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It‘s high time for regime change in Venezuela

I think it’s time to call it. The President of the United States is apparently finally prepared to topple the Bolivarian regime of Venezuela, if need be with military force.

All diplomatic contact between Caracas and Washington via Special Envoy Richard Grenell has been broken off. Overwhelming naval, air and Marine Corps assets have been moved to the Caribbean theater to execute targeted raids in order to kill or capture the political and military elite of Venezuela, thereby destabilizing the regime to make way for a democratic renewal in a country that was once one of the most robust democracies in South America.

The administration rightly considers Nicolas Maduro an illegitimate President who illegally usurped power by flatly ignoring the results of his decisive electoral defeat last year. They are also correct in their assessment of his notorious criminal activities. He is indeed a fugitive from justice and his imprisonment will not just be a political and economic liberation for about 30 million Venezuelans at home or living abroad, but an overdue relief for the many victims of Venezuelan narco-crime all over the world. Accordingly, the designation of Maduro‘s Cartel de Soles as a FTO along with the administration‘s de facto declaration of war on narco-terrorists in Venezuela create the legal framework for a drastic and rapid military intervention.

The Venezuelan state, if one can call it that, is nothing but a house of cards. It comes closer to a syndicate than to an actual state. Impunity is all that keeps it from collapsing. Unfortunately, the Venezuelan civilians who are desperately waiting for a dramatic change haven’t been able to mount an armed resistance to counter the repression of a ruthless military, a cruel police force and violent armed gangs allied with the regime.
Opposition forces weren’t armed or trained by any outside power, hence they never stood much of a chance to free themselves from the anachronistic and autocratic joch that keeps them from realizing their human potential and flagrantly violates their most basic human rights and civil liberties.
The $50 million USD bounty on Maduro‘s head is now twice the amount that was promised for the capture of UBL. It‘s time for Maduro to be brought to justice in the United States for the narco-terrorism that he has tolerated, authorized, facilitated and in some cases engineered.

There‘s no place in this world for despots who turn once vibrant liberal western democracies into tyrannies, who impoverish once wealthy economies, who strike bargains with the global enemies of the free world to safeguard their hold on power at the expense of their own people or who compensate for their political and economic mismanagement by building a state-sponsored narcotics empire through which a quarter of the world‘s annual cocaine supply is now funneled.
There’s no place for a man who has unleashed an unprecedented refugee crisis on the entire Western Hemisphere, which led to the emigration of 7 million Venezuelans who had to leave their home since this needless, man-made crisis began to engulf their country.

The people of Venezuela rose up. They rallied behind the opposition, behind Juan Guaidó, behind María Corina Machado and behind President-elect Edmundo González. They voted for them despite fraud, manipulation and voter intimidation. They went on to protest the actions of the regime, peacefully, without arms repeatedly and for months despite the well-known terror and torture practices of the regime.
Yet, neither their civil courage as free citizens of the Republic nor the diplomatic isolation, the international criticism, the targeted and sectoral sanctions, nor President Biden‘s offer to exchange sanctions relief for free elections followed by a democratic transition were enough to rid the world of this man and his loyal coterie of conspirators.

The time for decisive military action has come. If the US and Venezuela‘s neighbors are not willing or able to train, arm, organize and fund an insurgency to bring this regime to its knees, the responsibility for removing it falls on the shoulders of highly trained, highly capable and highly equipped Marines, airmen, sailors and special forces of the US military who will be able to neutralize any hostile regime target inside Venezuela within mere days.

Once this surgical operation is concluded, the responsibility for a new era of hope in Venezuela will pass on to the millions of Venezuelans who can’t wait to close this perverse Marxist chapter of their nation‘s proud history.
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Kwek00 · 41-45, M
The President of the United States is apparently finally prepared to topple the Bolivarian regime of Venezuela, if need be with military force.[

[...]

There‘s no place in this world for despots who turn once vibrant liberal western democracies into tyrannies, who impoverish once wealthy economies, who strike bargains with the global enemies of the free world to safeguard their hold on power at the expense of their own people or who compensate for their political and economic mismanagement by building a state-sponsored narcotics empire through which a quarter of the world‘s annual cocaine supply is now funneled.

