What an excellent and important column, and clear even to someone like me who hasn't paid enough attention to Venezuela. What I've seen from the outside looks chaotic, not to mention bombastic. You've helped me make some sense of what the administration is up to.
P.S. "Because policy driven by someone with rigid ideology but flexible principles is how you get pressure without planning, and coercion without accountability." These are words to live by, and unfortunately Mario Rubio isn't the only person in this administration they apply to.
I hope you have a good Holiday and can forget all of the Trump uproar for a little while.
I am learning so much about the status of the US and our southern neighbors from you. Thank you again for all you are doing to inform me, and other concerned citizens about the status of the Trump disasters.
Gracias Olivia🙏🏻🇻🇪 BUT you forget that there were elections on July 28th, 2024. We have an elected President Edmundo González Urrutia. And María Corona Machado. The tallies and receipts are exhibited right now at the Nobel Peace Prize Museum. So technically it's NOT Regime Change. It's giving the people's mandate the chance to flourish. They have everything planned. Teams for the Transition have combed through all the "what ifs". Including how to manage in a AN with Chavista Majority. You should check Jørgen Watnes Fryednes' speech at the Ceremony.
If you think the Trump regime is about your democracy and not Trump personal gain financially for him and his wealthy loyalists…. Your’re in for some hard truths. He isn’t about “freeing” your country but to dominate it….. get your country’s checkbook ready…
Who said/wrote that? Trump is a malignant narcissist sociopath. I'm just answering OdeT commentary on "what's Day One going to look like" or "who's going to be in charge?!" question when we ALREADY have an elected President with a landslide victory.
I rather have the gringos as they were since 1950, bring partners and helping reorganize (for their gain) Venezuela's Oil Industry than Chavistas running it to the ground after stealing billions of 💰💰💰💰and then gifting it to Cuba, our overlords, to sell to China to make some money to keep the half dead Revolution alive, in exchange for spies and torturers to keep our political prisoners agonizing and our army in check. Wouldn't you?!
Why are Americans geopolitically so blatantly ignorant about LatAm in general and Venezuela in particular?! It's gobsmacking😵💫😳
I think y'all are seeing this situation only through 🇺🇸 glasses tinted by how much you hate Trump. I have it harder than you: I'm Venezuelan American. With one foot there and another here, hating both Maduro AND Trump. They are two sides of the same autocratic coin. But I appreciate the effort to dislodge those bloody cruel regime rats from my country. For the oil? FINE!! If you were in mine you would too. The difference is? I know very well, I inform myself of what is going on here AND there.
Liked, restacked & shared to Bluesky (as always). As a Brit, I have often noted the frequency with which the USA meddled with global affairs - starting with Vietnam, which was a constant refrain in the background of my teens - but although there was at times incompetence, there was never, as I recall, any cruelty or viciousness, and the US did at least do a great deal of good through USAID & the Peace Corps, as well as through its movie industry. But now the Trump 2.0 Regime has single-handedly destroyed the good the country has been doing outside the US, antagonised the UK & Europe, as well as virtually all democracies, and is rapidly poisoning the nation. I can foresee a time in the near future, when a US President is making peaceful overtures to the UN, only to be told "So what happens when you have another election? Will your relationship with e.g. the EU, stay the same, or will it change again?"
Good piece Olivia. We all should watch the segment on CECOT from Canadian TV to see the story that Bari Weiss spiked. When Venezuelans have absolutely zero chance of changing their government, their only choice is to leave or face ruin. Trump 1.0, caused the Venezuelan flight migration, and now they send those migrants to CECOT as a warning to other potential migrants that "this will happen to you". This is pure Stephen Miller deliberate cruelty, and "Nosferatu" Miller, since Trump cannot pardon an international warrant, will face the ICC courts in the future. Maybe he will be sent to CECOT himself, and there will be no need to shave his head. "Little Flaccid Marco" may also need to find a lawyer that has practiced before the ICC. I hear Jack Smith is available.
As for the boarding of ships, it is not illegal for the crews of those ships to use deadly force to prevent the illegal boarding (a.k.a. piracy) that is occurring in international waters. Has Trump and his acolytes considered that, and are they prepared to lose good men and women for his purely political stunts?
