U.S. poised to strike military targets in Venezuela

[Winehole23]

STEPHANOPOULOS: Why wasn't congressional authorization necessary?

RUBIO: It wasn't necessary because this was not an invasion. We didn't occupy a country. This was an arrest operation.

[Winehole23]

Steve Vladeck

First, note how any reliance upon the Barr Memo is giving up the ghost on the (obvious) violations of Venezuela’s sovereignty—and, thus, the U.N. Charter (to say nothing of myriad other international agreements and precepts of customary international law). There’s no attempt to even try to argue that this operation was consistent with international law—for the obvious reason that … it isn’t. (There had been some suggestion earlier in the day that the Trump administration might try to identify Venezuelan officials who had “invited” the United States to breach Venezuela’s sovereignty, but that … hasn’t gone anywhere.) Thus, unlike the boat strikes, which have all occurred in the legally grayer area of international waters, Friday night’s operation involves a textbook violation of foreign sovereignty for which the Trump administration’s principal response appears to be “whatever.”

https://www.stevevladeck.com/p/200-f...out-the-maduro

[Winehole23]

Second, it is the epitome of bootstrapping to use the idea of “unit self-defense” as the basis for sending troops into a foreign country so that a handful of civilian law enforcement officers can exercise authority they wouldn’t be able to exercise but for the military support. My friend and former State Department lawyer (and Cardozo law professor) Bec Ingber has written in detail about why the “unit self-defense” argument is effectively a slippery slope toward all-out war, and she’s right. It seems just as important to point out that the U.S. cons utional law argument seems just as limitless. If Article II authorizes the use of military force whenever a foreign national living outside the United States has been indicted in a U.S. court, that could become a pretext for the United States to use military force almost anywhere—in cir stances that could easily (and quickly) escalate to full-fledged hostilities. Something tells me the Founders, who were deeply wary of military power, would not exactly see this as consistent with what they wrote—at least until and unless Congress had done something to authorize, or even acquiesce in, these kinds of distinctly offensive military operations.

[Winehole23]

During his Saturday press conference, President Trump suggested that the United States was going to “run the country,” which would be not just a terrible idea, but an unlawful occupation under international law. But as Charlie Savage noted in the New York Times, “Shortly after declaring that United States would ‘run the country’ at a news conference, Mr. Trump seemed to suggest that his plan was to pressure Mr. Maduro’s vice president, Delcy Rodriguez, to simply obey him.” As Trump put it in an interview with the New York Post, “if Maduro’s vice president—if the vice president does what we want, we won’t have to do that.”


It should go without saying that the United States has precisely zero legal authority, under domestic or international law, to pressure or otherwise cajole a foreign sovereign into doing “what we want” or risk invasion.

[spurraider21]

So is this website basically winehole’s diary now?

[Spurs Homer]

If this doesn't shake Congress to move to get rid of this imbecile, literally nothing will. Not felony convictions. Not messing with underage girls with Epstein. Literally nothing.

"OBAMA LIED WHEN HE SAID YOU COULD KEEP YOUR OWN DOCTOR!!!!!!!!!!!"

[Winehole23]

So is this website basically winehole’s diary now?

hardly, just this subforum

[Winehole23]

[Winehole23]

[Winehole23]

[Winehole23]

pre- Oct. 7 2023 this used to be called "mowing the grass"

n a telephone interview this morning, President Donald Trump issued a not-so-veiled threat against the new Venezuelan leader, Delcy Rodríguez, saying that “if she doesn’t do what’s right, she is going to pay a very big price, probably bigger than Maduro,” referring to Nicolás Maduro, now residing in a New York City jail cell. Trump made clear that he would not stand for Rodríguez’s defiant rejection of the armed U.S. intervention that resulted in Maduro’s capture.

During our call, Trump, who had just arrived at his golf club in West Palm Beach, was in evident good spirits, and reaffirmed to me that Venezuela may not be the last country subject to American intervention. “We do need Greenland, absolutely,” he said, describing the island—a part of Denmark, a NATO ally—as “surrounded by Russian and Chinese ships.” And in discussing Venezuela’s future, he signaled a clear shift away from his previous distaste for regime change and nation building, rejecting the concerns of many in his MAGA base. “You know, rebuilding there and regime change, anything you want to call it, is better than what you have right now. Can’t get any worse,” he said.

https://www.theatlantic.com/national...riguez/685497/

[ChumpDumper]

THE BUCK STOPS...I dunno...somewhere....maybe back there?

https://x.com/Acyn/status/2007855223742894377

[DarrinS]

So is this website basically winehole’s diary now?

Pretty much

[GAustex]

We invite the U.S. government to work jointly on a cooperation agenda”

Wineasshole head is up his ass as usual

[SnakeBoy]

.

[DMX7]

What we do know is you will be his biggest apologist here no matter what.

No, I criticize him for many things. You just choose to not accept it.

For example, I'm appalled at the continued talk about annexing Greenland. It's disgusting and offensive to a good ally in Denmark.

[ChumpDumper]

No, I criticize him for many things. You just choose to not accept it.

For example, I'm appalled at the continued talk about annexing Greenland. It's disgusting and offensive to a good ally in Denmark.

We'll see if you choose to keep that belief.

[Winehole23]

We invite the U.S. government to work jointly on a cooperation agenda”

Wineasshole head is up his ass as usual

lol taking a Chavista at her rather vague promise to cooperate with the US

if you think she's going to do whatever we say, you're pretty naive

[Blake]

No, I criticize him for many things. You just choose to not accept it.

For example, I'm appalled at the continued talk about annexing Greenland. It's disgusting and offensive to a good ally in Denmark.

Did you have to wait for all the facts to come in before you came to that assertion?

[Yonivore]

(I've seen nothing yet on why Maduro's wife was detained too)

Really? Read the indictment:

https://www.justice.gov/opa/media/1422326/dl

[Yonivore]

lol taking a Chavista at her rather vague promise to cooperate with the US

if you think she's going to do whatever we say, you're pretty naive

If you think she's not scared less and trying to balance her continued survival odds between the cartels and the U. S. Military, you're naive. As Secretary of State Rubio said, things will be said at news conferences and to the camera that will not bear any relationship to the truth of what taking place, behind the scenes.

[ChumpDumper]

Oh look, yoni is a warmonger again.

As Secretary of State Rubio said, things will be said at news conferences and to the camera that will not bear any relationship to the truth of what taking place, behind the scenes.

true. Rubio and Trump and Hegseth lie their asses off in front of cameras.

[Yonivore]

Well, this aged well.

Does Trump get the $25 million?

[ChumpDumper]

Well, this aged well.

Does Trump get the $25 million?

Trump does not stand with the Venezuelan people and democracy. Trump will steal whatever he can from the Venezuelan people.

He just left the entire government Maduro made intact.

[GAustex]

^obfuscation