Talk of U.S. Military Intervention in Venezuela Suddenly Gains Traction
I am shocked!!!
Shocked, I say!!!
Lemme see…
Trump is up to his elbows in problems.
Things seem to be getting worse for the RatPubs regarding the November (s)elections.
Much worse.
The possibility of the Dems taking both houses of Congress…and several governorships as well..is being floated by what we laughingly call “the serious media.” (Translation…the centrist media…you know…CNN and Time Mag? Not them commie-rat media like the NY Times, WAPO and MSDNC.)
It’s getting time…maybe even past time…for Trump to prove his manhood once again.
His heroism.
His wisdom.
His “Make America Great Again!!!” warrior spirit.
But…wait a minute!!!
Who’s he gonna attack?
China?
Fuggedaboudit!!!
Too powerful on too many levels.
N. Korea? Still under Chinese protection. Bet on it.
Russia? Ditto China, plus the Russians no doubt have something on him.
Iran?
Open that nasty can of worms? For political reasons?
Please!
His advisors…those who have real power (read “Generals” and “Intelligence bosses”) would probably be forced to coup him right there. We can’t even handle Afghanistan.
What to do, what to do!!!???
Some easy mark…disorganized, broke and now totally vulnerable.
Trump (Hard at work…in sub-3 minute segments.):
Hmmmmm…
Oh.
I got it!!!
VENEZUELA!!!
Read on.
(From the above link (Bloomberg News. Who’da thunk it?) Emphases mine:)
When President Donald Trump said a year ago that the U.S. was considering a “military option” for Venezuela, hardly anyone in Washington thought it was a good idea.
Today, as Venezuela slides toward dictatorship and collapse, triggering a millions-strong migration crisis, support for such a move is being discussed openly. The notion of using force to topple the government of President Nicolas Maduro is gaining adherents — although it remains a distinctly minority view.
Marco Rubio, a Republican senator from Florida, said last month that for years he sought a peaceful solution to Venezuela, but now there’s a “very strong argument” that it’s a security threat to the region and the U.S. that calls for the use of the American military.
This month, speaking in Cucuta, the Colombian border town that’s the biggest crossing point for migrants, the secretary-general of the Organization of American States, Luis Almagro, said military intervention shouldn’t be ruled out, though he later suggested he’d been misunderstood.
`Could Be Toppled’
Trump himself hasn’t walked anything back. On Tuesday at the United Nations, he told reporters who asked him about military intervention that he had no intention of broadcasting his plans, adding, “It’s a regime that frankly could be toppled very quickly by the military, if the military decides to do that.”
—snip—
Fernando Cutz, who served as adviser on South America until last year on the National Security Council, said at Washington’s Wilson Center on Monday that a multilateral military intervention could be the best solution for Venezuela.
—snip—
Some prominent Venezuelan exiles are also backing the idea. Opposition leader Antonio Ledezma has called for “humanitarian intervention” while professor Ricardo Hausmann, a Harvard economist who served as the nation’s planning minister in the 1990s says that a solution to the crisis is “contingent on regime change.”
—snip—
Security Hawks
Adding to a sense that Washington may be warming to intervention, security hawks with an interest in Latin America are taking positions in the administration. Mauricio Claver-Carone, an opponent of rapprochement with Cuba, is expected to be named senior director for Western Hemisphere Affairs at the National Security Council. Jose Cardenas, who’s being considered for a position in the State Department, wrote an op-ed in June titled “It’s Time for a Coup in Venezuela.”
Of course, U.S. military intervention has often gone poorly and comes with enormous historical baggage. Centuries of such action have bred hostility in Latin America and any Washington-led move to topple Maduro would face opposition from Venezuela’s neighbors. Just this month, governments from the so-called Lima Group, including Brazil, Mexico, Peru and Chile, issued a statement rejecting the use or threat of force in Venezuela. Some have backed other attempts to squeeze the Maduro government through sanctions on top officials and bringing a case to the International Criminal Court.
`Rebirth of Interference’
At the same time, almost none of Venezuela’s neighbors try to defend the legitimacy of its government any longer.
“There has been a shift in terms of accepting that it is a dictatorship,” Argentine President Mauricio Macri said Monday, in a Bloomberg interview in New York, noting that he opposes military intervention. “Everybody accepts that it is no longer a democracy.”
Within the U.S., there is plenty of opposition as well. It would “lead to a great deal of concern over a rebirth of United States interference in Latin America, and is far from clear it solves any of your refugee and population problems,” said Anthony Cordesman, who holds the Arleigh A. Burke Chair in Strategy at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington.
David Smilde, a Venezuela expert at Tulane University in New Orleans, argues against intervention but says if Trump feels he needs an important foreign policy victory with re-election coming up, he may decide to “get this ball rolling.”
–snip—
Francisco Rodriguez, a Venezuelan economist who took a break this year from his Wall Street job at Torino Capital to help the campaign of an opposition leader, agrees, saying Trump has plenty of incentives to intervene in Venezuela because military actions tend to raise presidential approval ratings.
—snip—
[Ricardo) Hausmann of Harvard rejected the argument that a military intervention would be a bloodbath.
The armed forces of Venezuela are “going to collapse,” he said. “They have no operational capacity, they are a useless force. They are an occupation army, they are no military threat to anybody.”
—snip—
Still, Tulane University’s Smilde noted: “Given the lack of democratic alternatives, and given the fact that what was once a nuisance is now a regional migration crisis, it’s not surprising that this talk that has existed for a long time is now becoming more widespread.”
—snip—
Yup.
Watch.
A news cycle dominated by a fratboy lawyer/judge’s youthful “indiscretions?” A little rape play and such? Too much cheap beer? Mainstream in the .01% world.
But a SHOOTING WAR???!!!
Plus…there’s oil at stake!!!???
A no-brainer.
Literally, in Trump’s case.
How long would this Kavanaugh thing last in the headlines?
About as long as it took him to jerk off to his nastiest dreams at 17.
GOO’NESS GRACIOUS, MABEL!!! WE CAIN’T CHANGE ASSHOLES IN MIDSTREAM!!! LET’S GET OUT THERE AN’ VOTE!!!
Watch.
AG
P.S. And the DemRats would go along.
To get along.
As usual.
Watch that as well.
Can’t oppose war!!!
That’d lose us votes and corporate support!!!
Yup.
That it would…
