Venezuela

[dwordle]

I'm not surprised by the Americans, but I really hope our politicians are paying attention because next will be Greenland.

France, Germany, Denmark and UK should be sending a large military presence to Greenland and ordering the closure of US Bases.

If we don't Trumps next move will be a walk in the park.

I have seen this mentioned as a joke thing. Maduro and wife are in NY without visas, so ICE should round them up and deport them.

The reality is now there are three powers.

China
Russia
US

If we don’t want to be enslaved as a tiny country to one of those we MUST join forces with the EU. It’s the height of idiocy to imagine we can be ‘sovereign’ alone.

Reform’s ’sovereignty’ is just rich people making back room deals with rich people in US/China/Russia and all the rest of us getting increasingly poorer.

I always thought the people who voted for Brexit were basically saying they'd rather be American than European anyway. I do think as a country we are ideologically split on this.

I suspect it’s Turkeys voting for Christmas. When those who think they want a Trump aligned country find that they are poorer and have fewer democratic rights they may regret their choices… too late to do anything.
The problem is that we pretend all opinions are equally valid. But it was a democracy that voted for Hitler. We must safeguard people from their own idiocy. How, I don’t know. But we must think seriously about how to do this.

And despite what the Reform folk say, the EU is the only one who actually has democracy and freedom as an ideology.

Effectively, a Putin asset in the US has just used the US military to take over a nation, and install another Putin asset as it's prez.

And that country that has just been taken over is an oil supplier to China.

Trump’s actions show he has no regard for the rights of an independent country, agreed that Venezuela now deposed President was not good and presided over the country’s economic woes, however other countries commit human rights crimes, Trump has acted in this way due to the oil. It’s not his right to act in this way and Keir Starmer needs to say this as do other European states. Trump’s actions show a similar disregard for a nation’s sovereignty as Putin.

I don't think we have the time to rejoin, I think it should be something that we are working towards though.

Trump will make his move this year, Greenland, Iran, he will topple the British government and attempt to break up the EU via the UK, Italy, Hungary and Austria.

War will break out between Poland and Russia in 2027 and will Germany will be dragged in. If Farage is in power then he will sit on the fence as will Italy. It's basically the start of another world war where we will wait until the enemy is at the door before doing anything.

Cuba will be next. In Trump’s first term, he immediately stopped the sensible progress that had been made by Obama in normalising relations with Cuba.

I can't imagine he will hang around either, he is clearly too old to even stay awake after a meal so he will want to leave whatever he thinks will be his legacy...

I’m not sure about that. I don’t think he’ll want to relinquish power. He’s seen what happens when he’s no longer president and he’s running scared that he’ll be pursued once more for illegal and/or corrupt dealings.

He’s already started making noises about making a third term possible. And of course, if the US is at war he can suspend all elections.

When he was trying to drum up support in the last election he told people they would “only need to vote this once” and never again. Some people interpreted that as him planning to seize power forever which I thought was overblown at the time. Now given everything else, I think they may have been right.

I can’t quite remember the details but I’m pretty sure Project2025 said something about Trump remaining President beyond his term.

I don’t believe for a single second Trump will just stand aside, or that there will be a peaceful transfer of power when the next election is due.

I’m not normally a conspiracy theorist but he’s shown wanton disregard for any law that doesn’t benefit him. He adores power and won’t want to give it up.

I think the big one will be Taiwan.

If China invade Taiwan, we really are in a position where we don't know if Trump will do anything, and if he does, what side will he be on?

All Xi has to do is name a Chinese city after Trump, do a deal on rare earths and chips, and Trump would have the US fleet ferrying PLA troops across the Straight.

Why shouldn't China Taiwan invade now? I mean it's no longer illegal according to Trump.

I'm actually not that worried about China, China doesn't have a history of starting wars.

From what I can see from the news Trumps operation has so far involved kidnapping a leader of another country based on charges....some of which included owning weapons.... surely most Americans are guilty of that. America doesn't have control of Venezuela but that might change in the coming days. I can see this turning very ugly because Venezuela is home to some notorious guerilla groups who will likely cause I a real problem for any oil companies that attempt to start stealing oil. It's a security nightmare and will result in years of destabilising the entire region. Bolivia and Columbia again have some hardcore groups that will kill hundreds of us troops as the occupation continues.

The yanks don't seem to learn...invading is easy when you have the worlds most powerful military but occupation they are really bad at. Because the army is just a business....it needs support from less armed ordnance regiments. It's these units that will be picked off and as bags of Americans are flown home the appetite for war wanes. Costs rise and oil companies bring in private security such as KBR to facilitate oil operations.

