Non paywalled version https://apnews.com/article/venezuela-us-explosions-caracas-ca712a67aaefc30b1831f5bf0b50665e
(Thanks to @AnchoriteMagus@lemmy.world )
Assuming he is saying what the military has confirmed to him…
…well, this gives hope that full-scale war won’t follow. It seems likely that Maduro had his system running on personal loyalty. If that is so, with him gone, the house of cards is likely to collapse.
A few words about Venezuela’s air defense. Or the lack of it - the total lack of it was impressive. And in considerable contrast with Maduro’s boastings of how many thousand MANPADS they supposedly had.
A convoy of helicopters which civilians could film slowly proceeded above Caracas and - not a missile, not a quickfire gun, seemingly not a shot was fired at it - unfathomably lucky b******s. A few guys on the wrong randomly picked rooftop could have ruined their day or life, but there were none.
As for what this means politically: Trump should now get a free apartment in the Hague (preferably next to Maduro’s and Putin’s apartments). But alas, he won’t.
Meanwhile, South American countries have good reason to check if they actually have air defense, because with such a president in the US, maybe they will need it.
At this point I want a war in the usa. The us should get some taste of it’s own medicine
I think you underestimate Maduros support, this was not an Assad style house of cards with no civilian support. Maduro may have not won the last election but he definitely didn’t lose by the margins the opposition was saying either, the fact that he allowed for elections in the first place shows he thought he could win, so he probably has 30-40% support. Combine that with the opposition being backed by the US and being forced to accept oil privatization which will anger the poor Venezuelans who rely on oil revenues for what’s left of the Chavez welfare state, and the opposition to whatever US regime is put in will probably be greater than 50% which combined with the landscape of Venezuela is a recipe for Vietnam 2.
I thought Maduro was just the frontman and Diosdado was the guy really in charge…he already made a statement saying the fight is still on…
link:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LbgY2oBJRjk
PS: the tramp-clown part of this successful-looking operation seems to have been that he kidnapped the wrong people, lol, maduro had no real power.
That would be bad news, because then a US-Venezuela war (as opposed to a series on one-sided strikes) would still be on the cards.
I don’t know enough about Venezuela to make a good guess.
There’s also the question of how quickly (if quickly at all) they could organize reasonably un-manipulated elections. An armed attack has likely triggered special circumstances in Venezuela, and nobody can demand elections right now.
If Maduro’s allies try holding on to power, it could end with faction A ruling one province and faction B ruling another…
I don’t think this is a Lybia scenario, but it may happen is that
manyall SA leaderships get spooked by this and start hiking military investment and cooperation…
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: Every country pretty much needs to have a nuke now.
Except that those with nukes will never allow any country to develop one.
Taiwan tried to in the 80s and got immediately shut down when a scientist defected to the US and revealed the nuke facilities and that’s shut down by allies. And look at them now on the brink of being invaded - bet the scientists feels real fucking stupid.
Eventually it seems like developing nukes will be easy enough i secret that everyone will have them. Apparently it would take many countries like Japan only a year or so to develop nukes in an emergecy so I imagine in 20 years that number will be few months for most countries.
North Korea seems to be doing pretty well in creating their nukes.
That seems to be the lesson Ukraine has taught.
Even before that, look at what Obama did to Libya not too long after they voluntary dismantled their nuclear program.
Kamala would have done the same as Trump because these things are decided by the 3 letter organisations, the politicians are just some face to show to the public.
Oh yeah, I’m totes sure Kamala would also be trying to annex Greenland /s
Obama bombed 8 countries in a year in 2016. Democrats and Republicans are the same in bombing countries for oil and donating money to Israel.
Democrats are a little gay, that is the only difference.
That’s some good 1984 right there
We just casually out here kidnapping heads of state now?
You don’t believe this is anything new, right?
Imperialism and general fuckery, no…but to my knowledge this is the first time the US has opened a conflict by just straight up taking the head of the foreign government.
Unless, of course, you’ve got something that says different.
gonna hand wave in Hawaii
Honestly, idk, but they’ve done worse/adjacent things so it’s not shocking. 🤷 Just depressing.
Noriega didn’t surrender until 2 weeks of conflict had passed.
Again, has the US ever opened a conflict by kidnapping a head of state?
There’s also the US-backed coup in Hawaii where they put the queen under house arrest first thing.
