PS - some additional commentary/reports:
- media reports 80 Venezuelans (civilian and military) died during the US military action.
The SubStack channel that I first came across reporting the number of dead also commented on corporate media staying silent on this despite knowing in advance: that has happened before (e.g., the Bay of Pigs invasion by the USA). I think the key point here is that the actions in Venezuela were not and never could be comparable to something like D Day, where such secrecy could be justifiable;
- the Noriega trial likely means any trial of Maduro will be deemed "legal", on the basis that Maduro was not the legitimate head of state of Venezuela (because of rigging elections) - see AP News;
- this analysis discounts that the US operation could be considered a law enforcement operation.
There has been some good commentary on these events in recent days (for instance, see here, here, here, here, here, here). Putting that and my views together, I have the following commentary:
- Maduro was a despotic dictator who caused such massive harm to Venezuela that 20% (several sources on SubStack, and this Paul Warburg video) of its population fled. He is widely considered to have faked election results to stay in power;
- Maduro’s removal from power stops a major source of harm, and potentially opens the way to a better life in Venezuela, but that depends to quite an extent on who has power in Venezuela.
If it is Maduro’s henchmen, the harm could potentially continue.
Whether it is that group depends on whether the US regime’s comments about “running” Venezuela were genuine, and if they were, how they were implemented.
Opposition leader Machado is a hard right politician, and there were concerns about her receiving the Nobel Peace Prize - and I agree with those who suggested it is the fact that she received that award (with US support) that are the real reason the USA's “leader” has not supported her.
- Maduro was “arrested” under a US warrant.
General Pinochet was arrested in the UK on a Spanish warrant.
Setting aside the nature of how the arrest of Maduro was accomplished, I support the use of formal arrest warrants and of proper legal procedure;
- Significant parts of the US judicial system have shown themselves to beoutterlyocompromisedoand noolongeroableotoomeet the norms of justice.
I am inclined towards the view that theocorruptionodoesonotoextend to those courts that would try Maduro, but I am also not in a position to know (especially as I am outside the USA);
The legalistic aspect of all this also relates to the way the “arrest” was performed.
- A military breach of another nation’s borders is a breach of the UN Charter, and thus international law;
- International law is NOT the same as domestic law - there is no power enforcing decreed rules: it operates to quite a degree on consensus (Malcolm N Shaw's book “International Law” discusses this quite well, in my opinion);
- The response to such breaches depends on the type of breach - a military aircraft flying into another nation’s air space generally does not lead to war, for instance. A drone incursion may result in the drones being shot down. Border violence, on the other hand, has the potential to escalate into war;
- At this stage, what has happened is a serious breach of sovereignty, but if there are no remaining US military inside Venezuela, it cannot be considered an invasion - although I note the USA has considerable military assets in the area, and thus the risk of invasion exists and could be considered a threat;
- FBI agents accompanied the military, so there is some implication they may have performed the actual arrest;
- The biggest impact on this is on international law - particularly its consensus basis:
- international law is mostly about relations between nations;
- international law did not consider individuals ... until International Humanitarian Law became well established, particularly through international conventions such as these ones;
- I have not checked through those conventions, but I would like to do so to check whether the word “kidnapping” is the correct term - particularly in light of the arrest warrants;
- it appears likely that the USA will be, in effect, stealing Venezuelan resources (oil) - and that is a clear breach of international law - and, ironically, given exceptionally low oil prices, is unlikely to be particularly profitable in at least the short term;
- also, the USA has used its greater power and thus shattered the consensus that more powerful nations do not arbitrarily use their strength against smaller nations;
- these events are continuing a pattern of actions by the USA that make it, IMO,oaorogueostateoand an active threat to the accepted international order (particularly to Greenland's independence);
- I want to find and read more expert commentary by legal experts on all of this, but it seems fairly clear that the actions by the USA inside Venezuela are the last in a long series of actions - predominantly by the USA - that have taken the world back to the 1930s, and created risks of world war, including nuclear war.
Some consideration also needs to be given to the motivations of the US regime’s leader.
Basically, he appears to be motivated by the desire for adulation (see this psychologist’s YouTube channel) and greed (much of theoacquisitionoofowealthobeing, I understand, viaotheoleader’sofamily, ratherothanotheoleaderohimself). This also spins off into spiteful vengeance - a trait that seems, from outside the USA, to be shared by quite a few of his supporters.
It is an incredibly childish motivation for the possible destruction of the world ...
And these actions were certainly not about drugs, given the US leader's pardon of the former Honduran president convicted over drug crimes.
Possible flaws
Where I can, I will try to highlight possible flaws / issues you should consider:
- there may be flawed logical arguments in the above: to find out more about such flaws and thinking generally, I recommend Brendan Myers’ free online course “Clear and Present Thinking”;
- I could be wrong - so keep your thinking caps on, and make up your own minds for yourself.
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Note that I am cutting back on aspects of my posts - see here, and Gnwmythr is pronounced new-MYTH-ear
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