Airlines Cancel Hundreds of Flights After U.S. Attack on Venezuela (cnbc.com)
- Reference: 0180508045
- News link: https://news.slashdot.org/story/26/01/03/1740239/airlines-cancel-hundreds-of-flights-after-us-attack-on-venezuela
- Source link: https://www.cnbc.com/2026/01/03/venezuela-airspace-flight-disruptions.html
JetBlue, Southwest, and American Airlines were among the multiple airlines showing cancelled flights, which "included close to 300 flights to and from San Juan, Puerto Rico's Luis Muñoz Marín International Airport, more than 40% of the day's schedule, according to FlightAware."
> Airlines canceled flights throughout the Caribbean on Saturday following U.S. strikes on Venezuela after the Federal Aviation Administration ordered commercial aircraft to avoid airspace in parts of the region.... It wasn't immediately clear how long the disruptions would last, though such broad restrictions are often temporary. Airlines said they would waive change fees and fare differences for customers affected by the airspace closures who could fly later in the month.
CNN cites a U.S. official who says [2]more than 150 U.S. aircraft (including helicopters) launched from 20 different bases "on land and sea" during Friday's attack.
The U.S. has said the lights were out in Caracas during the attack, presumably because of a targeted strike on their power grid. "Videos filmed by Caracas residents showed parts of the city in the dark," [3]reports the Miami Herald .
United Nations secretary-general António Guterres issued a statement via his spokesman saying he was "deeply concerned that the rules of international law have not been respected," (according to a Reuters report [4]cited by the Guardian ). The Guardian adds that "a number of nations have called for an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council, in New York, today, as a result of the U.S.'s unilateral action."
[1] https://www.cnbc.com/2026/01/03/venezuela-airspace-flight-disruptions.html
[2] https://www.cnn.com/world/live-news/venezuela-explosions-caracas-intl-hnk-01-03-26?t=1767461221013
[3] https://www.miamiherald.com/news/nation-world/world/americas/venezuela/article314137573.html
[4] https://www.theguardian.com/world/live/2026/jan/03/caracas-explosions-venezuela-maduro-latest-news-updates-live
Peace prize (Score:5, Funny)
How could the winner of the inaugural FIFA Peace Prize do such a thing?
Re: Peace prize (Score:2)
God Damn! I KNEW it!!!
Re: (Score:2)
Obama won the Nobel prize literally for not being George Bush.
Re: (Score:2)
Drone strikes while black.
I'm no Nobel history expert so maybe this wasn't the line, but it's been a joke at least since Kissinger's.
Re: (Score:1)
and then he tried to take America to war with Syria, and when they said no, he carpet bombed Libya as a consolation prize. I haven't had a single president in my lifetime who hasn't bombed the fuck out of some people.
Re: (Score:1, Insightful)
Most contemporary tallies and investigative reports list seven countries where Obama-era bombing and drone campaigns took place: Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya, Yemen, Somalia and Pakistan. That includes extra-judicial killing of American citizens. But that's ok. The media isn't going to quibble about that.
Re:Peace prize (Score:5, Interesting)
Because Obama had this reported. Unlike Trump who blocked reporting because [1]he was killing so many civilians [bbc.com] it was making him look bad.
As to those "extra-judicial killings", I'm guessing you're okay with all those extra-judicial killings of people in the Caribbean. Oh those, weren't citizens, so it's okay. The media isn't going to quibble about that.
[1] https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-47480207
Re: Peace prize (Score:2)
You don't know that this is the case. The only people saying those were drug trafficking boats are the people who shot at them.
Re: (Score:2)
You believe that bullshit about fishermen being "narco-terrorists"? Why?
In the first place, the boats that the US bombed didn't have the range to get to the US with their cargo. They would have required a minimum of 5 refueling stops, and as many as 8. So either they had fuel ships waiting to refuel them - so the US would have bombed those as well and we would have heard about it; or they had to enter ports along the way and would have been subject to Customs inspections. How many smugglers would go through
Re: (Score:3)
The full name is "Please leave us organise our world in your country in Peace" FIFA Prize
Re: (Score:2)
"world event"
Re: (Score:2)
Well also they got to use the Kennedy centre completely for free to have the prize award ceremony.
