Showing posts with label Maduro capture. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Maduro capture. Show all posts

Wednesday, July 15, 2026

Viceroy

 


US Secretary of State Marco Rubio is the effective ruler of Venezuela, according to a recent article in the New York Times (a summary from another site below).

This raises all kinds of questions (and, I suppose, eyebrows). For instance, if the "Bolivarian Revolution" has widespread popular support, shouldn´t the people of Venezuela protest or even rebel against Delcy Rodriguez? And why does the "Bolivarian" elite accept the new order anyway? 

It seems the revolution has fallen on really hard times since the halcyon days of Hugo Chavez. All it took to make Venezuela a US protectorate was to remove Maduro and his wife! Perhaps Trump assumed that the same strategy would work with Iran, but it seems the Islamic revolution is more viable than the Bolivarian one...

Viceroy of Venezuela: Marco Rubio runs Caracas

Thursday, June 18, 2026

Abductive reasoning

 

Remover of obstacles?

So the United States abducted one foreign head of state and killed another one. So far, the success rate seems to be 50/50. It worked in Venezuela, but the jury is still out on Iran. It certainly doesn´t *seem* to be working. 

Still, a 50% success rate is pretty high. Especially since the succesful example was in the US sphere of influence (a.k.a. backyard). Sure wonder how the Russians and Chinese are calculating the odds right now. For instance, would killing or abducting Zelensky work if your last name is Putin? What about Taiwan? 

Of course, the opposite is true as well. Could killing *Putin* work for Ukraine, for instance? And, more importantly, Ukraine´s backers...

How long before somebody starts calculating whether or not a direct hit at a certain white house close to the Potomac might yield geopolitical dividends? But thanx for the crude oil, I suppose. 

Saturday, May 16, 2026

End it already

 


Donald Trump is "seriously considering making Venezuela the 51st state". Yeah, whatever. Trump used to be good at trolling the media, but these days, it´s difficult to know what´s ironic trolling and what´s un-ironic clinical insanity. On the web, nobody needs to care, but in a POTUS...well.

But sure, if Venezuela would become a literal US state, every Venezuelan would have the right to enter the *other* 50 states without permission. They would have a lot of Congressmen, too. Including federal senators. And a higher status than, ahem, Puerto Rico...

So maybe Trump´s proposal isn´t that bad, after all? Muh-hah-hah!  

Tuesday, April 14, 2026

War through weakness

 

Credit: myth-matters.com

There might be a "rational" reason for Trump´s strange gyrations during Operation Epic Fury (or is it Epstein Furry). He wants to do the same with Iran as he did to Venezuela: take out the old top leadership, make a deal with the remaining regime, and take control of the oil. Trump´s seemingly bizarre proposal to impose tariffs on all traffic through the Strait of Hormuz *together with Iran* (fifty-fifty?) points in that direction. It fits a broader pattern. Not just with Venezuela. Remember the "mineral deal" with Ukraine? 

If that´s the plan, I have to say it´s a daring one. Venezuela is in South America, so no other great power can really do much if the United States decides to move against it. But the fuckin´ Strait of Hormuz is in the Middle East and very directly concerns China, India and Europe. And, I suppose, the Gulf States and Iran! China will never accept US control over the strait. If Trump somehow manages to take it over, China might respond by blocking the South China Sea or even take Taiwan. 

Maybe even Trump understands this. Was that why that Malawi-flagged but US-sanctioned Chinese ship was let through the strait? It wasn´t carrying Iranian oil, after all. This time. Next time...who knows? 

The main victim in this scenario (at least initially) is the Iranian opposition, who might get massacred again by the supposedly acephalous regime. The next victim might be world peace...

Let´s hope that I´m wrong. I mean, none of my predictions come true, so there is a non-zero chance that this one won´t either!       

Thursday, March 26, 2026

Geopolitical paranoia

 

Credit: The Fourth Way 

An interesting speculation about Trump´s Iran War. From JMG´s blog.  

>>>Paul, gasoline/petrol at the gas station a block from my apartment is US$3.99 a gallon and there are no shortages. 

>>>I’m pretty sure that the point of the US takeover of Venezuela was to make sure that there would be plenty of Venezuelan tar sand extract to mix with our fracking liquids (you need both to make something roughly approximating gasoline). 