You know what, you got me on that one. I had forgotten about Hawaii. We definitely did those people dirty.
the only technicality was it wasn’t the ‘US government’ doing this, they just okayed it after
completely unrelated rogue gunboat guys, we promise
you beat me by 7min lol but this was my immediate thought
I suppose that depends on whether or not you consider the wars against the indigenous people here in North America actual wars.
So the 60+ boats bombed were just a bit of pre-war?
Are you saying air strikes are the same level of military involvement as the Invasion of Panama?
i am. it’s manufactured consent at the minimum and a fucking act of war at the maximum. see what the us did in the gulf of tonkin for instance. the us does not care as it is a terrorist state.
i bet the new guy is … oddly friendly with oil corporations
Have you heard about the expression “moving the goalposts”?
First time the united snakes did it?
Well no, they did the same in Panama with Noriega
Again, Noriega surrendered after 2 weeks, he wasn’t kidnapped the same night as the invasion started.
deleted by creator
It’s an open act of war. But at least no one is talking about how he fucked kids.
I don’t know if we can wag the dog any harder, he’s starting to come apart…
Yeah… we’re definitely pushing the upper limits of dog-wagging.
It’s definitely still be posted as a respond from the left.
The right is showing they don’t care about kids getting diddle just like back in the day. Maga after all means back to a time when it’s the victims fault.
And many world leaders will defend it because they know US bastards could do the same to them.
An old man with everything to lose if he ever steps down from power, the political and diplomatic literacy of a temper-throwing child with the nuclear launch codes.
I like how you mentioned nuclear launch codes.
Any nation without nuclear capabilities should see this as a sign to develop them ASAP.
I don’t want more nukes in the world, but the US doesn’t pull this shit on nuke capable nations
If putin kills zelensky next week then trump won’t be able to whine.
It’s not like Putin hasn’t tried that…
I bet he’s thinking about trying it again. After the attack in Kherson they have the perfect excuse.
Never mind Zelensky, if I were Taiwan’s president I’d be looking at the US creating a big naval distraction for itself at the same time as affirming that heads of state are fair game with more than a little trepidation…
If a country bombed Argentina and kidnapped Milei the US would retaliate immediately. But when the US pull this heinous shit it’s fine. Always has been.
When you have the US military on your side, you can do anything you want.
Why so many people are missing this obvious threat is beyond me. All nations should be shoring up their military defense, and fast.
Maduro is not a good person. But that’s not what matters here. Plenty of countries have evil people at the helm.
What matters here is MAGA, with by far the world’s most powerful military, is imposing its will on the United States and the world. If you think this kind of successful operation is ever followed up by “ok guys we got everything we wanted, let’s stop now”, give your head a shake.
We will know Russia traded Venezuela for Ukraine in the next few days. I bet the EU is in pure panic mode now. Would not surprise me to see a move on Taiwan too.
When you entertain the notion that the religious nutjobs who whisper to Trump’s ear actually wants Earth to become a nuclear wasteland your disposition is bound not to be sunny anymore
Well then, what’s there left to lose?
Maduro took a deal, this wasn’t a kidnapping.
The clue is Trump says he was captured, and he always lies.
Edit. Someone got a deal lol
…okay.
How about, instead of presupposing what he’s lying about and why, we try and actually find out the truth? Reality still does matter, y’know.
It’s all over the news, this was an agreed deal.
Edit lol. Deal done.
Link, please.
“Everybody’s saying it!”
i’m surprised to see yall so convinced of the opposite but i understand if you just not wanting to sensationalise without data. is the US military really so infinitely far ahead that snatching a head of state is a guaranteed operation?
i suppose i haven’t see any independent verification that they have maduro at all so could be a bluff
For me personally, it’s the statement of fact without sources. This is the era of AI and social disinformation. “Trust me, bro!” carries even less weight now than ever.
Don’t get me wrong, even though Venezuela doesn’t deserve US aggression, Maduro is still a shady conman and I wouldn’t put it past him to sell out his country.
But I won’t believe it just because someone said it was true.
Non paywall?
Doing the lord’s work my friend, thank you.
3rd fucking day of 2026!…
Ngl this is a crazy move. Now the opposition will be utterly confused. Maduro is an evil man but also wtf.
So this is where the Amarican people no longer accept this president and rovolt in an unprecedented rage, amiright?