By astonishing coincidence their world cup draw ceremony was there the very next day while they stillhad it.
Re: (Score:1)
The most lol-worthy Slashdot post for months !
Thank you !
Re: (Score:2)
War Is Peace. Freedom Is Slavery. Ignorance Is Strength.’
Re: (Score:2)
Not to mention that the UNSC's purpose is to [1]break the UN [wikipedia.org]...
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Nations_Security_Council_veto_power
US does not recognize Maduro's government (Score:4, Interesting)
[1]Condemning Nicolas Maduro's Illegitimate Attempt to Seize Power in Venezuela [state.gov]. I believe US is not alone in not recognizing Maduro as a leader of Venezuela.
[1] https://2021-2025.state.gov/office-of-the-spokesperson/releases/2025/01/condemning-nicolas-maduros-illegitimate-attempt-to-seize-power-in-venezuela-and-announcing-new-actions-against-maduro-and-his-representatives-and-to-support-the-venezuelan-people
Maduro is charged with Narco-Terrorism (Score:1)
[1]Nicolas Maduro Moros and 14 Current and Former Venezuelan Officials Charged with Narco-Terrorism, Corruption, Drug Trafficking and Other Criminal Charges [justice.gov]
> "Today we announce criminal charges against Nicolas Maduro Moros for running, together with his top lieutenants, a narco-terrorism partnership with the FARC for the past 20 years," said U.S. Attorney Geoffrey S. Berman. "The scope and magnitude of the drug trafficking alleged was made possible only because Maduro and others corrupted the institutions of
[1] https://www.justice.gov/archives/opa/pr/nicol-s-maduro-moros-and-14-current-and-former-venezuelan-officials-charged-narco-terrorism
Re: (Score:1, Troll)
Dude give it up this ass kissing is pathetic.
Re: (Score:2)
What does Tim Apple have to do with this?
Re: (Score:2)
> What does Tim Apple have to do with this?
Plus, didn't he present Trump with some gaudy participation trophy, as an offering to convince him to make an exception on tariffs that were hurting Apple's bottom line? When I think "rich people who aren't bending the knee to Trump", I don't think Tim Cook.
Re: Maduro is charged with Narco-Terrorism (Score:4, Informative)
We've been bombing and in one case even double-tapping fucking fishing boats off of their shore and you're still out here saying "let's wait for the evidence which will probably be false anyway". You are easily one of the biggest bootlickers I've ever seen on here
Re:Maduro is charged with Narco-Terrorism (Score:5, Informative)
[1]I guess there's a pardon coming soon for Maduro, then? [nytimes.com]
[1] https://www.nytimes.com/2025/11/28/world/americas/trump-pardon-honduras-hernandez.html
Re: (Score:3, Informative)
Even the orange guy himself admitted that his motivation is venezuelan oil. He will invent the most absurd excuses to attack Venezuela, and he won't stop there. Soon it will be Mexico, Colombia (Argentina has already surrendered for a piece of bone). I wonder what excuse he will invent to invade Brazil, the "terrible" Brazilian jabuticabas?
Re: (Score:2)
Narco terrorism? Is that like importing 400 tons of cocaine into the country then getting a pardon? I thought the word was if someone sells drugs in your country [1]you don't arrest the president of that country [usatoday.com].
> "A lot of people in Honduras asked me to do that, and I did it. I feel very good about it," Trump said. "If you have some drug dealers in your country, and you're the president, you don't necessarily put the president jail for 45 years."
[1] https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2025/12/02/trump-juan-orlando-hernandez-pardon-honduras-drugs/87564181007/
Re:US does not recognize Maduro's government (Score:5, Insightful)
USA has trafficked narcotics to get funds for military operations, funded terrorists but it now whines when another power does those things.
