I know this post will not be well-received by many of my readers. If you are among them, I ask you to read the following Substack post by 10-year US Army/Air Force veteran Wes O'Donnell (who has since earned a law degree): https://tinyurl.com/3tshtrkk
I read this, and I also read that post by Wes O'Donnell that you linked. I'd say too soon to tell what really happened there. It's possible that there was justification, and we don't know about it, or it's possible that they were fired upon to conceal something else. Not to be conspiratorial, but things can go sideways sometimes when large quantities of cash or drugs are involved. Maybe it will come out later.
One thing I'm happy about, for now at least, is that this admin is moving fast and furious, which is necessary to deal with the multiplicity of threats the US is currently facing. I assume you were just as surprised as I was last week to see a Mexican senator going on Fox News to ask for a US intervention against the cartels. So we don't really know how much foreign support exists until we take action. One thing I do know is that it was both shameful and expensive to tolerate the Somalian pirates for so many years [decades, actually], instead of having military personnel sink any fast-boat that approached a container ship in the open ocean with a bazooka. Just as it was really bad that the "international community" tolerated Houthi terrorism in the Gulf of Aden until the Israelis finally decapitated their C-suite.
The real elephant in the room is the enormous Stabroek oilfield, which straddles Venezuelan and Guayanan territorial waters. There are already Chinese as well as American interests extracting oil there, and I'd make a sizable wager that this admin considers that a strategic risk. While there are always dire warnings about confronting China directly, many people like myself think they're just a paper tiger, as the USSR was in the late '80s. Note that Trump already elbowed them out of the Panama Canal, and bombed nuclear weapon labs in Iran [a Chinese ally], and what happened? It looks like nothing happened. China and Russia are better at subterfuge than we are, which also includes using Venezuela for weaponized migration of criminals to the US, and exporting drugs to the US, which is a useful lesson they learned from the British in the 19th century. But given the strictly mercenary nature of communist military forces, and their dubious combat experience, it is no small risk to engage with US forces in open combat. Sure, China has more ships than we do, and Russia has more nukes; but both nations have dire difficulties with equipment maintenance, not to mention officer loyalty.
As far as regime change, both Venezuela and Iran are relatively safe bets, because the citizens are being held hostage by tyrannical despots, and because there are popular local moderates in the pipeline if and when the dictators are deposed. Certainly more than can be said for most of the failed US regime change ops under both Bushes, or the counterproductive appeasement tactics of Obama & Biden.
Sorry, I'm getting off track here. Another possibility for sinking the Trendy Arugula boat was to send a message to Maduro's people that whoever wants to cash in on the bounty better hurry up, because we might be invading soon. I don't know any more than the next punter, but it looks like things are escalating quickly. And cartel retaliation in the US might be another unifying force to reignite the American appetite for hemispheric dominance. Not claiming that we have a moral imperative to do so, just that we are a patriotic and belligerent nation. Our enemies are merely belligerent, but not so patriotic. Perhaps its time we assert ourselves again; the world was largely better off with a US hegemon. I'd be more inclined to accept a multipolar world if the other great powers were not governed by psychopaths intent on our destruction and the eternal slavery of their own populations.
Chuck: Thanks, as always, for another thoughtful comment - and for considering Wes O'Donnell's perspectives. I am neither a legal nor a military expert, but I do take note of the analysis of those who are (and what I am seeing online suggests that we should consider some of their warnings). -Abrazos! -jack-
I'm well aware of what the prevailing wisdom dictates. But how many people saw the fall of the Berlin Wall, or the implosion of the USSR? I got tired of listening to the "insider" pundits, because too many of them just get high on their own farts and rehash each others' editorials.
Case in point: I listened to a recent episode of the GoodFellas podcast, which is a round table discussion with General HR McMaster, Niall Ferguson, and John Cochrane [who I really respect as a libertarian economist]. But they spent a good chunk of the episode talking about economic prospects for Europe, without once mentioning that all of western Europe is on the brink of nativist revolution against illegal migrants [mostly Muslims]. Do you think that might have any bearing on the economy, or perhaps tourism? Luckily you only have to wait ten days to find out: There will be a huge rally in the UK on 9/13, and that should be the tipping point for all of western Europe, Scandinavia, Canada, and Australia to begin seriously planning Trump-style deportations. But regardless of what happens, I find it troubling that those three guys did not see fit to include that in their discussion of Europe's potential trajectory.
