I hope that those regime changes end up benefitting the populations of both countries but the motivations behind the interference are shockingly imperialistic and self-serving. Both things can be true at the same time.
As for what's next on the menu, Greenland is clearly prime real estate.

Again, I don't know enough about it to say.

Strength of support or might (who controls the military) may well count for more than volume of support, if that makes sense?

I wonder why the VP is still there. Whether they couldn't get him or he's cooperating? In the case of the latter, I wouldn't imagine he's all that interested in Gonzalez stepping in

And a lot of the wealthier opposition to Maduro is exiled in Miami, where there's always been a sizeable Venezuelan community.

I understand the concern about Greenland but Trump clearly needs a pretext for getting involved ie drugs, nuclear threat etc. What would his reason be for Greenland and how would that fly in Europe with govt in Denmark not exactly being of the same genre as theocracy in Iran or dictatorship of Maduro.

Surely at this point (given the US has said no further interventions expected) the military are holding all the power. If they stick with the current gov, then the vice president will stay as the face of power. If they decide to support proper elections (unlikely since they’ve supported Maduro) then that will happen.

I predict military leadership that gives Trump US access to oil in return for being left alone.

Sadly, I suspect you're right.

will our useless government actually come out and condemn this. how is this any different from russia and ukraine. its a sovereign country that they have gone into, bombed, kidnapped their leader.

we need to stop pandering to this mad despot. this is really how WW3 is going to start.

USA has absolutely no right to do this.

anyone with a holiday to florida, suggest you cancel it and stop giving money to this economy.

he doesnt need a pretext. he will just make one up. this has nothing to do with drugs. nothing at all. its all about oil. thats all he cares about.

I’m contact with a friend from Caracas at the moment who is really worried about her cousins one is a civil servant working in the presidential palace and no word. It’s so worrying for those living overseas, and she doesn’t understand any more than me why!

He's already said he needs it for national security reasons, that's the reason right there. He clearly doesn't concern himself with international law, Greenland is not part of the EU even though it is attached to the Kingdom of Denmark and I don't think he's too worried about Denmark or even the EU itself (which he openly despises). He will take Greenland, no questions asked. In fact, what's going on right now is also desensitising the American public to unlawful behaviour. It's getting fully normalised. The Venezuelan operation was conducted without Congress approval, so like a covert operation of old, but this time fully in the open and brazenly so. This is all to get everyone used to Trump holding all the power, both at home and abroad.

Well he can’t just invade a country and say he wants oil. So what will his reasons be?

Donald Trump - self styled saviour of the world.

Maduro should have left office on January 10th 2025 but seized power in a coup and the democratically elected President elect Edmundo Gonzalez was forced into exile in Spain. I suspect this will now turn into a full scale military dictatorship terrorising the citizens until they're overthrown. I expect the Guardian and their ilk will contort themselves in all sorts of ways to try and defend a military dictatorship.

Surely it’s time for the rest of the world to unite and stop this madman? Now that he’s had the leader of another country kidnapped, maybe that gives the green light to ISIS to kidnap him 😆

She. The VP is a woman.

Don't be daft. You can be against Maduro, against a military dictatorship and be against what Trump has done.

Sorry, yes!

@YourAmplePlumPoster

so what is stopping Gonzalez from taking up presidency now?

In some ways, if both the Maduro regime and the Iranian Mullahs go within the year, it WILL give him huge kudos both in the US and internationally. Longer term, it will of course depend on what follows in both countries. If you look at the chaos that destroyed Iraq post-Saddam, that's precisely what everyone should be worried about. Power abhors a vacuum.
But I think he wants to be a type of 'saviour' figure, not least because he's due to get his arse handed over to him in the mid-terms and he really does not want that.

That for the moment all the power appears to remain with the current regime. It will be interesting to hear what plans are announced and where the military is in this. As @ShesTheAlbatross points out, a military dictatorship seems like a likely outcome.