Just want to appreciate the irony here.
samueltyler2 · 80-89, M
@Kwek00 irony?
Kwek00 · 41-45, M
@samueltyler2 Yeah... the US is going to save us from despots that turn once vibrant liberal western democracies into tyrannies ... in 2025.
CedricH · 22-25, M
@Kwek00 Yes… I am aware of the irony. I‘m a Never Trumper but even bad people can sometimes do the right thing.
samueltyler2 · 80-89, M
@Kwek00 if you hint that as we slip into authoritarianism we fight it elsewhere, I agree it is ironic.
Kwek00 · 41-45, M
@CedricH Didn't you also write a long story a couple of weeks ago... about how this is still the same GOP? Do you still support that idea?
samueltyler2 · 80-89, M
@CedricH you, a never trumper, really?
CedricH · 22-25, M
@samueltyler2 Yep. (I for one have never heard of a MAGA enthusiast who called himself a never trumper)
Kwek00 · 41-45, M
@samueltyler2 Well, lets be honest... this is Cedrics story. I also think Donald needs some other toppic to be in the news. I don't believe that the fight that is being picked is ideologically or a nescessity. I also don't really cheer for outside forces to do regime change. Last time I looked, that goes against international rules. But hey, when did the powers that be ever cared about international rules?
samueltyler2 · 80-89, M
@Kwek00 you are correct. I do notice that he writes as someone not living in the US and unaffected directly by the actions of the US.
Kwek00 · 41-45, M
@samueltyler2 Nah, he doesn't seem ignorant. We are just not the same page on the interpretation. I also don't support the neocon idea of toppling governements, considering all the earlier examples. Neither do I put much faith in capitalism and free markets... considering that this unregulated accumulation of wealth got us in the position that we are today. Cedrics just seem to believe that doing the same thing, will now suddenly create way better outcomes. I don't really see it that way, but maybe I need to read a bit more dreamy liberals that took ideas from the 19th century and fluffed up for modern use. Who knows.
samueltyler2 · 80-89, M
@Kwek00 they still idolize their hero Ronald Reagen, who proved that his theories of economics don't work, he also started the destruction of the labor movement!
CedricH · 22-25, M
@Kwek00 Do read the whole post, the electorate is pretty similar. But the party has, regrettably, changed in many fundamental ways that are completely intolerable and inexcusable.
Kwek00 · 41-45, M
@samueltyler2 I'm not sure what his stance is on Ronald Reagan... I jjust know what I think about him at this moment. My views aren't so positive. I also find it funny that a lot of people on the MAGA movement today believe that Reagan would like them... I don't really see that happening either.
CedricH · 22-25, M
@Kwek00 He wouldn’t like them at all. He would‘ve used his entire political prowess to marginalize and contain the right-wing populists lurking beneath the surface - even in the 1980s - when they were represented by the likes of Pat Buchanan.
Kwek00 · 41-45, M
@CedricH So the party ain't the same. It's not the same GOP from a couple of years ago. The voter base is a different toppic, I think a segment of the population hasn't waken up. There are a bunch of reasons why people vote for a party. One of those reasons, is just habit. Then there is the is the thing that voters ussually have 1 or 2 key issues, rarely 3, when they go to a voting booth. It's only a minority that tries to inform themselves about the big picture. Considering the levels of polarisation in the US... there is an argument to be behave that this even strengthens the voting behavior out of habbit.
Kwek00 · 41-45, M
@CedricH I'm sorry Cedric... but it was during the Nixon years and later on the Reagan years that those far-right elements were trully embraced by the party. On one side Reagan talked about how much he despised these people (at least according to one of the biographers I listened too... but if you want a name I need to delve) and on the other hand, the republican party was all too happy to get the votes that the democrats lost in the South for signing the civl rights acts, into their folds.