>>>US fossil fuel companies are raking in money like nobody’s business — but then we get almost none of our fuel from the Persian Gulf these days. Nearly all of that goes to Europe and Asia, which are getting hammered. It’s occurred to me more than once that this may be deliberate.

In other words: one of the goals of the recent Mideast war is to put pressure on Europe so it can´t support Ukraine. When Europe sanctioned Russian oil and gas, Qatar and other Mideast providers suddenly became more important. But now, that source is gone, too. Making Europe dependent on American fossil fuels.

But why do pro-Ukrainian politicians such as Lindsey Graham support the Iran war? Didn´t he see this coming? Maybe the anti-European faction "sold" the war to Trump as an anti-European move? While Trump was always aggressive towards the Iranian regime, his prefered strategy during the first presidency was to attack them through black-ops and geopolitical stratagems. John Bolton was fired for wanting to openly attack actual Iranian territory. Maybe he decided to switch to Bolton´s position for very non-Boltonian (and non-Grahamian) reasons.

What if closing the Strait of Hormuz was the plan all along?     

Saturday, March 21, 2026

Playing hardball?

 

Credit: Rhododendrites

Just a few days ago, Venezuela actually won a baseboll world championship by defeating the United States...in Miami?! Oookay...

The art of the crazy

 

Credit: Francis C Franklin

There are *still* people who think every Trump U-turn is just "the art of the deal", "4D chess", "a deliberate strategy of deception", et cetera. Yeah, I used to think so, too. Say ten years ago. Maybe it was true...back then. Today, I think it´s obvious that The Man has lost it. 

Biden was (of course) senile, but Trump seems to be both senile and crazy. Biden´s gaffes could also be countermanded, while nobody seems able to reign in the Donald. The only "positive" thing is that Trump´s madness might - just might - scare somebody. Delcy Rodriguez, perhaps? It certainly seems to have scared the beejesus out of Denmark! By contrast, Biden´s decline made the US look weak. But it seems the Iranian regime is calling the Don´s bluff.

Things might get really colorful from here on. And I don´t just mean the oil prices...   

Thursday, February 19, 2026

Holy Blood, Holy Crude

 


Isn´t this one of the postmodernist philosophers mocked by Andreas Malm years ago? One of the guys who proposed that maybe oil is sentient? But Thomas Sheridan seems to like this speculative turn in continental philosophy (he mentioned "Cyclonopedia" in his previously linked conservation with ChatGPT, as well).

"Drill, baby, drill" - there will be Trump

Saturday, February 14, 2026

Monday, February 2, 2026

They´re all in on it...literally

 


The Epstein-related revelations about paedophilia (hebephilia?) and wild parties involving celebrities, zillionairies and former presidents are scandalous, to be sure, but somehow we knew all that already. 

The main take away from this sordid saga seems to be something else. Again, I have to return to that photo of Chomsky and Bannon, a photo probably taken by Epstein himself. The doyens of anti-Israeli leftism and the anti-Israeli far right, respectively, enjoying themselves at the same party...organized by a pro-Israeli centrist Jew with *extensive* establishment connections.

The reactions to the Epstein scandal from the Alt Right (or whatever they call themselves) are also interesting. After screaming about the Epstein files from years, they all fell in line when Trump abducted Maduro. You know, the same Trump who had denied that the files even existed. Some of these guys still promote Bannon, who was *in* the fucking Epstein files?!

It´s all fake. From right to left, including all the dissidents. *That* seems to be the really sobering revelation. That, and the fact that many seemingly ideologically driven activists don´t stand for anything at all... 

  

Monday, January 26, 2026

No action

 

The CIA director meets Delcy Rodriguez

Why are there no mass protests in Venezuela against the capture of Maduro and the apparent treason of Delcy Rodriguez? I mean, if the Bolivarian Republic has such broad popular support as we´ve been told by certain people...


Tuesday, January 13, 2026

A Warhammer 40 000 operation?

 


This must be disinfo. I mean, why would a Venezuelan security guard talk like this, even if it was true? It fits Trump´s narrative a bit too well. Even media outlets which seem to support the Maduro capture wonder whether the US had people on the inside. As in: the Venezuelan vice president and her brother. 