And let me ask you this: How many high-paid analysts you see online even mention the Stabroek oilfield as a relevant factor in the Venezuela campaign? I guarantee that by the end of this month, they'll be talking about it--but they're not yet, are they?
I've been watching the Venezuela/Guyana border dispute over the Guayana Esequiba (or Essequibo as some prefer) for some time, but - unless it becomes "hot" or ExxonMobil exercises the drilling rights Guyana awarded it - the situation remains primarily a diplomatic dispute. But, yes, that certainly has the potential to become a flashpoint, particularly if Maduro is stupid enough to escalate it.
I think Trump is trying to exert pressure and inspire paranoia in Maduro and his henchmen, because something will likely break; if China were interested in intervening on his behalf, now might be an opportune time to do so.
Ruh roh... They woulda got away with it too, if it wasn't for those meddling kids! I'm still betting that China doesn't have the appetite for a brawl over Venezuela, but we'll know soon enough.
Yes, this could become a flashpoint, especially as the Trump Administration signals they want to re-orient the Pentagon's prior focus on Europe/Russia & Asia/China to the Western Hemisphere (the Americas). The weird part of this is that Venezuela's government-owned Citgo operates refineries in Texas, Louisiana, & Illinois. Would the US "nationalize" them in the event of a protracted dispute?
It’s hard not to believe this will serve as a deterrent to future smuggling operations. In that respect, it will be positive in that it will be unnecessary to take such action in the future.
I hardly care if what the trump administration is doing here has been deemed legal by a court or some other bureaucracy with no legitimacy or even if it ever will be. Good riddance to every smuggler and cartel member. If they do catch people conscripted by the cartels into service it's a pity but not one im going to cry over.
There's one concern that some US Military veterans have raised about the potential for blowback that I think bears watching: That is, if the US continues blowing boats up in International Waters, it could embolden some other bad actors (like China, which is involved in multiple territorial disputes) to do the same & claim the targets were "narcoterrorists." Thanks for reading US Border News & taking the time to share your opinions!
I know this post will not be well-received by many of my readers. If you are among them, I ask you to read the following Substack post by 10-year US Army/Air Force veteran Wes O'Donnell (who has since earned a law degree): https://tinyurl.com/3tshtrkk
Those oceans were always moats.
It's good to see them used properly.
I read this, and I also read that post by Wes O'Donnell that you linked. I'd say too soon to tell what really happened there. It's possible that there was justification, and we don't know about it, or it's possible that they were fired upon to conceal something else. Not to be conspiratorial, but things can go sideways sometimes when large quantities of cash or drugs are involved. Maybe it will come out later.
One thing I'm happy about, for now at least, is that this admin is moving fast and furious, which is necessary to deal with the multiplicity of threats the US is currently facing. I assume you were just as surprised as I was last week to see a Mexican senator going on Fox News to ask for a US intervention against the cartels. So we don't really know how much foreign support exists until we take action. One thing I do know is that it was both shameful and expensive to tolerate the Somalian pirates for so many years [decades, actually], instead of having military personnel sink any fast-boat that approached a container ship in the open ocean with a bazooka. Just as it was really bad that the "international community" tolerated Houthi terrorism in the Gulf of Aden until the Israelis finally decapitated their C-suite.
The real elephant in the room is the enormous Stabroek oilfield, which straddles Venezuelan and Guayanan territorial waters. There are already Chinese as well as American interests extracting oil there, and I'd make a sizable wager that this admin considers that a strategic risk. While there are always dire warnings about confronting China directly, many people like myself think they're just a paper tiger, as the USSR was in the late '80s. Note that Trump already elbowed them out of the Panama Canal, and bombed nuclear weapon labs in Iran [a Chinese ally], and what happened? It looks like nothing happened. China and Russia are better at subterfuge than we are, which also includes using Venezuela for weaponized migration of criminals to the US, and exporting drugs to the US, which is a useful lesson they learned from the British in the 19th century. But given the strictly mercenary nature of communist military forces, and their dubious combat experience, it is no small risk to engage with US forces in open combat. Sure, China has more ships than we do, and Russia has more nukes; but both nations have dire difficulties with equipment maintenance, not to mention officer loyalty.
As far as regime change, both Venezuela and Iran are relatively safe bets, because the citizens are being held hostage by tyrannical despots, and because there are popular local moderates in the pipeline if and when the dictators are deposed. Certainly more than can be said for most of the failed US regime change ops under both Bushes, or the counterproductive appeasement tactics of Obama & Biden.
