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Comment by lunias | Hacker News Reader

> We're lucky Venezuela hasn't attacked us back yet.

Do you actually think this is a possibility? How do you see that playing out?

"Today's defensive action we have taken demonstrates the first step to discourage these unmarked foreign terrorist attacks against our civilians. It is our duty to protect our people, which we will continue to do against the rising numbers of offensive boats assaulting us."

I imagine sooner or later, they will stop our black ops boats from shooting people.

Dictators, like Maduro (and wannabe dictators), are notoriously coward. They won't risk their life against an enemy that will certainly bomb them from afar, but they would happily risk their whole country if that kept them safe.

Hell, even Trump wouldn't be that bold if he didn't know Venezuela has no will, or means, of putting him at risk.

I think you would have said the same thing about Leopoldo Galtieri before the Falkland war.

According to his Wikipedia page, his downfall was the loss of the capital island of the Falkland islands. He was a true military dictator, abuses and all, but he might have understood that losing the Malvinas would be the end of his regime.

In that case, going against UK in an unwinnable war was a way to preserve his regime, as long as no bombings were made targeting him, so he could still protect his life. UK is not as ruthless in war as, say, USA or Israel, IMO that was a calculated risk to prolong the end.

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