Not the USA's place to recognize or not recognize, any more than a foreign power could claim Biden didn't really win the election.
USA has become pirates of the high seas, kidnappers of heads of state and is trying to enforce the rules of its kangaroo court where it has zero jurisdiction, for an oil and power grab.
The opposition leader USA is backing has won no election.
Re:US does not recognize Maduro's government (Score:4, Informative)
The real question is what is the world prepared to do about it in response?
The call for a UN Security Counsel Meeting (of which the US - the aggressor / defendant - has veto power over any decision made) in New York (a US city where diplomats have already been banned from attending by the US. - again, the aggressor / defendant ) seems to be a rather poor one.
To be fair to the UN, there have been calls to relocate the UN building elsewhere, perhaps that will come about sooner rather than later as a result of this incident. But more should be done if the world is to be taken seriously. Otherwise, the heads of state for Greenland might want to prepare for an unexpected live fire drill on their capital.....
Re: (Score:2)
No need to relocate anything. The UN already has other buildings - in Geneva, Vienna and Nairobi.
Re: (Score:2)
> The opposition leader USA is backing has won no election.
The venezuelan contitution demands that detailed results of the elections be presented 90 days after the fact. This has not happened, so, Maduro's govt violated the constitution. the "Moral power" (in venezuela we are a 5 powers state, while the USoA only has 3) is obliged to inhabilitate any civil servant that does not comply with their duties (like electoral functionaries not showing results in 90 days, or electoral supreme court not ruling on elecoral matters in 120 days), that also has not happened.
Mean
Re:US does not recognize Maduro's government (Score:4, Informative)
> He VERY blatantly stole the election after losing in a huge landslide, and his own people hate him. I'm very glad the dictator is gone, now the rightful winner can take his place.
Cool. So Russia is next? Putin prevents any opposition candidate from running and steals the election [1]by stuffing ballot boxes [apnews.com]. Russia also has a lot of oil.
[1] https://apnews.com/article/europe-russia-elections-voting-vladimir-putin-1a072af8580b05b134bd22df95a5ae83
Re: (Score:2, Interesting)
Don't be so pathetically gullible. Trump just spent an entire fucking press conference telling people this is about oil.
Re:US does not recognize Maduro's government (Score:5, Interesting)
The question of legitimacy, as seen by the US, concerning the presidency of Venezuela, is simple enough. It's whether the current government at odds with US or not.
Venezuela has the biggest oil reserves in the world, and basically all politics in the country boils down to the power struggle of a US connected elite who wants to control the oil, mostly in favour of US Big Oil, and a populist leftist faction who wants to control the oil, mostly in favour of the general populace. The trouble has since forever been two-fold - when the US backed elite is out of power, the US is always working with them to cause trouble for the leftist government. And when the US backed elite is in power, it's blatant disregard for the needs of the country and general populace works towards it's own yet another downfall. It doesn't help that so far any leftist government has been unable to do much but buy public welfare with oil money, without building and actual strong economy for the country. This brings about things like great improvement in pretty much every metric of public welfare during the Chávez years, which coicided with good oil prices, yet a lot of it was undone when oil prices crashed.
This doesn't mean people necessarily love Maduro or Chávez or the lot, although many do, too. It's just that exactly like in every other country where the US takes to meddle for it's own interest, the US is univerally hated and people will opt for literally anyone who is not associated with them. Maybe in a similar vein like when you really hate Hillary or Biden, Trump starts to look pretty good.
Now as to the linked Blinken statement... One should by now know the difference of the actions of politics, and the rhetoric used to sell these actions. First the ends are settled on, and then unrelated talking points are constructed to reach the means needed obtain the ends. Any public statement by the government should thus be seen for what it is, bullshit not worth the breath used to utter it.
