Joins pantheon that includes Saddam Hussein, Bashar al-Assad, et al
Let’s just get the side note out of the way right up front: I’m writing this from Colombia, one of several countries that have already absorbed a large number of Venezuelan “illegal immigrants,” currently bracing for more. The USA is not the only country in the world facing the issue of poor and dispossessed people pouring over its borders.
Unless you live under a rock, you know that Venezuelan strongman Nicolás Maduro has been “arrested” by US Special Forces. The US Department of Justice indictment charges Maduro with “narco-terrorism conspiracy, cocaine-importation conspiracy and weapons charges.”
Uhhh… what? “weapons charges?” He is a head of state and commander in chief. He commands an army, navy, and air force. How is he in violation of US weapons laws?
As far as “narco-terrorism conspiracy” goes, what does that even mean? Again, as a head of state, all kinds of scenarios would be war gamed. Notice the word “conspiracy.” Why not just call it “narco-terrorism?” Couldn’t it be considered terrorism to invade another country and capture its leader when that country has not done anything to you? Could it not be considered terrorism to randomly bomb boats and seize oil tankers?
Seriously ask yourself, “Who is in violation of international laws and norms here? Who is the terrorist?” How can you charge another government with “conspiracy” when every government on the planet plans nefarious clandestine activities against other governments?
The truth is, Maduro has already been found guilty of ruling a country sitting on a LOT of oil and not being willing to give it away in exchange for dollars that the US government prints to infinity (to the detriment of all people who work for that currency, I might add, in the form of inflation), just like Saddam Hussein, Mohamar Khadafi, and Bashar al-Assad — and that’s just recent history.
As an American citizen, I would like to believe the usual propaganda that our noble armed forces are liberating the Venezuelan people from an evil dictator, but I’m way too old and jaded to buy that. Venezuela is already a mess and will become more of a mess. They sold us that line of goods with Libya 14 years ago, and Libya is a lawless hellscape to this very day. Venezuela is likely to break into civil war in addition to the problems they already have with crime and poverty. That’s just how it is.
Proud to be an American? I wish. I’m embarrassed to be an American at this moment, and being in the country next door to Venezuela, even uncomfortable with my citizenship.