cross-posted from: https://hexbear.net/post/7023541
cross-posted from: https://news.abolish.capital/post/13249
The Trump White House indicated Thursday that the administration is planning to seize more Venezuelan oil vessels after the president of the South American nation, Nicolás Maduro, denounced the US takeover of a tanker earlier this week as “an act of international piracy.”
Reuters reported Thursday that the Trump administration, which has claimed without evidence to be targeting drug traffickers, “is preparing to intercept more ships transporting Venezuelan oil” as it ramps up its lawless military campaign in the Caribbean and eastern Pacific—and threatens a direct military assault on Venezuela.
In response to the Reuters story, which cited six unnamed sources, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt declared that “we’re not going to stand by and watch sanctioned vessels sail the seas with black market oil, the proceeds of which will fuel narcoterrorism of rogue and illegitimate regimes around the world.”
The US seizure of the Venezuelan tanker and its oil earlier this week marked the Trump administration’s latest escalation in what experts and critics fear is a march to an unlawful, all-out war with the South American country.
“I have no idea why the president is seizing an oil tanker,” US Sen. Chris Coons (D-Del.) said Thursday. “I’m fairly gravely concerned that he’s sleepwalking us into a war with Venezuela.”
Mark Cancian, a senior adviser at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, told Al Jazeera that the oil vessel seizure “is certainly an escalation designed to put additional pressure on the Maduro regime, causing it to fracture internally or convincing Maduro to leave.”
“The purpose also depends on whether the US seizes additional tankers,” he added. “In that case, this looks like a blockade of Venezuela. Because Venezuela depends so heavily on oil revenue, it could not withstand such a blockade for long.”
US lawmakers in both the House and Senate are pursuing war powers resolutions aimed at preventing the Trump administration from engaging in military conflict with Venezuela without congressional approval.
“Whatever this is about, it has nothing to do with stopping drugs," said US Rep. Jim McGovern (D-Mass.). “To me, this appears to be all about creating a pretext for regime change. And I believe Congress has a duty to step in and assert our constitutional authority. No more illegal boat strikes, and no unauthorized war in Venezuela.”
From Common Dreams via This RSS Feed.
Right. So get rid of the reaction to pillage
Your logic is like blaming the man raping the woman on what she was wearing.
No it isn’t. You are implying this country deserves this trouble because they have something the US wants. That is not my assertion.
The US wants their oil. The US is going to take their oil. Nobody is going to help Venezuela fight the US. So if you want the US to stop you need to remove the incentive for attacking Venezuela.
For that rape example, consider the rapeX device woman can use. It’s a trap placed in the vagina. If a man forces himself in the woman, once he penetrates her, the barbed device latches onto his dick and has to be surgically removed. This makes him trackable.
Yeah the oil incentive is literally a short miniskirt in my example. The USA should not invade Venezuela when it has oil or not. Your fucked up “anti-raped device” what civilized country do they use those in?
Africa.
And you are completely missing my point. You aren’t going to be able to reason with the US over oil. You can’t sell it fast enough to stop the US from invading. You can sabotage the oil so the US no longer has a reason to invade, keeping Venezuela safe.
Your argument is “Venezuela has a right to dress how it wants.” While that’s not wrong, it also won’t stop the US. The priority is the safety of Venezuela and that means taking what the US wants to steal out of the equation.
Civilization is at a point where we don’t actually need oil anymore. But the US wants it. And they will kill to get it. Venezuela needs to be safe more than it needs to be ”feel pretty”. If that oil is there, the United States absolutely will rape the country.
Take the oil away, you take the power away.
Enjoy your African society.