Re: (Score:2)
> a US connected elite who wants to control the oil, mostly in favour of US Big Oil
Clearly oil does figure into this, but so far the US-based oil majors have declined to get involved with Venezuela. For one thing there's a glut of oil at present, and the price has dropped to about $56 a barrel. Another obstacle is the poor status of the existing infrastructure there, it would require massive investments for years to fix wells, pipelines, and blending facilities that are corroded and broken. And then
Re: (Score:2)
Cheap oil may not make the oil companies happy, but it is politically advantageous for the Trump administration to keep oil prices low. Because oil is a globally traded commodity, the price of oil will ultimately be affected by the situation in Venezuela, even if US oil companies have no direct interest in Venezuelan oil.
Re: (Score:2)
> it is politically advantageous for the Trump administration to keep oil prices low
It would be politically advantageous for Trump to keep all kinds of prices low, but clearly that has not happened and it isn't his priority.
"The Trump administration is asking U.S. oil companies if they’re interested in returning to Venezuela ... And so far, the answer is a hard “no.”
[1]https://www.politico.com/news/... [politico.com]
It would take years of investment to rebuild the oil infrastructure there, and at cur
[1] https://www.politico.com/news/2025/12/17/trump-oil-venezuela-return-00695292
Re: (Score:2)
>> it is politically advantageous for the Trump administration to keep oil prices low
> It would be politically advantageous for Trump to keep all kinds of prices low, but clearly that has not happened and it isn't his priority.
> "The Trump administration is asking U.S. oil companies if they’re interested in returning to Venezuela ... And so far, the answer is a hard “no.” [1]https://www.politico.com/news/... [politico.com]
> It would take years of investment to rebuild the oil infrastructure there, and at current prices it wouldn't make sense.
China already takes the oil
They look long term and aren't afraid of a bit of investment in infrastructure.
Trump "gets along well with Xi" as he constantly tells us.
If American oil companies aren't up to the challenge, it's not hard to see who might be. How much of a cut is Trump asking for to get this deal done?
[1] https://www.politico.com/news/2025/12/17/trump-oil-venezuela-return-00695292
Re: (Score:2)
> The question of legitimacy, as seen by the US, concerning the presidency of Venezuela, is simple enough. It's whether the current government at odds with US or not.
while you are 100% right, in this particular case, you are not 107% right. There are a few nuances, mostly that these guys never showed detailed election results, as the constitution mandates, meanwhile, the opposition showed decent proof they won 3:1. i.e. this guy stole the 2024 elections.
> Venezuela has the biggest oil reserves in the world, and basically all politics in the country boils down to the power struggle of a US connected elite who wants to control the oil, mostly in favour of US Big Oil, and a populist leftist faction who wants to control the oil, mostly in favour of the general populace. The trouble has since forever been two-fold - when the US backed elite is out of power, the US is always working with them to cause trouble for the leftist government. And when the US backed elite is in power, it's blatant disregard for the needs of the country and general populace works towards it's own yet another downfall.
There is a snag in your narrative. The Trump administration consulted BigOil in the USoA, and most/all of the companies said that they did not want to come back here (for the companies that were expropiated in 2008), or
Re: (Score:3)
You give Trump too much credit. He is for sale to anyone with money. That a company isn't a US company would mean nothing to him, except as a talking point.
Re: (Score:1)
> PS: I am a Venezuelan, living in Venezuela...
Can you please tell me how accurate is this: [1]What's Happening in Venezuela and Why - Daniel Di Martino [youtube.com]
[1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1swPGLfi2_8
Re: (Score:2)
I am Canadian living in Canada. I definitely think Trump will invade at some point. Some right wing folks will, like in Ukraine, welcome him and help him. Wish I could see it your way though.
Re: (Score:1)
> I am Canadian living in Canada. I definitely think Trump will invade at some point
I can tell you with certainty that you are wrong. Trump will not invade Canada.
Re: (Score:2)
Now talk about Greenland.
