Venezuela Attacks U.S.
President Trump and First Lady Captured; Will Face Trial and Justice in Venezuela
Sometimes, imagining an opposite scenario can bring folly and illegality into relief.
Imagine if Venezuela attacked the U.S. Imagine if President Trump and Melania Trump were seized, and that the Venezuelan attorney general said they would face justice in Venezuela. I’d imagine that nearly all Americans would see this as an act of war, a gross violation of national sovereignty. American vengeance would be swift.
Of course, this is not Opposite Day. It’s the U.S. that has attacked Venezuela, seizing Maduro and his wife, with U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi vowing "They will soon face the full wrath of American justice on American soil in American courts.”
WTF? After kidnapping foreign leaders in an obvious act of war, we’re then going to try them in U.S. courts as if they’re American citizens subjects? When did U.S. courts become international courts of justice? I know—that’s hardly the worst of it.
The conceit here is stunning, as is the exertion of executive privilege. Apparently, Trump didn’t bother to consult with Congress before launching this war. That is unconstitutional and an impeachable offense.
Yesterday, I was reading about how the Maduro government was open to negotiations with the Trump administration. Today, Maduro is apparently in American hands, kidnapped in a military coup.
I know Trump and others have always lusted after Venezuela’s oil and gas reserves, but seriously? Which country are we going to invade next, which leaders will we kidnap next, using the false pretext of fighting a war on drugs? (Speaking of drugs, it seems like half the ads on TV now are for selling “legal” drugs of one sort or another, featuring lots of smiling happy people; are we going to declare war on Big Pharma?)
I’m tempted to write the U.S. has hit a new low on the international stage, but surely we know lower acts are coming. The optimism of the New Year died so quickly, didn’t it?
In the New York Times sendout this AM, the headline was "An Operation in Venezuela"
Looks like our so-called elites heartily approve of Trump's "operation."
The Christmas break was a necessary respite from the lunacy of the past year, but I knew it couldn't last long, that we would have to gird ourselves for its resumption quite early. But I was caught off guard by NYT alerts that came in overnight about Venezuela. More head smacking. Today's Bracing Views headline came as a welcome bit of humorous anodyne, if only true, there'd be revelry in the streets!
A bit more seriously, I'd find some worthwhile expenditure of the grotesque Pentagon budget if some of it were used for an operation, a la SEAL Team 6, to snatch Netanyahu and Gvir, a la ICE, off the streets of Jerusalem or Tel Aviv, wherever Israeli surveillance technology says they are at the moment - how delightful the irony - and whisked off to The Hague. Then I'd say the world made some sense.