After all, Putin’s popularity only grows with his invasions. His ratings rose to 84 percent during the second war in Chechnya and to 88 percent after he annexed Crimea. Putin has called the Soviet collapse “the greatest geopolitical catastrophe of the 20th century.”  The takeover of Venezuela has to evoke the “he-did-it-why-can’t-I” justification to invade NATO members that were formerly part of the USSR. 

Trump’s aggression could also give Xi implied permission to bully its neighbors around the South China Sea and fulfill its historic claim to Taiwan. China has already violated the Hague International Court’s order declaring than Vietnam had the legal right to drill there. But it had to back off citing doubt that America would come to its aid . There’s no doubt that Trump won’t now. 

 Both countries have been trying to carve the world up into their own spheres of influence with each ruled by a single dictator. Trump would like nothing more than to join them. He’s knowingly diminishing America’s status as a superpower and watching as  Putin and Xi supplant the US-dominated world order with one that will give them and Trump the power and leverage to write the rules and intimidate other countries. 

His intensions, if you believe what his declaration says, that “American dominance in the Western Hemisphere will never be questioned again” portend more aggression outside U.S. borders. Moreover, Trump’s Security Strategy puts the first priority on the Western Hemisphere, which declares the Americas and their surrounding waters as Washington’s sphere of dominance.

There’s a better way to expand Washington’s sphere of dominance in Latin America. It’s by growing US trust, trade, influence and hegemony  (dominance achieved through political and economic efforts) in the region. 

Sadly, though, it’s not in Trump’s DNA. He’s much more comfortable with cruel force and pernicious power.  But the opportunity is there for a new and rational President or for Republicans with integrity and the county’s best interests at heart. 

Venezuela’s GDP has fallen by 75% in a decade. Oil production has collapsed. Public services can barely function. In seven out of 24 Venezuelan states the food insecurity rate is 99%, and only three states are lower than 90%. Around 82.4% of households live in poverty  and around 50.5% live in extreme poverty. 

So, the better solution is to employ a small Marshal Plan in Venezuela like the US did in Europe after World War II, which built economic and political stability. Given the Venezuelans’ jubilation over Maduro’s fall, the country is likely to welcome one there and cooperate.

After the devastation of Europe in World War II, the Marshall Plan generated a resurgence of European industrialization, agricultural production, brought extensive investment into the region, expanded traded, established financial stability and stimulated the U.S. economy by developing markets for American goods.

Similarly to Europe in 1948, Venezuela’s requirements for foreign food and other essential products far exceed its ability to pay for them. So the country needs significant assistance to prosper, and the US is in a position and has the opportunity to fulfill its needs … and also the needs of the greater region, which ranks as one of the most unequal regions in the world with the poorest 50 percent only holding 0.8 percent of its wealth.

A Marshal-type plan is also necessary to supplant China’s rapidly growing influence in Latin America and Russia’s military aid to Venezuela. It sent nuclear-capable bombers to Venezuela as a show of force in 2018. China ratified a “strategic partnership” with Venezuela last October to establish a platform for spreading its influence across Latin America. China also loaned more than $100 billion to the region over the last quarter-century.

But if US oil companies control  and then export Venezuela’s oil revenues instead of redirecting them back into the country, no government will be able to restore even a modicum of prosperity to the country. 

And a quick disengagement from Venezuela by the U.S. is likely to leave it fatally ungoverned, unstable, and losing people and capital. 

Tragically for Venezuela and the world’s stability, Trump is no Darth Vaderwho, after a lifetime of evil, becomes an unselfish and well-meaning.  

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The post TRUMP’S CHOICES AFTER VENEZUELA first appeared on Inside The Political Chaos.

Never mind that Trump’s attacks on Venezuela and capture of its leader violates the Constitution, international law, the War Powers Resolution and the Geneva Conventions. 

It’s worse than that. The United States is now ruled by a President who is an unhinged, delusional renegade who has run amuck against the country he was elected to lead. 

His delusions are many. His unshakable belief that his lies are realities is most evident in his lies at the Supreme Court.  So, is Trump’s claim that Venezuela is a significant trafficker of drugs into the United States a lie or a delusion. In light of the facts, I vote for delusion. 

More than 90% of all seized fentanyl, 97% of all seized cocaine, heroin, and methamphetamine came in through legal entry points. Less common methods include tunnels, drones, and the international mail system. None of the DEA reports include Caribbean boats and don’t even list the entire sea as a significant source of drugs.

Fentanyl is overwhelmingly produced in Mexico. 84% of cocaine seized in the US came from Columbia, the world’s largest producer. Today almost none of the drugs smuggled into the United States enter via the Caribbean. 

Yet, Trump has deployed the largest military buildup since the Cuban missile crisis in Venezuelan waters and forcefully captured its leader. Certainly, Venezuela pittance of drug activity, if any, doesn’t come close to justifying Trump’s military aggression … unless of course he believes that Venezuela is a major drug trafficker into the United States.

Trump also checks all the boxes that mental health professionals use to diagnose a sociopath, including that they act without considering the consequences. Let’s take a look at what they’re likely to be.

Venezuela and other Latin American countries will seek more military support from Russia and China. Russia already provides Venezuela with military cooperation and is Venezuela’s strongest geopolitical backer. China, Venezuela’s largest importer of oil, already provides it with economic support.

Both Russia and China will leverage their relationships with Venezuela and other concerned countries in South America against U.S. interests. 

Tragically the Congressional Republicans are complicit in his treachery and willing to let him shred America’s governing blueprint to avoid losing their seats to a Trump-backed challenger. They have knowingly enabled his treachery by confirming the most dangerous and unqualified cabinet in America’s history and by tolerating his too-many-to count treacheries. 

The solution is to replace them with Republicans that Trump hasn’t enslaved, or by Democrats. Then, and only then, will America regain the bipartisan cooperation  that has solved its toughest issues for centuries.

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The post TRUMP’S ATTACKS ON VENEZUELA ARE BASED ON A LIE  OR A DELUSION. THE DEA DOESN’T MENTION VENEZUELA AS A DRUG TRAFFICKER first appeared on Inside The Political Chaos.