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Comment by blell | Hacker News Reader

I suspect that invading and bombing a country for a few hours and then pulling out is not what most people will have in mind when you mention "taking military action". People are much, much more likely to remember the military quagmires in Vietnam or the Middle East, which have absolutely nothing to do with what occurred here.

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Taking out Maduro is likely to lead to similar consequences as toppling Saddam, isn’t it? I predict the nation will be very unstable for decades ahead.

The action is smaller scale, but the ethics of it are the same: it’s abhorrent. The justifications are paper-thin ”the people deserve democracy”, while everyone knows the only interest served is that of the US government.

"Taking out Maduro is likely to lead to similar consequences as toppling Saddam, isn’t it? "

I don't think so. The Near East is a simmering cauldron of ancient ethnic and sectarian hatreds. Compared to that, Venezuela is ethnically and religiously almost homogeneous.

There is no equivalent of mad clerics preaching to their flock that they have to exterminate their heretic neighbours and that God will grant them paradise for doing so.

That’s the same talking point the far right uses for why the US shouldn’t get involved in Ukraine because they worry about a destabilized Russia if Putin goes away.

It’s some sort of dictator insurance policy. The idea that they are there because the country will likely just do it again but worse given the chance.

I haven’t heard that talking point. It seems like a pretty stupid strawman. Nobody is proposing removal of Putin by force, as far as I know.

I’d say it’s easily the most common talking point I’ve seen from westerners on Twitter against overly supporting Ukraine and specifically providing them advanced American weaponry to strike within Russia proper, which was the biggest debate/controversy for about two years.

Also not necessarily “remove Putin by force”, it’s create instability in Russia where there’s a power vacuum if they lose badly in Ukraine.

Everyone just takes all of their American foreign policy lessons from Iraq and applies it broadly because Iraq briefly had ISIS and other extremist pop up

It’s also deeply rooted in a lack of respect for the general public in those countries, who they think will keep supporting evil regardless

”Following the war on social media” is a highway to poor psychological health, so I’ve avoided that after the first few weeks of the Russian invasion. In retrospect, I think I’m better off for having missed these far-right talking points.

Edit: Twitter? Why would anyone but the far right still be on Twitter these days?

Not necessarily, but there is the risk that ELN will further consolidate power. Maybe the US dies not want the group's leader, Antonio Garcia, to be the next president of Venezuela.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Liberation_Army_(Colo...

The deposing of the Shah only took three days. Three days to create half-a-century of turmoil.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1953_Iranian_coup_d%27%C3%A9ta...

Let's see what happens if they get sucked into supporting the new regime. Amazing prospects already!

What new regime? The president was kidnapped. The vice-president[1] assumed meanwhile. I wouldn't count that as new regime.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Delcy_Rodr%C3%ADguez

That’s what remains to be seen. Although I suppose the US could always wash their hands.

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