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Trump says U.S. operation captured Venezuela's president Nicolas Maduro
- treetalker 9mo agoAnd what, are we supposed to believe that the FIFA Peace Prize, trophy, and medal suddenly have no real meaning?
- AnimalMuppet 9mo agoThey never did have any meaning.
- lostlogin 9mo agoGoing back a little it’s the signs. Local-to-the-pentagon pizza orders are up. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46474859 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46474859
- JumpCrisscross 9mo agoHow many times has it spiked in the last decade?
- JumpCrisscross 9mo agoBoat nonsense aside, if Trump has actually pulled this off while mostly striking military targets, that's (a) impressive and (b) possibly–possibly!–worth celebrating. The caveat is what happens next. If a stable government emerges, that's okay. If a stable government emerges that holds free and fair elections, that's brilliant. If, on the other hand, the power vacuum prompts a civil war and refugee crisis because nobody–again–planned for what happens after regime decapitation, well fuck. (We really need to repeal the War Powers Act [1].) [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/War_Powers_Resolution https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/War_Powers_Resolution
- blob17 9mo agoAre you sure your government is attacking because of free elections?
- JumpCrisscross 9mo ago> Are you sure your government is attacking because of free elections? Never said that. I said this could wind up being net good if that's the outcome. Doesn't make the way we would have gotten there okay. And it doesn't mean that was a primary or even proximate goal for the people who called the shots.
- blob17 9mo agoare you saying this as a local to the area or as an american living in america projecting your vision of "net good" lmao.
- JumpCrisscross 9mo ago> as an american living in america projecting your vision of "net good" American living in America who knows Venzeulans in America, most of whom didn't want this. But. All of whom would want their country to democratise. Whether blowing up the capital and kidnapping their dictator causes that to happen is questionable. But Venezuela has cultural memory of democracy. (On the other hand, there seems to be zero effort–again!–towards an after-the-bombs plan. I'll also note that this administration isn't exactly a fan, itself, of free and fair elections.)
- blob17 9mo agolol bro u realize if ur a minority in your flavor of democracy u still lose right? thats why they need entire campaigns to brainwash you on what's good for you on ur voter leaflets.
- JumpCrisscross 9mo ago
- voidfunc 9mo agoSo where do we go from here? Venezuela doesn't have the capacity to strike back. I assume this triggers a civil war for power. Maduro is a dead man flying to his future grave.
- JumpCrisscross 9mo ago> where do we go from here? My honest guess? Cuba. (If I were in charge from this minute on, I’d offer Maduro a pardon, asylum and a mountain of cash to (a) assist with a regime change and (b) tell us all of Cuba, Iran, Russia and China’s nasty business.)
- moralestapia 9mo agoLol, Cuba has zero (if not negative) value.
- JumpCrisscross 9mo ago> Cuba has zero (if not negative) value So did Iraq at the end of it. So does Ukraine for Russia.
- ksherlock 9mo agoCuba is better location for a Trump beachside hotel and casino than, say, Gaza.
- impossiblefork 9mo agoNo, the VP takes over, i.e. Delcy Rodríguez and this has already happened.
- mothballed 9mo agoThey might as well declare they are president of USA as well while they're at it. Maduro's regime was just publicly emasculated. They already had no legitimacy due to a fraudulent election and now they have no physical power either. Without might makes right (US puppet) or some recognition of legitimacy, any leader is little more than a loudspeaker in a pretty house.
- eps 9mo agoDoesn't the president require a Congress approval for this sort of military action?
- voidfunc 9mo agoNo. War Powers Resolution of 1973.
- JohnFen 9mo agoWhich has been a terrible law in need of repeal since the moment it was enacted.
- burnt-resistor 9mo agoDoesn't matter because who's going to check them? SCOTUS? No. COTUS? No. Unitary executive theory = plenary powers, e.g., they're a king in all but name surrounded by political loyalists with their hands on every lever of power that matters.
- einsteinx2 9mo agoI think the president only needs permission from Congress to officially declare war (or rather only Congress can declare war), but the president is commander in chief of the US military and can do, for lack of a better term, “special military operations” without any approval (all joking aside, I think it means the president can always order military action just can’t declare war against another country, and I don’t believe the US has declared war on Venezuela).
- scotty79 9mo agoKidnapping president of another country? That's new right?
- deleted 9mo ago[deleted]
- supermatt 9mo agoCapturing the head of state has happened many times historically. I think the USA is the only sovereign state to have done it in recent history though (and multiple times at that!).
- scotty79 9mo agoOh, yeah Panama 1989 H.W.Bush Apparently modern old farts in power can only reanact things they've seen in their 'youth'.
- gitaarik 9mo agoWhat about Saddam Hussein?
- scotty79 9mo agoWasn't he basically executed with extra steps after thoroughly trashing his county first? I think that's a different thing.
- mamonster 9mo ago2026 is gonna be the 6th action packed year in a row I guess.
- beAbU 9mo ago10th. It all went to shit the year they killed Harambe.
- coolThingsFirst 9mo agowhy tho? What's the interest in one more pointless war/conflict?
- jaldhar 9mo agoOf course all the headlines say Trump did this and that but the person behind this is Secretary of State (foreign minister for the tourists.) Marco Rubio. He will be low key about this right now because of Trumps ego but it will all come out later. Rubios reasons are: 1. He is a Cuban American and his base is the Cuban exile community. They have been wanting to overthrow the Communist regime since JFK. As Cuba is utterly dependent on Venezuelan oil, this might be what finally does it. 2. He is setting himself to run for the Republican presidential nomination in 2028. Despite the isolationist tendencies of MAGA, there are still many Republican voters for whom kicking foreign commie ass is an impressive resume item. 3. Maduro is really horrible. All the “No Kings” types wringing their hands about Fascism should be happy that an actual authoritarian dictator has met his end. But mostly the first two.
- deleted 9mo ago[deleted]
- lenkite 9mo agoThe Nobel Committee should have just given him a peace prize for the sake of the world with some "conditions" like he actually honored peace. Since he didn't get one, he decided like a miffed child that he would for the "war prize" instead. It seems like the neocons have successfully managed a takeover behind the scenes using Trump as their idiot puppet. Gottu get the War+Oil Industry stock prices moving - the C-suite billionaires needs their bonuses for their next luxury yacht.
- jacquesm 9mo agoThey could do a Trump on him and say they will award it posthumously but only if the conditions are met. And then renege on it when the matter is settled.