It's all on us. No coalition, no supporting partners, no political fig leaf. And definitely no proxies. Just a show of overwhelming force, for which the US learned the limits of, generations ago. Pair that with a public that elected Trump to be a 'no-wars' president, I offer this scenario:
The first young (probably man) is returned home in a body bag. The newz vultures descend on his grieving mother. She has some things to say. Hilarity ensues.
Thank you once more, Olivia, for your clear and studied explanation about the situation we’re watching unfold around Venezuela. It makes (sorta) sense now. I have more reading to do.
The orange-topped turd is being propped up in front of the cameras so that maga thinks he is still in charge. He can’t snort amphetamines or cocaine because of the biologics he is being pumped full of for Alzheimers. He barely made it through that “we now run Barter Town” press conference without losing conciseness. Stephen Miller, Russ Vought, the billionaire bros and Putin run our country, now. If you think this is just about oil in Venezuela or a distraction from the epstein files or Jack Smith’s testimony, you aren’t thinking big enough. This is just another action in the plan for the United States to take over the Americas, putin taking over Europe and Iran, China taking India and everything East and South of it, SA/Turkey/Isreal/? Splitting up the Middle East and North Africa, and Africa getting divided up between them all.
Sinister, power-crazed, disillusioned men are once again trying to overthrow and rule the world. Fuhq.
Trump's "Golden Fleet" is a No-Go from the start. It's a crazy vanity project that will not work. Have you seen their ridiculous AI mock-up of these ships? It looks like they have Pershing missiles launching straight from the deck! Ha! It's all so childish. That leaves us with the destroyed West Wing. It will remain a mudhole until restored. Forget his "Sun King Ballroom".
What an excellent and important column, and clear even to someone like me who hasn't paid enough attention to Venezuela. What I've seen from the outside looks chaotic, not to mention bombastic. You've helped me make some sense of what the administration is up to.
P.S. "Because policy driven by someone with rigid ideology but flexible principles is how you get pressure without planning, and coercion without accountability." These are words to live by, and unfortunately Mario Rubio isn't the only person in this administration they apply to.
Thanks Olivia
Thank you, Olivia. Happy Yuletide to you and your loved ones. Feliz Navidad! I can’t wait for the tamales! 🎄🌟🌶️
I hope you have a good Holiday and can forget all of the Trump uproar for a little while.
I am learning so much about the status of the US and our southern neighbors from you. Thank you again for all you are doing to inform me, and other concerned citizens about the status of the Trump disasters.
Jane King
Berthoud, CO
Jane, Happy Holidays! I appreciate you following and supporting my work more than you know.🤍🎄
Thank you once again for an extremely cogent analysis of this situation and it's possible serious ramifications.
You are bang on the money again.
Thank you.
Gracias Olivia🙏🏻🇻🇪 BUT you forget that there were elections on July 28th, 2024. We have an elected President Edmundo González Urrutia. And María Corona Machado. The tallies and receipts are exhibited right now at the Nobel Peace Prize Museum. So technically it's NOT Regime Change. It's giving the people's mandate the chance to flourish. They have everything planned. Teams for the Transition have combed through all the "what ifs". Including how to manage in a AN with Chavista Majority. You should check Jørgen Watnes Fryednes' speech at the Ceremony.
https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/peace/2024/ceremony-speech/
If you think the Trump regime is about your democracy and not Trump personal gain financially for him and his wealthy loyalists…. Your’re in for some hard truths. He isn’t about “freeing” your country but to dominate it….. get your country’s checkbook ready…
Who said/wrote that? Trump is a malignant narcissist sociopath. I'm just answering OdeT commentary on "what's Day One going to look like" or "who's going to be in charge?!" question when we ALREADY have an elected President with a landslide victory.
I rather have the gringos as they were since 1950, bring partners and helping reorganize (for their gain) Venezuela's Oil Industry than Chavistas running it to the ground after stealing billions of 💰💰💰💰and then gifting it to Cuba, our overlords, to sell to China to make some money to keep the half dead Revolution alive, in exchange for spies and torturers to keep our political prisoners agonizing and our army in check. Wouldn't you?!