Maybe now that the snowball accumulated enough mass, Reagan will think again. But as they say, regret always comes after the sin.
CedricH · 22-25, M
@Kwek00 Exactly, but the title of my post was a reference to the party‘s voter base, not to the party‘s specific political positions, which have drastically been altered by Trumpism, as I‘ve laid out in the post.
But as you said, many voters are habitual creatures so the voter base of the GOP hasn’t moved that much. I was challenging the argument, made by some analysts and politicians, who claim that the GOP has suddenly been turned into a party of lower income Americans, the youth and of minorities. While there have been certain, likely transient, demographic shifts, the basic composition of Republican voters hasn’t changed that much over the last decades.
Kwek00 · 41-45, M
@CedricH Okay then... I appologise for misreading you there then. Then I guess we both agree, that average republican voter hasn't really been looking at the big picture either. Because the one thing that has been a constant for the coalition that was formed during the 70s at the crystalised at the end of that decade, is a demand for lower taxes. All the rest just seems to be gravy.
CedricH · 22-25, M
@Kwek00 You‘re not entirely wrong though I‘d challenge the word embrace. And that’s the crux of the whole issue. Reagan gladly absorbed the votes which was a natural realignment in a two party system since they were increasingly allergic to the Democratic Party which leaves only the GOP.
Reagan sought those voters as much as Franklin D Roosevelt did. But neither of them “embraced” their philosophy. I can tell you who did literally embrace them. Donald J. Trump. That‘s what makes him different. He didn’t just want their vote, he wanted them to be his government and the architects of his agenda.
CedricH · 22-25, M
@Kwek00 Low taxes, deregulation, lax gun laws, an intense dislike of abortions and nationalism were the connective tissue since the 1980s.
Kwek00 · 41-45, M
@CedricH No it wasn't Cedric, it wasn't that those voters that mourned lost of Jim Crow laws organically moved to the republican party. No, the Republican party tailored their messaging and even some of their policies actions to grab these lost votes out of opportunity. It wasn't natural/organic, no it was active strategy. Espescially Reagan, with his wellfare queen rhetoric. Here is Lee Atwater, explaining it in all it's glory:

[media=https://youtu.be/AT2fsv7xt4E]

Reagan let them in, and his neoliberal politics that went along with antagonising those people that benefited from redistribution.... leads us to Donald Trump. The line might not be straight, but there is reason why a huge segment of the MAGA base embrace Reagan as a paleoconservative.
CedricH · 22-25, M
@Kwek00 It was natural because there was no other place for them to go. The Republicans rhetorical adjustments at that time were minor. At no point did the GOP under Reagan or his successors concede the one issue that made Southern Democrats migrate to the GOP, desegregation. They left because they were too culturally conservative and or reactionary for the GOP. Their religion, their nationalism and their anti-federalism drove them into the arms of the Republican Party.
Kwek00 · 41-45, M
@CedricH If you have to retailor your messaging to capture a certain vote, then it's not "natural". You changed your party by doing so. These people weren't waiting for the old republican party, if so, they wouldn't have had Goldwater in 1964, these people would have naturally flowed to the republican party. That didn't happen.

Religion, nationalism, abortion ... these things weren't important for the republican party untill they wanted to catch these southern voters. It's so ironic, because it's neoliberalism that opened the doors for global trade. It's neoliberalism, that was okay with migration, ESPESCIALLY if it was illegale because it would help to have more cheap labor available. All these things that were implemented with the support of these southern states, are now literally under attack because of particulair strings of authoritarian christianity and other forms of reactionairy conservatism. They are literally blamed on the democrats, while Reagan is the guy hanging a medal around Milton Friedmans neck in the history books.
CedricH · 22-25, M
@Kwek00 It was natural but the Republican Party did change to accommodate them in a way that was palatable for the whole coalition and the majority of the country by being the party of the flag, of faith, guns and anti-communism.
But as far as transitions go, Reagan was a more outspoken opponent of racial segregation than Dwight D. Eisenhower.

The Republican Party absorbed Southern voters but they were also no longer content to vote for Democrats like Herbert Humphrey, McGovern, Mondale, Dukakis, Gore, Obama, Biden or Harris.
samueltyler2 · 80-89, M
@CedricH i suggest you may be misinterpreting history. Go read about Reagen and the Black List.