There are two words that come to mind when thinking about yesterday's events. "Outrageous" and "farce".
Firstly, this is a clear and brazen violation of international law. Venezuela poses no threat to the United States - it is not even a major source of narcotics for that country, with fentanyl largely coming from other places. Donald Trump's new doctrine of foreign policy twists the Monroe Doctrine, which was in its original form meant to be about protecting the independence of the countries that had just ejected the Spanish. Not about asserting US dominance in the Western hemisphere. It's abundantly clear that this is about getting hold of the oil.
Not that Maduro is exactly an innocent here. He was a dictator who rigged elections and jailed dissidents. He's run his country's economy into the ground and forced much of his population to flee. The narcotics stuff - well Biden didn't cancel the arrest warrant, did he? The fact that Maduro was like that has meant that all we'll be getting, even from China, is "thoughts and prayers". Well, just thoughts from China, which is officially atheist even as it is heading for the largest Christian population in Asia.
Second, the United States controls precisely zero territory on the country. They don't even have a functioning embassy in the country, with relations run from Bogota. Vice-President Delcy Rodríguez is in charge and she doesn't exactly seem willing to cooperate. If the United States wants to control the country, bar a coup, it is going to need ground troops. Quite a lot of them, possibly. Especially if an insurgency starts.
Does Trump really want hundreds of US troops coming home in coffins, like what partly did for George W. Bush's presidency?
"Short, victorious wars" rarely are.
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