Re: (Score:2)
Thank you. Although I wish I shared your certainty. I'm not talking about Canada being the "51st" state here, I'm talking about the rhetoric of national security and using military means to achieve such ends. In my mine there is a definite non-zero probability that one of our largest, most imperialistic neighbors will invade at some point: Russia, China, or the US. I don't think it will be China since they don't need to invade to control the things they want to control. Now that you've removed all restr
Re: (Score:2)
I'm appalled by Trump and worry about a lot of what he does but I don't think what you're saying is something to worry about. He's actually toned down the awful stuff he's been saying about Canada recently. If we were going to invade he'd be trying to convince at least MAGA but likely the American people in general of the cause by ramping up rhetoric.
Neither does the EU (Score:3)
[1]Neither does the EU [euronews.com]
[1] https://www.euronews.com/my-europe/2024/08/29/eu-rejects-legitimacy-of-venezuelas-maduro-stops-short-of-recognising-gonzalez-as-election
Re: (Score:3, Informative)
How does that justify invading a country and kidnapping someone? Putin doesn't recognize the Ukrainian president as legitimate either (nor do his allies) which is his excuse for invading Ukraine. How is Trump's "limited military operation" any more acceptable than Putin's? I realize that this is nothing new; the US has intervened in morally questionable ways since WW II, the most famous and perhaps lowest point being the CIA overthrow of the Iranian democratic government in the 50s.
Re: (Score:1)
> How does that justify invading a country and kidnapping someone?
It does not, but kidnapping a person is a different kind of international scandal from kidnapping a recognized head of state. This is a scandal, but not as big as it could have been.
Re: (Score:2)
> I'm guessing Petro is going to be a LOT less "argumentative" now.
His administration already rejected/condemned the attack and extraction.
Petro is not worried, there is plenty people in line in from of him with USoAn court aprehension orders and bounties on their head before the USoA even thinks about snatching him.
While the trump admin shows a blantant disregard for intl and national law, the modicum of pretense they still have is towards internal law, and Petro is not a wanted man in the USoA, yet
now do putin (Score:1)
I see so many crazy people comparing ruzzian invasion of Ukraine and this arrest of a specific dictator... if USA really wanted to do something useful, Trump would have arrested putin in Alaska instead of rolling out the red carpet (while yelling at Zelensky).
In any case, how about taking a logical step and doing the same thing in ruzzia, iran, north korea, cuba?
Re: (Score:2)
If you go by the word of the orange man, the goal here is to stop the fentanyl that is causing over 70.000 deaths per year.
That's quite a more immediate threat than putin.
Re:now do putin (Score:5, Insightful)
Problem is, Venezuela is not a significant source of fentanyl.
Re: (Score:1)
> Problem is, Venezuela is not a significant source of fentanyl.
Correct. That would be Mexico.
Re: (Score:1)
why would I go by what trump says? His words have no meaning, we can go by what he does. Taking out Maduro shows that USA still has power, similar to what was done in Iran with the bombing, just a little more specific. Taking out maduro allows the opposition to try and come to power and obviously the US oil miners that were chased out by maduro now will be invited back, hopefully bringing oil prices lower. (hopefully, because I am for anything that reduces ruzzian ability to make money selling oil).
Trump
Re: (Score:2)
Indeed.
Re: (Score:2)
> I see so many crazy people comparing ruzzian invasion of Ukraine and this arrest of a specific dictator... if USA really wanted to do something useful, Trump would have arrested putin in Alaska instead of rolling out the red carpet (while yelling at Zelensky).
> In any case, how about taking a logical step and doing the same thing in ruzzia, iran, north korea, cuba?
Putin and Kim have Nukes, and targets that the USoA values. Maduro has no nukes.
Re:now do putin (Score:4, Informative)
There is no accepted legal principle that would allow the US to prosecute the head of a foreign country for acts in that country. That Venezuela might have grounds for the prosecution is irrelevant.
What is is, is a claim that "might makes right". It has no other real basis.
Re: (Score:1)
might has right is now the only basis. Once there was some kind of international law, no more. Not since ruzzia invaded Ukraine. Since then what the world has learned is that only physical force has the right, go complain to the UN if you disagree.