Like, finally take an example of the French and other counties and finally unite in a massive violent protest, right?
Please learn from history, it’s the only way.
We’re patiently waiting and watch eagerly from the sideline here in Europe, come on, act!
… Why? America voted this, 2/3 Americans either actively or passively support a pedo king who kidnaps other countries leaders
They might not care for Maduro that much
US is far to spread out, and not enough people will care because Mudaro wasn’t a very good guy and that’s about as far as nearly half the US will look.
It may be time for the rest of the world to stop waiting patiently for Americans to mobilize. When non-US states commit atrocities, the civilized world does sanctions to erode public support for the regime. It’s time for sanctions on the US. Russia can’t be the only nation that condemns us.
I’ve been in the US two months ago, in a very Democratic city, socialising with only very anti-Trump people. Not a single one cared what happened outside US borders. They were upset about the inflation, cost of living, loss of privacy and civil liberties, etc. There may be some who do care about the US foreign policy, but unless thousands of Americans start returning in body bags, there won’t be enough critical mass to stage any revolt or even protests worthy of Trump’s attention.
but unless thousands of Americans start returning in body bags, there won’t be enough critical mass to stage any revolt or even protests worthy of Trump’s attention.
that happened during the invasion of Iraq, and nothing happened anyway… most Muricans are just chicken hawks
I’ve lived in the US my entire life. I wish I could tell you your wrong.
I can’t.
Some of my earliest memories revolve around watching the evening news, listening to them say that “X amount of American lives were lost” and wondering why “American” lives were substantially different or worthy of note. A life lost is a life lost. And that’s a tragedy no matter how you slice it. Where that life started or where it lived has no bearing whatsoever on it’s value.
At least… that’s what I believe. The current state of things has me thinking I might be in the minority on that one.
As to revolution, protest, anything that could even prove an inconvenience to the status quo… I’ll believe it when I see it. Not to make excuses, but I think forces in the American culture have been working to defang popular protest since at least the civil rights movement, or perhaps even earlier. Even if it’s demostriably wrong… I can’t begin to tell you how demoralized I feel. My government just… went and did this. It’s illegal. The very shape of our government is supposed to prevent this kind of thing from happening. And yet… here we are. One illegal invasion and (apparently) kidnapping of a sovereign head of state later.
…I wish it were otherwise, but it feels like there’s very little that can be done about it. Americans just… don’t seem equal to the task of holding their government to account. The one thing we are supposed to be good at.
I can’t even begin to tell you how many outrages there were up to this point. Too many. Far too many for concence to allow. This… feels different. Is different. Has to be different, then the way we’ve been allowing things to ride.
But… I’ve been disappointed before. I’m certain I’ll be disappointed again. I hope this will be different, but…
…I can point to plenty of times it should have been different before. Times that would have prevented this from happening. It’s… hard to maintain hope in the face of that.
I wish I could tell you your wrong.
You’re*
Maybe he wants to describe the reader’s wrong doings?
/s
I mean, philosophically all lives are equal.
But you value people you love, your family (I assume) more than your neighbors. And you care about what happens in your town more than in another city in your country, and you care more about your country than others…
USA had a pretty bad plane crash a couple months ago in Louisville; about a dozen people died. I care, it was a tragedy, but I guarantee you that the people in Louisville care a lot more than I do.
And it’s the same reason a nation will care more about its citizens vs the citizens of other nations. Kind of obtuse to pretend that’s not how people work, no?
That’s fair, I was quite tired when I wrote what I wrote so let me expand on that a little bit.
That is of course true in most situations. I should have clarified this more but primarily when I said “I grew up watching the evening news” I was talking about war on terror coverage.
I’m not pretending that’s not how people work, it absolutely is and that’s the reason this was exploited. But… there’s this kind of… preformative agony to the whole ordeal that, speaking as an American, does feel uniquely American.
Empathizing with the death of people you’re close with is natural. But when, as in Iraq or Afghanistan, they are active participants in why people are dying, and then they’re deaths are used to justify sending more people over there to kill and be killed…
…It kinda just soured me on the whole affair to be honest. And, given the events of last night? It’s something I could easily see happening again. We seem to have dusted off everything else from the Iraq playbook, why not that too?
Anyways, we’re not disagreeing. There was just more to my point that didn’t quite make it into my post.