I don´t doubt that the US is technologically more advanced than the "Bolivarian Republic", but everything goes smoother if you can count on inside information and treachery, rather than on...you know...an actual full scale war with boots on the ground. And much higher stakes! 

Just ask Trump about Afghanistan...

Thursday, January 8, 2026

Killing Khamenei

 



Things are moving really fast now. Perhaps a bit too fast? Apparently, US senator Lindsey Graham recently warned the Iranian mullahs that Trump might kill Khamenei! While Graham supports Trump, he is really a "regular" Republican who lobbies hard for Ukraine and against Russia. And Iran is of course a Russian ally, but also an enemy of the Donroe Doctrine´s most favored nation of Israel (which we all know is firmly situated just to the north of Bermuda). Which may give Graham the room he needs to nudge the Great Leader in a somewhat more "pro-Western" direction.

Personally, I worry that the US administration is so dizzy with success over the Maduro capture that they will revert to the unhinged adventurism of George W Bush or even John Bolton (the irony!). And in contrast even to *those* guys, Trump threatens America´s allies just as much as its enemies with military force.

Are we seeing some kind of build up to the proverbial Sicilian Expedition? I suppose 2026 might get even more colorful than 2025...   

Wednesday, January 7, 2026

Are they in the Epstein Files?

 


What the fuck?! According to these Indian reports, both Nicolas Maduro, his wife Cilia Flores and the currently acting president of Venezuela Delcy Rodriguez were de facto devotees of Sathya Sai Baba!

Oookay...

How Maduro´s "guru" became a household name in Venezuela

Did Delcy Rodriguez visit Sai Baba´s ashram in India?

It begins

 

The picture is deliberately absurd...

Is the United States going to attack the Russian "ghost fleet" all of a sudden? OK, this could get messy...

US forces seize Russian-flagged tanker in North Atlantic sea

The Donroe Doctrine

 


Here we go again. *Did* Trump and Putin make a secret deal swapping Venezuela for Ukraine? I suppose we´ll know soon enough, since the "world leaders" are currently summitting in Paris pursuant to some kind of US-EU-Ukrainian peace deal with Russia. Hold your hats...  

Trumpito

 


The jokes in this video are kinda obvious, but OK, I was amused. After a fashion...

Tuesday, January 6, 2026

It never happened, Joe

 


Is this even true? Somebody on X asked ChatGPT if the US have captured Maduro, and the AI proceeded to hotly deny it?! 

Bizarre ChatGPT response

Trump and the gay disco

 


This is making the obligatory rounds on the interwebs right now. Tucker´s comment was made before the US attack on Venezuela, however, and nobody seems to know his current position. Note that Tucker is implicitly accusing Trump of "defending the gay disco"!

Addendum. 

I watched portions of Tucker´s interview with Mike Cernovich (available elsewhere on YouTube). It sounds as if Tucker is switching to "critical support" for Trump´s overthrow of Maduro. Is he afraid of losing his viewership? MAGA seems to be in complete ecstacy over Trump´s action...

Of course, Western Hemisphere hegemonism is perfectly compatible with breaking the transatlantic link and therefore play into the hands of Russia. And Tucker Carlson does say during his conversation with Cerno that Putin is "the most rational actor in the world today".

Still, I can´t help thinking that MAGA´s real gole is *global* domination, but an exclusively and recklessly American one, with no demanding European or Asian allies included. So where will Tucker´s (and Cerno´s) adaptation to the Trump Empire end?   

Monday, January 5, 2026

FAFO indeed

 


So it seems Trump actually prefers Maduro´s (allegedly) narco-Communist vice president Delcy Rodriguez to the democratic opposition leader and Nobel Peace laureate Maria Corina Machado as future leader of Venezuela. 

The "Donroe Doctrine" is getting more and more interesting. I mean, it gives an entirely new meaning to the term Fuck Around and Find Out. 

But I assume the Alt Right are fine with this? I mean, they had nothing against Gaddafi and Bashar Assad (not to mention Vlad the Mad), so a Communist cooperating with the Don would fit their political preferences just fine, wouldn´t it? LOL. 

As I was saying: Fuck Around and...