Re: now do putin (Score:1)
Mhh...best not try turn over that rock.
Sitting on a pile of probably operational nuclear warheads has its advantages.
And calling the guy's bluff while implicitly signaling your own is unwise.
Re: (Score:2)
> Just turned up in Russia. I think you'll start to see the the high level actors that were complicit in Cartel de los Soles activity rushing the exits now.
That was the rumour in the early morning. The rumour now in mid-day is that she is in caracas, in hididng from other factions of the chavista apparatus that want her head.
May I remind you that unlike Padrino and Cabello, she (and her brother Jorge, president of the Assamblea) do not have tribunal issued capture orders, or bounties on their head, like Maduro, and other high raking figures of chavismo do. Those are first in line for future extractions.
Now Comes the Nation Building??? (Score:5, Insightful)
As a veteran of the last Regime Change/ Nation Building exercise that ended in failure, I can only think that capturing (kidnapping) Maduro was the easy part. Trump has publicly declared we're going to run Venezuela now. But removing Maduro doesn't remove his government. Marudo was just the top of the pyramid. All the other layers are still in place. So I don't know how Trump is supposed to run Venezuela, unless he proceeds with some sort of invasion. I highly doubt the rest of the Venezuelan government will simply surrender to American occupation. If anything, I think removing Maduro was a symbolic exercise for an ego-driven and insecure President, who disparately craves attention and demands respect and fear. Imho. Maduro was a marginal leader, and if anything his replacement will be far more competent and more resilient than Maduro was.
Re: (Score:3)
Another Vietnam situation, lovely.
Re: (Score:1)
> Another Vietnam situation, lovely.
This is far from certain at this point. Trump got very lucky* with Iran, maybe he gets lucky here and the situation get resolved without a war?
* I say lucky because you are not going to accept the possibility that maybe he does know what he is doing.
Re: (Score:2)
He already pardons people and has no clue who they are or what crimes they committed. [1]https://www.bbc.com/news/artic... [bbc.com]
He only knows what his handlers tell him.
[1] https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cn7ek63e5xyo.amp
Re: (Score:2)
> As a veteran of the last Regime Change/ Nation Building exercise that ended in failure, I can only think that capturing (kidnapping) Maduro was the easy part. Trump has publicly declared we're going to run Venezuela now. But removing Maduro doesn't remove his government. Marudo was just the top of the pyramid. All the other layers are still in place. So I don't know how Trump is supposed to run Venezuela, unless he proceeds with some sort of invasion. I highly doubt the rest of the Venezuelan government will simply surrender to American occupation. If anything, I think removing Maduro was a symbolic exercise for an ego-driven and insecure President, who disparately craves attention and demands respect and fear. Imho. Maduro was a marginal leader, and if anything his replacement will be far more competent and more resilient than Maduro was.
Keep on doing extractions on people with tribunal issued capture orders and bounties on their heads, and keep issuing tribunal capture orders and bounties until moral improves, and chavistas that want to play ball rise through the ranks by sheer attrition.
Slow and costly in the short term, but effective and cheaper than boots on the ground in the long term
.
Re: (Score:2)
If that was somehow a meaningful way of created regime change we wouldn't have spent 20 years in Afghanistan to failure.
Re: (Score:2)
One failed country running another, what could go wrong...
Alternative (Score:2)
But there are plenty of speed boat tickets available...
Trump draft (Score:4, Interesting)
Your kids are going to get drafted before long.
Every failing empire does the same thing. Military expansion to fill its coffers.
It won't be long until the United States runs out of easy targets that don't require lots of boots on the ground and with birth rates being so low we aren't going to have enough soldiers for the volunteer army.
The only question is which invasion will require the draft first. I don't think Canada will and certainly not Greenland.
My guess is when we go after one of the major South American countries like Brazil. That's going to require a larger occupation Force than we're used to.