I’m sorry but I’m just going to disagree with you. As a Misanthropic Anti-Natalist, I proudly hate all humans. If a plane crashes in my state I’m more happy than if it happened in a different state.
I want the USA to burn and fall. I want our fearless leader to die slowly in agony as someone literally eats him in front of him, slowly cutting off parts and cooking it right there in front of our demented orange demon. I will be happy when all humans are extinct.
Giving this planet back to the animals and plants is the only thing I dream of. I wish there was a button to release the biophage and infect the entire Human population with a designer-plague that kills us all and leaves the animals and plants alone.
So no, not everyone gives a fuck whether people dying locally or across the planet makes any difference! Humans are nightmare creatures. Literal monsters!
Cool cool get some therapy bud
Hey! Fuck you too mate!
This is a lie. This reeks of someone looking to claim they’re the only person who cares about Gaza
well given how many of y’all like to throw “just another distraction from the epstein files!” at everything, i’m enclined to believe it
Right because if someone says that then that means they themselves also value nothing outside the us. It DEFINITELY doesn’t indicate what they think Trump’s thought process is.
What do you mean? I don’t understand your sentence.
Unfortunately that’ just human nature, tribalism, nature is cruel and the life that evolved out of it is the product of this cruelty
There are many social circles. The most immediate is Family, then extended relatives, close friends, then neighbors, then your village/towm/city, then region, then nation, then its the planet.
Humans aren’t really capable of really caring about thing happeneing far away.
This isn’t unique to the US. I think every country is like that, especially those struggling.
It’s not like people consciously choose to be evil, this is just biology, they can’t help it.
When your family is struggling, its hard to care about neighors, and especially harder to care about someone in another town/city.
Nationalism just extend the circle a bit, people care about their own country’s suffering more than others. Don’t even have the time to catch a break and think when your role in this system is just a wage slave.
People become more tribal under scarcity conditions and the scarcity is largely artificial.
Fat complacent Americans aren’t going to do anything. They love the military industrial complex including so-called “left” Americans.
They want that. It’s a sad truth, but we need to accept it. America is lost, the people of america are lost. This is a failed state. And globally, the quicker this state goes down, the better the world becomes for everyone else.
no, they’ll keep on waiting and seeing… turns out the home of the brave was just full of feckless sheep
Like most countries in all of history with remotely any amount of power. The avg citizen doesn’t give a fuck about foreign policy.
If your country isn’t militaristically weak or at risk and your people are’t coming home in body bags. You will be hard pressed to find a country with a population that doesn’t care about it self first and foremost with foreign policy a distant thought.
Blessed be the liberator of narcozuela.
What the fuck… What timeline are we on???
The timeline where the US Pearl Harbors a country.
Now, that’s a verb☝️
He verbed it.
We’re on the Beta Seikaisen (Wordline)
What is happening is called Daisanji sekai taisen (Third World War)
Operation Vega has failed… WW3 broke out…
This is the work of The Organization
timeline
Stop with this shit. This isnt some Marvel movie. It’s reality. You are living in the rising age of American fascism, as you have been for the last year.
Eek barba durkle…
Its also somewhat witty way of saying that what is happening right now seems so unbelievable it must be somekind of mistake.
Dark times make dark humour and jokes are often easiest way for people to start process things and it does not equal inaction.
If you dont want to see remarks like that, you should maybe stay of internet.
So much for not following illegal orders. US army is the world’s largest terrorist organization.
Well, it’s an order by the president, so it has to be legal… it is legal right? RIGHT?
FEEL THE WRATH OF OUR FREEDOM
This Futurama bit has passed the test of time
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=rFiutKZjRW8&pp=0gcJCR4Bo7VqN5tD
When the president does it, that means that it is not illegal.
Same as the dem president - us voters.
The US is the largest rogue state on Earth
Post-Trump, I fear that’s the truth.
The collective WTF said as both nations wake up to hearing about all of this will be heard around the world. We need anti war protests ASAP to show the world we as the citizens do not condone this invasion by our government, march on DC would be better obviously but we need people to at least start speaking out instead of it just being a scroll on their phone til it hits us in higher prices and shortages of products from South America and China
People are too busy slowly dying under capitalism to protest.
It’s this. Europeans don’t understand this part of being American because they have healthcare and worker protections. They will understand soon if they keep voting for facists though
Can anyone confirm, if this photograph of Maduro getting escorted of a plane by DEA officers is real?
