The U.S. military operation in Venezuela is depicted as the point of the final collapse of international law and a symptom of Washington’s transition to open neo‑imperial coercion.
The raid appears to have begun with a cyberattack shutting down power to air defences and communications in Caracas and the surrounding area, blinding the defenders and sharply limiting their ability to coordinate their defenses.
Approximately 150 aircraft were involved, launching strikes on numerous targets, including the bombing of the mausoleum of Hugo Chavez. Way to keep it classy, America.
Apparently the operation was planned for some time, and while initially presented as being in response to “narco-trafficking,” a post-raid press conference ended up with Trump talking mainly about how Maduro supposedly stole US oil and other resources and how the US was going to “run Venezuela” until a suitable (one can only assume he meant “puppet”) government could be formed.
At least they are being honest, I guess…
Trump, Rubio, and Hesgith then went on to threaten Mexico, Columbia, Cuba, and Greenland in rants that became increasingly deranged, while the White House posted memes of Trump with the acronym “FAFO” (Fuck Around and Find Out), which shows the degeneracy of US governance, which has descended into government by social media memes.
Needless to say, Zelensky immediately called for the same sort of operation against Putin, which is, to be quite frank, asking for a global thermonuclear war, but what else can we expect from the dictator of Ukraine.
What is more concerning, is that Trump is currently denying the Ukrainian/CIA/MI6 attempt to strike Putin’s residence in Novgorod with his attempts to claim that the attack was “nearby but nothing to do with it [Putin’s residence and nuclear command center]” despite the fact that the Russian government handed over navigational data extracted from Ukrainian drones, which confirms that the residence and command center was, in fact, the target.
Trump is Dick Cheney 2.0
It is becoming increasingly apparent that it is not Trump in charge, but the CIA, and that Trump is morphing into Dick Cheney 2.0 as a result.
The same MO of previous regime change operations has the CIA’s dirty fingerprints all over it. And the result of this one may be the same too, with Maduro being offered up as another victim of character assassination, along with his wife, by the US. This is the same as they did to Gaddafi and Hussein, etc.
They are blaming him for the nationalisation of the oil fields that happened in 1975, lol.
Let us not forget about Cuba and what Castro did. They, too, kicked out US corporations that were robbing Cuba blind, restoring state ownership of national resources and assets. Needless to say, Rubio and the perfumed princess Lindsey Graham are salivating at the prospect of overthrowing the Cuban government.
The usual psyops are in full swing, with US media portraying film of Venezuelans in the US celebrating as film from Caracas and completely ignoring the massive protests IN SUPPORT of Maduro that are taking place, with hundreds of thousands of working-class Venezuelans in the street protesting the assault on their nation’s sovereignty.
Double Standards
Talking heads, such as the reprehensible Jack Keane, a former US general, let the cat out of the bag, when during an interview he let slip that the capture of Maduro would be “Good for the people of Israel”, and the media adulation of the opposition “leader” Machado, who received the so-called Nobel peace prize for calling for intervention to overthrow the government of Maduro, glosses over her rampant Zionism and promise to put a Venezuelan embassy in Jerusalem and privatize Venezuelan natural resources.
All the while, apparently, US SF are on their way to the Middle East through the UK. I suspect Trump is going to try the same thing in Tehran. If they do, I suspect a lot of US SF will die for a lost cause, and one can only hope that US casualties will be a learning experience, as it is the only way Americans will learn.
While US talking heads gloat over the rapid operation, they miss the point that it was done against a country that has not weathered US sanctions well, that has limited air defense systems that were not given backup power, and that has limited ability to retaliate.
Iran has proven, particularly during the 12-day war, to be far more resilient and was able to effectively strike back at both Israeli and US targets, something the arrogance of American leaders has failed to absorb into their thinking.
The US obviously hopes to use Venezuelan oil reserves to offset economic chaos that would be caused by Iran shutting the Straits of Hormuz in retaliation to any US-Israeli attack. This seems stupid beyond belief, as Venezuelan oil infrastructure is in a severely dilapidated state due to decades of US sanctions making it impossible to maintain, let alone modernize, the extraction infrastructure, and it will require billions of dollars of investment and years of work to overcome the decades of neglect, and that assumes a peaceful situation, whereas it is far more likely that any US companies working in the oil fields will face relentless attacks from pro-Maduro militias.
Hypocrisy of the EU and UK
Meanwhile, the hypocrisy of the EU and UK is on full display, with Kallas, the EU foreign relations chief, describing Maduro as “illegitimate” (somehow Zelensky, who cancelled elections and banned opposition parties, is still legitimate, though), while Starmer, the UK Prime Minister and supposed defender of international law, said he would need to check with the US about their reasoning for the attack before making a judgement on its legality.
Both the EU and the UK have totally lost any credibility they had regarding “defending the rule of law,” and that was little enough after their support of genocide in Gaza and the West Bank.
The BIG takeaway is that “might makes right,” and I am sure the lesson has not been lost on either President Putin or President Xi. If Russia chooses to arrest Zelensky, or China launches an operation to take under arrest the Taiwanese “president,” what will the US do, say.
“But that is illegal!”?
What we are seeing is the US putting the final nail in the coffin of international law, the burying of which began with the US bombing of Yugoslavia in 1999.
Buckle up; it’s going to be a wild ride. It is not hard to understand how Americans plan to run Venezuela, running it into the ground; one only has to listen to the renowned experts. But the difficult question — with answers few and far between — is this: How is Trump planning to ‘run’ Venezuela? (With Anne Applebaum), as she has all the imaginary insight.
I suspect Trump thinks this will somehow help secure victory in the midterm elections this year, and this is part of that plan; however, if oil prices don’t go down, not to mention inflation and the cost of everything, the effect will be just the opposite.
Seth Ferris, investigative journalist and political scientist, expert on Middle Eastern affairs
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