U.S. poised to strike military targets in Venezuela

[Winehole23]

Has a wag the dog feel to it

The Trump Administration has made the decision to attack military installations inside Venezuela and the strikes could come at any moment, sources with knowledge of the situation told the Miami Herald, as the U.S. prepares to initiate the next stage of its campaign against the Soles drug cartel. The planned attacks, also reported by the Wall Street Journal, will seek to destroy military installations used by the drug-trafficking organization the U.S. says is headed by Venezuelan strongman Nicolás Maduro and run by top members of his regime. Sources told the Herald that the targets — which could be struck by air in a matter of days or even hours — also aim to decapitate the cartel’s hierarchy. U.S. officials believe the cartel exports around 500 tons of cocaine yearly, split between Europe and the United States.

https://www.miamiherald.com/news/nat...#storylink=cpy

[Winehole23]

there is some back and forth about whether "the Soles Cartel" is really a thing

According to the InSight Crime think tank, the name was ironically coined by Venezuelan media in 1993 after two generals were nabbed for drug trafficking. The sun is a symbol on the military uniform epaulettes of generals in the South American country.


"Rather than a hierarchical organization with Maduro directing drug trafficking strategies, the Cartel of the Suns is more accurately described as a system of corruption wherein military and political officials profit by working with drug traffickers," InSight Crime said on its website.


Maduro denies any connection to the drug trade, although two nephews of his wife have been convicted in New York for cocaine trafficking.

https://www.france24.com/en/live-new...-does-it-exist

[Winehole23]

Yet in March, the latest US State Department report on global anti-drug operations made no mention of the "Cartel de los Soles" or any connection between Maduro and narco trafficking.

[Winehole23]

Turkish Airlines cancels flights to Caracas until Dec 28th



https://espiganoticias.net/internaci...bre-venezuela/

[Winehole23]

[Blake]

GET THEM DRUG LORDS!!!!

(and if we happen to take their oil, so be it. )

[Blake]

Sounds about right.

[Winehole23]

[Winehole23]

[Winehole23]

[velik_m]

Airlines cancel international flights to Venezuela after US warns of worsening security, military activity

Most of the global airlines have cancelled flights to Venezuela after the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) warned pilots to use caution when flying in the country's airspace because of worsening security and heightened military activity. Marisela de Loaiza, president of the Airlines Association in Venezuela, told The Associated Press that six carriers have indefinitely suspended flights: TAP, LATAM, Avianca, Iberia, Gol and Caribbean. Turkish Airlines suspended flights from November 24 to 28.
...

https://www.indiatvnews.com/news/wor...-11-24-1018783

[Blake]

"......May 4, 2017

Barack Obama’s administration took a principled stand on Venezuela, by imposing sanctions to rein in rogue behavior. Donald Trump, by contrast, had no qualms about taking a half-million-dollar donation for his inauguration festivities from a country whose government is driving its people to the brink of starvation.

CAMBRIDGE – There is a certain irony in recent news that Venezuela donated a half-million dollars to Donald Trump’s presidential inauguration through Petróleos de Venezuela (PDVSA), the state-owned oil company. Venezuela, of course, is a serial defaulter, having done so more times than almost any other country over the last two centuries....."

https://www.hks.harvard.edu/centers/...nezuelas-money

[Winehole23]

is a blockade a casus belli?

[Winehole23]

The president has illegally declared war to stop fentanyl trafficking from a country that does not traffic that drug, claiming its leader is trafficking drugs himself, the day after pardoning a former leader of a country who is a convicted drug trafficker

[Winehole23]

if Trump TACOs does that count as another war ended?

[Winehole23]

partial blockade announced

is a naval blockade an act of war?

[Winehole23]

had Venezuela actually attacked the USA, going to war against them might actually be popular

but that's not the case

[Winehole23]

(hope nothing happens in the Western Pacific or West Asia)

[Winehole23]

interesting historical comparison

Kennan lost on that one

[Winehole23]

"it's our oil"

[Winehole23]

(some have pointed out how a war of choice with Venezuela could lead to mass internment/expulsion of "enemy" Latinos, even naturalized citizens -- dovetailing with the mass deportation prerogative)

[SnakeBoy]

Dumb libs actually believe this is what's happening?

[ChumpDumper]

Dumb libs actually believe this is what's happening?

Tell us what's really happening.

In as great a detail as your emotionally fragile mind can handle, of course.

[Winehole23]

Not sure which dumb libs he's talking about,

Not any in this thread, that I'm aware of

[SnakeBoy]

.