Originally published at: Is Trump About to Unleash the Kraken on Venezuela? - TPM – Talking Points Memo
In late November and December 2020, after all hope had faded from Trump’s re-election bid, his supporters were left with the “Kraken.” It was thought to be a monster of evidence that would prove, once and for all and to all skeptics, that massive voter fraud, interference, and manipulation had perpetrated a delusion on the…
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I have mixed feelings about this. Is it at all possible that an American overthrow of the Maduro regime would turn out as a blessing for the people of Venezuela? I mean, Maduro is completely illegitimate and stole the election down there. The US miltary there might be able to reverse this quickly and make lemonade out of a very bad situation for the people down there, and they would (supposedly) have popular support, so no quick insurgent-quagmire like in Iraq. Thoughts?
(pic - the US is often enthralled with little nearby countries)
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Sure they will greet us as liberators and throw flowers in the streets
Extreme sarc!
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I think it’s being over thought. The Trump regime and those in the fossil fuel industry who bribe them want Venezuela’s oil. We know from his many pardons of drug traffickers that Trump couldn’t care less about what he says is the reason for their campaign of extrajudicial murder of fishermen. It’s to control the oil of Venezuela and, as a side “benefit,” to distract from the the Epstein files showing Trump raped little girls.
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Mar-a-Lago is like an early modern European palace awash with sycophantic courtiers and degenerate political exiles. They have plenty of experience plying stupid, vain, greedy men. The fact that Trump’s brain is turning to pudding just makes their job easier.
Giving Machado the Nobel prize is going to age about as well as the GOP majority opinion in Trump v. United States.
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Seriously, what in the hell were the Nobel Committee thinking when they made the decision to give Machado the prize?
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Historically overthrowing one dictator leads to an even worse one.
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Some many problems arise over the fact that many countries exist over our oil. s/
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Lies, and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them 2.0, 2025, 2026, 2027, 2028 and onward.
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Man, I had the same question. Can anyone here supply some good background? I suspect “doing my own research” would lead to bullshit.
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So, is anyone in our vaunted Fourth Estate going to even bother asking for clarification on what land and oil Venezuela stole from the U.S.? Or do we assume it’s just the usual gibberish, like Peruvian snake bite statistics, and move on?
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It’s become something of a trope to explain U.S. interest in countries like Venezuela solely through the lens of oil, and while its vast petroleum reserves clearly matter, that framing may now be incomplete. As The Guardian’s reporting on the lawless rush for rare earth minerals in Venezuela makes clear, these critical materials—essential to defense systems, advanced electronics, and the clean-energy transition—are increasingly central to global power and competition. In an era when China dominates rare earth supply chains, access to and control over alternative sources is not just an economic issue but a strategic one, suggesting that the real geopolitical race of our time may be less about crude and more about the minerals that underpin modern technology and military capability. how that is the geopolitical race of our time. ‘Drug trafficking, extortion, kidnapping’: the lawless rush for rare earth minerals in Venezuela | Critical minerals | The Guardian
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Better than giving it to TSF?
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These people are morons. The ZFE will give them a pass, as always, rather than asking “WTF is wrong with you?”
Peruvian snakes on a plane.
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Oh yeah, Trump will end U.S. military involvement in “regime change”. Right after he drinks a kale smoothie and does an hour on the treadmill.
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Stop the Steal was why Caeser demanded Cleopatra be found, unharmed. Ptolemy XIII was a known cheat.
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“This will get MAGA off our back for a little while.”
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Maduro refused to leave office after being defeated at the ballot box. So in a sane world, he’d be one of the Drowsing Dotard’s great heroes.
The Kraken theory has a lot going for it. It’s the kind of petty, small-minded, conspiracy-theory, revenge actions that the Dotard has always been known for. Hugo Chavez, reaching out from beyond the grave, to thwart Trump! And, for the record, SmartMatic is/was a lot more widely used than just one election in LA.
The Big Brains (such as they are) of the current maladministration may be going for the oil and the rare earth minerals. But count on it – the Dotard in Chief wants his revenge for having lost in 2020.
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Seems like Steve Witkoff has also been advising Machado about how to manipulate the President.
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If there was enough support in-country to overthrow Maduro he would be gone by now. The more important question (IMO) is how many US dead and injured soldiers would the US public tolerate for a war of choice, just to grab the oil? Because overthrowing Maduro by force can’t be done with just air attacks, it will take boots on the ground.
23 US soldiers were killed and over 300 wounded in the invasion of Panama, and Venezuela has a bigger army under Maduro’s control. US soldiers haven’t been in jungle combat for decades, and the back country of Venezuela is difficult tropical terrain (I spent some time there, many years ago).
Recent polling shows something like 70% opposed to a US invasion of Venezuela to depose Maduro. You don’t go to war with numbers like that, but of course Trump being Trump, he could do it anyway. I doubt it could happen without a revolt from even the R’s in Congress, and that might be enough to put the brakes on before it gets started.
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