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The US is up to its old tricks. How soon will Maduro's replacement let the US have all the Venezuelan oil it wants?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_involvement_in_r...
https://www.news.com.au/breaking-news/us-reportedly-blows-up...
Venezuelan politician stays in power after losing the election. You'd think a "Stop the Steal" Jan 6 insurrectionist like Trump would be proud. But no, they're not letting the US have oil, so this is unacceptable.
The US needs cheap oil like the US's United Fruit Company needed cheap bananas. Both are more than happy to devastate other people's countries to get what they want.
Venezuela was supported a bit by Cuba, which is very poor as well. Russia did not help them. (I believe because of a deal with Trump)
If they hadn’t helped Venezuela militarily this time, it’s probably because they are a little busy losing thousands of troops per week in Ukraine.
Maduro is a dictator. His first presidency was legitimate but he had to steal the last election and is now ruling by force, because he is so unpopular.
Majority of Venezuelan don't want to fight US. They want Maduro out and the person who actually won last election to rule.
US doesn't want to occupy Venezuela. They want a government that is aligned with US and not with Russia/China/Iran.
The goals of US and majority of Venezuelans align.
"Majority of Venezuelan don't want to fight US. They want Maduro out and the person who actually won last election to rule."
We will see that, if there will be free elections soon.
And then I would be curious what would happen, if the winner is someone different and does not grant US companies exclusive oil deals, but keep them nationalized. What do you think will happen then?
Don’t let your hubris surprise you when it happens, if it happens.
Isn't this mostly the same for the west? In the first year or so, everyone sent Ukraine their old stock. Clear the warehouses and increase production of current equipment. As the war continued, newer equipment was made available; cynically, this is where the sales demos happen for arms dealing to other states.
Sevastopol nuclear base is irrelevant to modern warfare, and the fleet (both ships and subs) is either on the bottom of the sea (like the flagship Moskva) or gone to hiding in Novorossiysk because they can't defend against cheap Ukrainian naval drones.
Capture of cities not on the agenda — of course every time they fail spectacularly at something they'll claim they didn't plan it anyway, lol. They attempted and failed the capture of Kyiv, Kharkiv, Chernihiv, Sumy & Mykolaiv, then had to flee from Kherson & much of the Kharkiv oblast, and they are no longer strategically able to attempt capturing any more — only slow creep over obliterated rubble of small towns by sacrificing a thousand people a day in meat grinders.
I can't believe you can be so delusional, it's just amazing what russian propaganda does to people.
Yes, warfare has changed - but Russia’s war-fighting doctrine has changed along with it. Their war industry is ramping up to meet these challenges, and anyone paying actual attention, rather than being spoon-fed nightly news’ hot takes or funker530 clips, can see this on the ground.
> they didn't plan it anyway
So, where in the SMO doctrine did they ever make the claim their goal was to capture all of Ukraines cities? They’ve captured the cities they set out to capture.
But .. You’ve clearly educated yourself about their military goals - so where is it stated in the SMO that this constant capture of cities is one of their goals? Not your Western-propaganda spoonfed standard, actually theirs.
Perhaps you see this conflict from the perspective of a sports fan - but I assure you, the Russians do not.
> I can't believe you can be so delusional, it's just amazing what russian propaganda does to people.
“Doubleplusgood groupthink, ungood, wrongthink rectify.”
If you think Russia are the only ones using propaganda to obfuscate the nature of this conflict, it is you who is delusional.
Take a step back, have a look at the actual state of things on the ground, compare it to the stated goals which were put forth at the beginning of this SMO, and lets continue to discuss this rationally, if you can. So far Russia has got what it wanted - a buffer corridor to Sebastopol, control over the eastern oblasts, destruction of NATO bio-weapons labs, and a massive degradation of Ukraines military capabilities. Yes, perhaps at a far greater cost than intended, but nevertheless, today they are in control over the territory they set out to control.
Just because I’m willing to see this doesn’t mean I support Russia - or Ukraine for that matter - because I seriously don’t, but I’m also not going to just kowtow to western media. I’ll look for myself at the conflict from both sides and make my own assessment based on real facts on the ground. BTW, I live within a few hours driving distance from this conflict, have worked with assisting refugees arriving in my region for two years now, and have formed my own opinion by direct contact with those involved in the conflict as a priority over any information gleaned from mass media. I strive to avoid the propaganda, which is why we’re having this discussion in the first place.
I see this from the perspective of a Ukrainian living in Kyiv. Your ignorance is mind-boggling, and after the laughable mention of "NATO biolabs" there's truly no sense in further conversation. These tinfoil-head "I do my own research" people are something else.
something ive read somewhere, is that the whole world is 'declining' in some sense - everywhere the median age is rising, the population is getting tired, but the US is getting tired 'less quickly' than other countries, and in that regard they are pulling ahead relatively speaking.
so youve got to get your wars in 'now' so to speak, before you don't have any young men left. in that sense, a fast and fierce offensive makes even more sense.
It’s his second term, and he doesn’t care about the GOP after him, so it’s not like he needs funds for the next election, or needs to deliver on the economy.
And as I understand it he doesn’t have long term bonds of friendship with Texan oil folks.
Nepotism-wise, his kids only need one job each, that’s all squared away already. Trump needs allies who can keep him and his kids out of jail, but oil companies don’t have any super powers in that area.
Invading another country, though? To create foreign jobs and increase imports? Not what you’d expect from Mr Tariffs imho.