Via a law announced Tuesday, Venezuela will create a new province or state in the disputed territory, having already appointed a single provisional authority: Major-General Alexis Rodríguez Cabello
Do you genuinely think this is a good idea for Venezuela? It’s not that I think it’s unjust, I honestly don’t know enough about the history of the disputed territory to pass judgement. It just seems like a really dumb move from Maduro. There’s no clear benefit resource wise (they already have enough oil), its not going to foster any goodwill among other South American countries, if the US gets involved Venezuela is fucked, and even if successful they’re going to have to sink a lot of energy into administering the newly annexed territory (which is never easy).
I just think that a decision like this was probably not made lightly. I really doubt Maduro was just like “fuck it imma do something funny” that like libs saying Putin is evil and one day invaded Ukraine for fun.
Fair, but there’s a big difference between the Ukraine invasion and this. Ukraine was the result of a calculated effort to force Russia’s hand. This seems like an unforced error, and I don’t see why we should assume Maduro is incapable of making miscalculations just because he has the right ideas in a lot of other areas.
It would be nice if Maduro had an announcement making his reasoning available for everyone to see like Putin did, so I get what you’re saying. I would like to think this is a calculated effort but I’ll be honest and say I don’t really know. Could be a huge fuck up, but as of right now critical support is my default with things like this even if it is just reflexive anti Americanism.
Another reason I’m not happy about this is I’m not confident Venezuela can win this, if it gets embroiled in this conflict it could just as easily end up a win for the US Empire cuz now they can just snuff out Venezuela instead of trying to chip away at them via more subtle means. That’s why, even if I don’t agree with Maduro’s decision here, I would still oppose US involvement of any kind.
this conflict it could just as easily end up a win for the US Empire cuz now they can just snuff out Venezuela instead of trying to chip away at them
I’m not accusing you of this, but this is exactly the line of reasoning that every Trot and left liberal I know used to explain why we all needed to “condemn Hamas”. The unstated assumption here is that confronting the empire can only result in a worse outcome for the periphery, and so we must oppose any material resistance by the periphery for their own good.
The only two conclusions to this line of thinking are:
That there is no possibility of things improving for the periphery, and so the best they can hope for is to preserve the status quo indefinitely.
That the only effective means of improving the material conditions of the periphery is by waging some kind of purely moral nonviolent struggle through speech and symbolic gestures.
I’ve been owned, a pro-US stooge used the smug emoji in defense of the most powerful and evil empire in world history, and depict their victims as smug.
I don’t think the US is winning this one. America trains for the wars it’s GOING to fight, not the ones it didn’t expect. Very few of the relatively small number of US troops have jungle training, all our equipment weights 200 tons so it’s not gonna be useful there, we already didn’t win Vietnam. That’s all before you add on the stress of Ukraine and Israel. I don’t see it happening.
Don’t question why you end up on the same side of US imperial foreign policy, just keep nodding along.
Do you genuinely think this is a good idea for Venezuela? It’s not that I think it’s unjust, I honestly don’t know enough about the history of the disputed territory to pass judgement. It just seems like a really dumb move from Maduro. There’s no clear benefit resource wise (they already have enough oil), its not going to foster any goodwill among other South American countries, if the US gets involved Venezuela is fucked, and even if successful they’re going to have to sink a lot of energy into administering the newly annexed territory (which is never easy).
I just think that a decision like this was probably not made lightly. I really doubt Maduro was just like “fuck it imma do something funny” that like libs saying Putin is evil and one day invaded Ukraine for fun.
Fair, but there’s a big difference between the Ukraine invasion and this. Ukraine was the result of a calculated effort to force Russia’s hand. This seems like an unforced error, and I don’t see why we should assume Maduro is incapable of making miscalculations just because he has the right ideas in a lot of other areas.
It would be nice if Maduro had an announcement making his reasoning available for everyone to see like Putin did, so I get what you’re saying. I would like to think this is a calculated effort but I’ll be honest and say I don’t really know. Could be a huge fuck up, but as of right now critical support is my default with things like this even if it is just reflexive anti Americanism.
The US is not involved in this conflict yet and I would opposed their involvement if they did
Are you sure? What is exxonmobil again? Who has influence in the International Court of Justice?
America is the one aggressing on Venezuela by using their puppet government in Guyana to encircle them and take the disputed territory unilaterally.
Not directly, militarily
Why does that matter? Should countries just lay down and let America strangle them “non-militarily/indirectly” until they’re dead?
Another reason I’m not happy about this is I’m not confident Venezuela can win this, if it gets embroiled in this conflict it could just as easily end up a win for the US Empire cuz now they can just snuff out Venezuela instead of trying to chip away at them via more subtle means. That’s why, even if I don’t agree with Maduro’s decision here, I would still oppose US involvement of any kind.
Guyana has no military.
So your alternative is to let them win because they might win if Venezuela reacts? Makes no sense.
I’m not accusing you of this, but this is exactly the line of reasoning that every Trot and left liberal I know used to explain why we all needed to “condemn Hamas”. The unstated assumption here is that confronting the empire can only result in a worse outcome for the periphery, and so we must oppose any material resistance by the periphery for their own good.
The only two conclusions to this line of thinking are:
Both of these are just liberalism.
Neocolonialism
Clearly the US has no interests in the region, that’s why they leave VZ alone and let them develop peacefully. /s
If they get involved who do you think is winning?
It’s not your place to criticize actions of an anti-imperialist nation like VZ because of your speculation on its outcome.
Whats your place then?
Support the victims of US imperialism, and trust that they know what they’re doing? I realize that’s very difficult for you to do.
I’ve been owned, a pro-US stooge used the smug emoji in defense of the most powerful and evil empire in world history, and depict their victims as smug.
I don’t think the US is winning this one. America trains for the wars it’s GOING to fight, not the ones it didn’t expect. Very few of the relatively small number of US troops have jungle training, all our equipment weights 200 tons so it’s not gonna be useful there, we already didn’t win Vietnam. That’s all before you add on the stress of Ukraine and Israel. I don’t see it happening.