Why are Americans geopolitically so blatantly ignorant about LatAm in general and Venezuela in particular?! It's gobsmacking😵💫😳
I think y'all are seeing this situation only through 🇺🇸 glasses tinted by how much you hate Trump. I have it harder than you: I'm Venezuelan American. With one foot there and another here, hating both Maduro AND Trump. They are two sides of the same autocratic coin. But I appreciate the effort to dislodge those bloody cruel regime rats from my country. For the oil? FINE!! If you were in mine you would too. The difference is? I know very well, I inform myself of what is going on here AND there.
Instead of pearl clutching.
Liked, restacked & shared to Bluesky (as always). As a Brit, I have often noted the frequency with which the USA meddled with global affairs - starting with Vietnam, which was a constant refrain in the background of my teens - but although there was at times incompetence, there was never, as I recall, any cruelty or viciousness, and the US did at least do a great deal of good through USAID & the Peace Corps, as well as through its movie industry. But now the Trump 2.0 Regime has single-handedly destroyed the good the country has been doing outside the US, antagonised the UK & Europe, as well as virtually all democracies, and is rapidly poisoning the nation. I can foresee a time in the near future, when a US President is making peaceful overtures to the UN, only to be told "So what happens when you have another election? Will your relationship with e.g. the EU, stay the same, or will it change again?"
Good piece Olivia. We all should watch the segment on CECOT from Canadian TV to see the story that Bari Weiss spiked. When Venezuelans have absolutely zero chance of changing their government, their only choice is to leave or face ruin. Trump 1.0, caused the Venezuelan flight migration, and now they send those migrants to CECOT as a warning to other potential migrants that "this will happen to you". This is pure Stephen Miller deliberate cruelty, and "Nosferatu" Miller, since Trump cannot pardon an international warrant, will face the ICC courts in the future. Maybe he will be sent to CECOT himself, and there will be no need to shave his head. "Little Flaccid Marco" may also need to find a lawyer that has practiced before the ICC. I hear Jack Smith is available.
As for the boarding of ships, it is not illegal for the crews of those ships to use deadly force to prevent the illegal boarding (a.k.a. piracy) that is occurring in international waters. Has Trump and his acolytes considered that, and are they prepared to lose good men and women for his purely political stunts?
It's all on us. No coalition, no supporting partners, no political fig leaf. And definitely no proxies. Just a show of overwhelming force, for which the US learned the limits of, generations ago. Pair that with a public that elected Trump to be a 'no-wars' president, I offer this scenario:
The first young (probably man) is returned home in a body bag. The newz vultures descend on his grieving mother. She has some things to say. Hilarity ensues.
Thank you once more, Olivia, for your clear and studied explanation about the situation we’re watching unfold around Venezuela. It makes (sorta) sense now. I have more reading to do.
Feliz Navidad, honey!!
Great stuff.
Thank you, I think I have a much better understanding now of Trump's new "Golden FLeet" obsession.
Listen to the woman, you fools!!! Six-dollar gasoline will be the least of your worries if this
mis-Administration get its way.
The orange-topped turd is being propped up in front of the cameras so that maga thinks he is still in charge. He can’t snort amphetamines or cocaine because of the biologics he is being pumped full of for Alzheimers. He barely made it through that “we now run Barter Town” press conference without losing conciseness. Stephen Miller, Russ Vought, the billionaire bros and Putin run our country, now. If you think this is just about oil in Venezuela or a distraction from the epstein files or Jack Smith’s testimony, you aren’t thinking big enough. This is just another action in the plan for the United States to take over the Americas, putin taking over Europe and Iran, China taking India and everything East and South of it, SA/Turkey/Isreal/? Splitting up the Middle East and North Africa, and Africa getting divided up between them all.
Sinister, power-crazed, disillusioned men are once again trying to overthrow and rule the world. Fuhq.
And who is brighten and more beautiful than you to write this.
Trump's "Golden Fleet" is a No-Go from the start. It's a crazy vanity project that will not work. Have you seen their ridiculous AI mock-up of these ships? It looks like they have Pershing missiles launching straight from the deck! Ha! It's all so childish. That leaves us with the destroyed West Wing. It will remain a mudhole until restored. Forget his "Sun King Ballroom".
Merry Christmas, everybody!