I don't think anyone reading this is young enough to be in danger of getting drafted themselves unless you're in the medical field and we're all tech nerds so that's unlikely. If you're in the medical field then doesn't matter how old you are they will still draft you.
On the other hand if you have a spouse or immediate family member in the medical field then you need to consider that possibility.
I figured we've got about five or six years before the draft starts. That will take us into Trump's third term. It's possible that his Health won't hold out but I suspect that it will and that the media will be able to cover up his obvious Alzheimer's and dementia. His dad got Alzheimer's and dementia right around 80 but lived another 13 years.
The Peace President ... (Score:2)
... strikes again!
Epstein files please (Score:4, Insightful)
United States deposing a world leader is barely newsworthy these days. The only thing interesting here is that Trump didn't spend the time to get the American people on board with invading Venezuela like we usually do. It shows that Trump doesn't really think he needs voters anymore and that he doesn't think he needs to care about what you think.
Meanwhile there's the Epstein files still 5 million records waiting to be released not to mention all the un redactions that need to happen. We're not going to forget just because Trump invaded a country illegally.
It would be nice if the voters would do their God damn jobs, elect a supermajority of Democrats so the Trump could be properly removed from office for the crimes he's committed. He absolutely did not have the authority to do this. Even the questionable authority he would have had was taken away months ago.
And that's before we talk about him selling thousands of pardons worth literally billions of dollars in total. The fact that there is anyone not calling for Trump to be removed from office when he's just right out in the open selling pardons is fucking insane. Like what the hell is wrong with you if you don't think Trump needs to be removed from office for that?
And the crazy fucking thing is you have a shitload of people here that are just loving how upset I am that the president of the United States can get away with selling pardons worth billions of dollars. Like they're willing to allow our entire democracy and the rule of law to collapse just to stick it to me here on a dumb old website. I cannot fathom how stupid people are. How do you not understand that that's going to come back and bite you in the ass?
Re: (Score:2)
You do realize, if Trump were to be removed from office, JD Vance becomes president? To make matters worse, he'd be eligible to run for a second term. The best case scenario is that the midterms result in enough of a (D) advantage to put the brakes on Trump for the remaining two years of his term, at that point.
A surprising percentage of Americans are firmly in the "this is what I voted for" camp. Reddit would have you believe "nobody" is taking those jobs ICE has been advertising all over the place, but
Vance doesn't have a cult (Score:2)
so he can't get away with nearly as much as Trump does.
Trump can have any politician primaried. There are several who've dropped out of politics this year because of it. Bobert is biting her tongue even though Trump killed a critical water infrastructure project in her area and Green is gearing up for a Senate run so she's pretending to go after Trump and being allowed to do it. Green is the only one that gets a pass and she'll still not running again for her seat.
Vance doesn't have that kind of pow
What I want to see (Score:2)
What I want to see is if Trump's claims that the US will now be magically in control of Venezuela holds true because without that removing this guy is pointless. His VP (who is likely just as corrupt as Maduro is) will just come to power and then what's even the point of all this?
Maybe our government has infiltrated Venezuela's enough that we can follow this arrest with a coup that might actually change things there. I kind of doubt this administration planned that far ahead though.
Re: (Score:2)
> What I want to see is if Trump's claims that the US will now be magically in control of Venezuela holds true because without that removing this guy is pointless. His VP (who is likely just as corrupt as Maduro is) will just come to power and then what's even the point of all this?
> Maybe our government has infiltrated Venezuela's enough that we can follow this arrest with a coup that might actually change things there. I kind of doubt this administration planned that far ahead though.
The constitution says that if the president's absence is permanent (which it is), elections have to be had in 90 days. And the law here does not has provisions like in ucraine, that elections can not be held during invasion. Also, there is no invasion.
In the next days, watch closely if they call for elections or not. that will be the clue/cue for more actions. Either more "surgical extractions" if there are no elections, or wait and see if there are elections.
