The downsides to the Venezuelan raid

NATOs success is underscored by the fact that no NATO-country has been attacked by another country during its 80 years since the inception. Perhaps that could be the reason why Trump wants us out of the alliance, or doesn’t he think that deeply?

Hilarious. Mr. Kristofferson submitted a recent comment and now submits a Letter to the Editor containing the majority, if not all, of his comment. Is this another example of what it means to double-dip? Hey, Mr. Kristofferson, why don’t we ask what the majority of Venezuelans think about Trump’s successful action in capturing a criminal? Don’t over 90% of Venezuelans support our (yes, our) great President Trump’s actions? As for the vast majority of Americans, the people have spoken and elected the greatest President, Trump, of our lifetimes, twice. If folks aren’t happy with Trump’s actions, where are the dozens of lawsuits seeking activist judges to force Trump to return Maduro to Venezuela?

As for Governor Carney, why would we listen to Carney? He doesn’t represent the US. Doesn’t Canada exist because they fall under the US security umbrella, as well as EU nations? If Canada and EU nations want to wriggle out of the US security umbrella, they can go for it. Meanwhile, they can talk the talk and we know they’ll fail to walk the walk – kind of like climate change folks. In the meantime, I’m still not tired of winning. Have a Trump-tastic day! BTW, if you want to expand your list of media sites, the New York Post recently activated the California Post (https://nypost.com/ca/). Be forewarned that their articles may puncture your misplaced stances on most key issues.

Great letter and an excellent observation by Jorg. All good material.

Cheers, Mike C.

Thanks for your perspective, however it downplays the strategic importance of removing Maduro and ignores how his regime served as a vital proxy for Iran, Russia, and China.

Venezuela supplied China with deep discounted oil via loan-repayment deals that let Beijing secure cheap energy while both evading sanctions. Maduro permitted a Russian ammunition factory to produce millions of Kalashnikov rounds annually, bolstering Putin's war effort in Ukraine. Venezuela also gave Iran a foothold in the Western Hemisphere. US indictments have repeatedly targeted senior Maduro officials for running the Cartel de los Soles, a drug-trafficking operation that channeled funds to Hezbollah. Iran relied on Venezuelan networks to launder and sell its oil, generating revenue that supports drone and missile supplies to Russia for use in Ukraine.

America has a clear interest in stopping its own region from becoming a hub for enemies who arm aggressors, fund terrorism, and manipulate energy markets. IMO Maduro's arrest disrupts this axis and raises the cost of Russian or Chinese aggression, not the reverse.

Mr. Kristofferson is correct to point out the larger implications of putting our military in harm’s way to kidnap Maduro and his wife as Ariolimax de facto agrees. Point is, we don’t have a follow-up plan. Are we running Venezuela now that Maduro is gone? No, the policies of the elected government are unchanged. It is a continuation of the policies of Chavez, who nationalized the oil fields. The US has backed the regime-change opposition since Chavez rule, directing them to sabotage the infrastructure from within. Further, Venezuelan assets have been tied up in the US and denied from the people, including tens of billions from proceeds of the Texas-based Citco Petroleum. Maduro, however, offered Trump a significant stake in Venezuela’s oil fields but only the complete removal of Maduro would do. It would take “boots on the ground,” and is that worth it? Drugs? Maduro was not running Tren de Aragua or Cartel de la Soles. The latter is shorthand for corrupt military officials throughout the region trafficking in drugs, and the CIA used the cartel to send a ton of cocaine to the US in an operation against Columbian cartels in 1993, two decades before Maduro was elected (New York Times 11/20/93). It’s about regional US hegemony and raising the petrodollar. And where is this Russia/China aggression? Ukraine? It's not a land grab, it's defending the Russian-speaking East. The Cold War is over. It was stoked by Nazi Germany. Let’s not continue it.

Unlike Clashfan and Ariolimax, as an ordinary citizen, I have no reliable inside information about what is happening on the ground in Venezuela. I agree with Ariolmax that stopping our adversaries like Russia et al., from using Venezuela as a base is a good thing up to a point. However, we cannot under international law, for example, prevent China from offering aid to a country, and it is an open question about where one crosses a line when one ramps up efforts to hinder such moves. With Trump, opening moves tend to go quickly to the extreme unfortunately. European hegemonist policies in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, a period that Trump seems to think “Made America Great” the first time, led us first to WWI and later WWII.

In response to another item, if there is a factory in Venezuela producing millions of rounds of Kalashnikov ammunition for use in Ukraine AND the Maduro raid resulted in that being shut down, then that would clearly be a good thing from an American perspective. I had not heard previously of such a factory and also have no knowledge as to whether or not it stopped production simply because Maduro was whisked out of the country. Since we live in the Steve Bannon “flood the zone with s—t” era, I am not in a position to respond to such comments without first doing detailed research, assuming that reliable information sources exist. A quick Google search indicated that such a factory had only recently been opened last July, so it seems like some of the comments made here might be (surprise!) at least slightly exaggerated. Fox News, in particular, is great at this kind of alarmist reporting on the right, and there are similar biases in the opposite direction on the left.

What is clear is that the international community in the case of Ukraine has relied on the rules of national sovereignty to push back against Russia’s invasion. The same holds true if the PRC were to invade Taiwan, although the PRC does everything in its power to portray Taiwan as a breakaway province instead of an independent nation with a dramatically different style of government. Trump’s actions in Venezuela and threats against Canada, Denmark, Greenland, and, recently at Davos, other allies such as Switzerland clearly add support to the hegemonists’ playbook instead of supporting the rule of law.

This is completely in character with how the Trump administration governs domestically as well.

I listened to Trump’s entire speech at Davos, and while it is clear that Trump has succeeded in getting NATO members to up their military contributions, as several writers attest (and I also mark that as a very positive development for Trump), listening to him litter his speech with the usual “greatest ever” superlatives and synthetic “facts” are constant reminders of his bizarre personality. It is hard to believe that a successful person would adopt this kind of behavior towards others unless he had them “over a barrel” to such an extent that they had no choice but to listen to his words and submit. As I said in my LTE, I do not think that this behavior is part of the vision for America that most people in this country would endorse.

Finally TY does the usual lazy cut-and-paste job from his/her grab bag of stock slogans and insults. Yawn. If TY wants to join the conversation as it always so desperately appears, stop being anahole.

Yes, Dr. Kristofferson, NATO has kept every member country free from being attacked by another country for 80 years. Doesn’t Trump even know that, or understand what kind of world chaos we most likely would have had without NATO? He has even threatened to pull us out of the alliance, if, or for whatever “reason” lurks around in his rather limited and uneducated mind.