Sorry, I'm getting off track here. Another possibility for sinking the Trendy Arugula boat was to send a message to Maduro's people that whoever wants to cash in on the bounty better hurry up, because we might be invading soon. I don't know any more than the next punter, but it looks like things are escalating quickly. And cartel retaliation in the US might be another unifying force to reignite the American appetite for hemispheric dominance. Not claiming that we have a moral imperative to do so, just that we are a patriotic and belligerent nation. Our enemies are merely belligerent, but not so patriotic. Perhaps its time we assert ourselves again; the world was largely better off with a US hegemon. I'd be more inclined to accept a multipolar world if the other great powers were not governed by psychopaths intent on our destruction and the eternal slavery of their own populations.
Chuck: Thanks, as always, for another thoughtful comment - and for considering Wes O'Donnell's perspectives. I am neither a legal nor a military expert, but I do take note of the analysis of those who are (and what I am seeing online suggests that we should consider some of their warnings). -Abrazos! -jack-
I'm well aware of what the prevailing wisdom dictates. But how many people saw the fall of the Berlin Wall, or the implosion of the USSR? I got tired of listening to the "insider" pundits, because too many of them just get high on their own farts and rehash each others' editorials.
Case in point: I listened to a recent episode of the GoodFellas podcast, which is a round table discussion with General HR McMaster, Niall Ferguson, and John Cochrane [who I really respect as a libertarian economist]. But they spent a good chunk of the episode talking about economic prospects for Europe, without once mentioning that all of western Europe is on the brink of nativist revolution against illegal migrants [mostly Muslims]. Do you think that might have any bearing on the economy, or perhaps tourism? Luckily you only have to wait ten days to find out: There will be a huge rally in the UK on 9/13, and that should be the tipping point for all of western Europe, Scandinavia, Canada, and Australia to begin seriously planning Trump-style deportations. But regardless of what happens, I find it troubling that those three guys did not see fit to include that in their discussion of Europe's potential trajectory.
And let me ask you this: How many high-paid analysts you see online even mention the Stabroek oilfield as a relevant factor in the Venezuela campaign? I guarantee that by the end of this month, they'll be talking about it--but they're not yet, are they?
I've been watching the Venezuela/Guyana border dispute over the Guayana Esequiba (or Essequibo as some prefer) for some time, but - unless it becomes "hot" or ExxonMobil exercises the drilling rights Guyana awarded it - the situation remains primarily a diplomatic dispute. But, yes, that certainly has the potential to become a flashpoint, particularly if Maduro is stupid enough to escalate it.
I think Trump is trying to exert pressure and inspire paranoia in Maduro and his henchmen, because something will likely break; if China were interested in intervening on his behalf, now might be an opportune time to do so.
Well, China just floated a massive oil platform into Venezuela's Lake Maracaibo, so... https://tinyurl.com/5n8md7av
Ruh roh... They woulda got away with it too, if it wasn't for those meddling kids! I'm still betting that China doesn't have the appetite for a brawl over Venezuela, but we'll know soon enough.
Yes, this could become a flashpoint, especially as the Trump Administration signals they want to re-orient the Pentagon's prior focus on Europe/Russia & Asia/China to the Western Hemisphere (the Americas). The weird part of this is that Venezuela's government-owned Citgo operates refineries in Texas, Louisiana, & Illinois. Would the US "nationalize" them in the event of a protracted dispute?
It’s hard not to believe this will serve as a deterrent to future smuggling operations. In that respect, it will be positive in that it will be unnecessary to take such action in the future.
Jack, I am so happy for President Donald Trump and Pete Hegseth. This sends clear message FAFI! Thank you Jack for your service to us Patriots.
I hardly care if what the trump administration is doing here has been deemed legal by a court or some other bureaucracy with no legitimacy or even if it ever will be. Good riddance to every smuggler and cartel member. If they do catch people conscripted by the cartels into service it's a pity but not one im going to cry over.
There's one concern that some US Military veterans have raised about the potential for blowback that I think bears watching: That is, if the US continues blowing boats up in International Waters, it could embolden some other bad actors (like China, which is involved in multiple territorial disputes) to do the same & claim the targets were "narcoterrorists." Thanks for reading US Border News & taking the time to share your opinions!
I guess no due process for you!