The yanks are just rubbish at understanding the lay of the land and no amount of tactical fire power can solve that.

I know this because I've served in the Royal Navy myself and worked as a private contractor in the middle east. My view of the American military is it's a business that lacks any understanding of how to achieve a victory by winning hearts and minds.

I believe they already have captured two CIA agents and two military personnel. No doubt this will result in more operations but In the end lives are going to be lost...for oil.

Trump and Putin are cut from the same cloth. No respect for international law.

Shame on Starmer for not condemning it immediately.

America is an enemy state. It’s stringing the EU and UK along on Ukraine to stop us from speaking out about American actions elsewhere on the world stage - we’re like a pig being pulled along (by the US and Russia) by the ring through its nose. When Trump has ensured our silence for as long as he needs, he’ll offer Ukraine to Russia on a plate.

I agree 💯, we are far too passive. We have been duped by the US and we will likely be surprised again when the yanks walk into Greenland. At the moment the yanks already have a military presence there so it would literally be a phone call.

I despair at our inaction, in face of this threat our politicians can't even muster condemnation. It's been the same with the Ukraine. The conflict which we do hold some responsibility for, but as yet I've not seen any decisiveness among any of our European leaders. If our politicians can't see that a window of opportunity is closing then I'm lost. For those too young to remember the dark days of the cold war I would take the opportunity to do some homework and read up. The days of east and west Germany and then the optimism when both sides came together.....that soon could be destroyed by Russia's desire for the USSR.

If our politicians can't separate what's happening in the US with reform gains in the UK.... again I'm lost for words. For me it's clear as a summers day.

I do wonder where we get these politicians from, what are they scared of.

Ah yes they are so much better off under Maduro, they all look so unhappy.

I think they are scared of fuckwit voters. And of war.

Who said they are better off under Maduro? These are real people, not pawns in a US power play move in the western hemisphere.
I lived in Colombia when there were 1m Venezuelans who had fled their homeland. There are 3m now, many caught up in sex trafficking or taken advantage of in poorly paid jobs. This scenario has been repeated all over the Caribbean and South America. I have seen photos of barely teenage girls being pimped out. Guns were being traded to drug dealers in Trinidad for food and medicine.
Maduro absolutely needed to be removed, but not in this way. Do Venezuelans want their country to be ruled by the US and their oil taken in return for "infrastructure"?
I am outraged by this severe overreach of power by the US that has created more instability in the region.

I'm a dual citizen, and I agree. I feel like I've been screaming into the void since before Brexit, and then again in 2016 and 2024. Who needs enemies when you have a population that will vote against their own safety, security and economic interests? It's so frustrating. If I can see what's coming, why can't this government?

People vote for their fantasies, not for truth-tellers.

Dear Lord, the idea Farage is someone's wet dream...

🤮

I guess EU leaders can’t condemn Trump because they know he’d slap a100% tariff or would find a way to take any sort of petty revenge… They can’t pretend outright that they are ok with the kidnapping, like they would ideally need to in order to keep the idiot sweet, because that would make a mockery of their stance on Ukraine, so they’re kind of stuck. Farage would have a field day if Starmer criticised Trump and some tariff made the UK economy tank. So sadly, not much they can say publicly. Hopefully, they are quietly getting ready for the worse case scenario, and at least getting ready for Greenland. I really hope it’s dawning on everyone in power that this administration is something else…

Farage would last literally 5 mins as a PM before having the keys to the UK over to America or Russia. He’s hopeless. He’s never been in charge of anything! Ever

The absolute last person you want around in difficult complex bully boys in charge kind of times.

Presumably Farage would be a tame poodle like Belarus leader is to Putin (Russia)? So can keep veneer of independence with Farage as nominal UK leader.

Trumpism has long been obviously = Might is Right. Am bemused by people only just waking up to that tenet. No concern for hearts and Minds.

Cuba could be strategically important and there is strong public opinion in favour of deposing their regime AND is in "backyard". Iran also has desirable oil & a vilified regime, but not so easy to get to and a young population who would turn into dogged resistance militias to occupation. Greenland is poorly defended so would be "easy" to take. One of those 3 is next to take over, I suppose. I think Cuba just nudges the others out, I reckon.

Mexico is not off table as takeover target given the fentynl production there, but... it would be a protracted guerrilla war if they did go for it, not an ordinarily vilified country. At least Canada is out of the frame, for now.