Re: (Score:2)
Elections? The elections in that country are as honest as in Russia, why would it matter if they held those? His people are just going to make sure his people are still in charge just like when Chavez died there.
As for more extractions like this, I think we'd quickly discover those won't go nearly as well for us as this one did when they are expecting them.
There are ~20,000 US citizens in Venezuela (Score:5, Interesting)
How do you think that the people of Venezuela, or the military, or the politicians, or the organized crime operations, will feel about those Americans? Do you think that maybe, just maybe, the invasion of their country and the kidnapping of their president might make them a little...hostile?
Of course in the eyes of the Trump death cult, those 20,000 people -- the little people -- are just as expendable as everyone else who isn't one of them. If they're assaulted or kidnapped or arrested or killed, welllll, that's just collateral damage and it doesn't really matter, now does it?
No, what matters is pleasing Trump's ego and ambition and greed and cruelty (which is pretty much all he's got, surely nobody can believe that lurking somewhere inside him is even a shred of decency) and distracting yet again from the Epstein files long enough that his minions can redact everything.
And the other takeaway from this is, sadly, that (some) US military commanders aren't willing to refuse clearly illegal orders.
Re: (Score:3)
> the invasion of their country and the kidnapping of their president might make them a little...hostile?
Quite a lot of them are dancing in the streets. I'm in the Caribbean right now (stuck in paradise, our flight out today was cancelled) and the Venezuelans are certainly partying. It seems a majority of them aren't sad to see the man gone. His presidency has fucked over the Venezuelan people spectacularly and done immeasurable damage to the country, and the last 3 elections have been considered to be unfair by all watchdogs to the point where the most recent election resulted in so many of the world not cons
Re:There are ~20,000 US citizens in Venezuela (Score:4, Informative)
About those U.S. citizens in Venezuela...
"A foundation dedicated to advocating for Americans wrongfully detained abroad said today that it is monitoring the situation in Venezuela — where it says at least five Americans are reportedly held," [1]reports NBC News [nbcnews.com].
[1] https://www.nbcnews.com/world/latin-america/live-blog/venezuela-explosions-trump-maduro-live-updates-rcna251053#rcrd95223
US attack? (Score:2)
This is just de-cartelization.
Distraction from what? (Score:2, Troll)
When I see trump creating such headlines through outrageous actions my first thought is what is other news he is trying to bury? Recently it has been stuff about him and Epstein but maybe there is something else new he doesn't want leading the news cycle?
Re: (Score:2)
Isn't it good enough that the P in POTUS now stands for lovers of underage girls?
What now? (Score:4, Informative)
Maduro by far was never as respected by the Venezuelan military and people as Chavez. It's kind of baffling how he managed to stay in power for so long.
Given the little information we have up to this moment, I would bet that Maduro's capture was the result of some agreement between US and Venezuelan militaries. The US gets the oil, most of the Venezuelans commanders keep the profits and carry on with their lives like nothing happened.
One thing to note is that the US action is absolutely illegal and firmly puts Trump now on the position of an international criminal. If I'm correct, even internally in the US, Trump's actions are illegal. I wonder - and doubt it very much - that anyone is going to do anything about it.
Re: (Score:2)
> If I'm correct, even internally in the US, Trump's actions are illegal.
I mean... who cares at this point. The man has breached the constitution, the powers of separation, declared war unilaterally without congressional approval, ignored courts. Him doing something illegal is just another day in the office at this point. There won't be any backlash. Actually many are seeing this as a potential political win for Trump.
Venezuela ... (Score:2)
Venezuela. This is my last territorial demand. We hope. Where have we heard that before ?
The UN (Score:1)
The UN will un-nazi the world forever.
Re: (Score:2)
Yeah but what ARE electrolytes?
Re: (Score:2)
It's what plants crave. Duh.
Re: (Score:2)
> The UN will un-nazi the world forever.
Ifyou want to UN-nazi something, is better to Un-nazi it in a one-eve special military operation than in an ~4-years special military operation.