USA just sunk a drug boat from Venezuela

[CriticalStinker]

“The full weight of the mighty American military”

It’s like 6 ships and they’d be training similarly anyway.

They are telling everyone who they demolished, when, where, how, and are releasing video when it happens.
It’s very transparent, other than the classified things you think you’re entitled to see.
Would you like a Diet Coke also?

Your resistance to change is noted.
The old system wasn’t working.
“If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.”
It was broken.
We’re going to have to wait and see how effective this new plan is.
So far narco terrorists, drugs, and their drug equipment are being eradicated and I have no doubt the word is spreading that stepping foot on those boats is a death wish.
Justice is not just punishment, it’s a deterrent.

I suppose if successful, we can reduce the drug flow by 5%.

It was like trying to bring the war on terror to Iraq who wasn’t even really involved.

Change can be good, this isn’t really much of change though. This looks like standard neocon foreign policy.

[UltraBudgie]

If Trump really wants to stop drugs, he should stop drugs. I can't believe the national security state can't figure out who in America is receiving these drugs from foreign sources, very easily. C'mon. Google knows when you're taking a shit, but the Feds have no clue who's moving kilos? It's implausible. If state and local governments are looking the other way and allowing federal drug laws to go unenforced, then Trump has every right to assign federal forces to solve the problem. If he really wants to. It's obvious he doesn't. At least, not right now.

I suspect this "let's stop drugs from Venezuela" is gamesmanship. If they are going after one drug route, it isn't to stop drugs—it's to stop Venezuela from profiting from them. And maybe paying favours to neighbouring "allies" who will pick up the slack (who shares a border with Venezuela, ahem)? It's also to cast Venezuela as the "baddie". Who cares, yeah they suck. If you want to invade it, then just coup the damn place and invade, and replace their government. No one expect or believes the good guy/bad guy BS. Hell, we just sent the CIA in to ratfuck the government there, and the CIA were the ones who pioneered the cocaine trade into America in the first place.

Just go do America things, kicking Iran in the balls by stopping their oil-sludge trade with Venezuela, cutting off Cuba's little buddy-buddy relationship with their socialist friend (you know you're next, Cuba), being tough to intimidate Mexico into not getting uppity, etc. It's standard South American Policy stuff, quit pretending your "saving the druggies".

we’re blowing up vessels in international water without proving our case to the global community

What are they going to do, complain to the ICC?

[Vermilion]

The narco terrorists are the targets.
The demolished drugs and equipment is just the bonus.

The strikes would still be legal even if there weren’t any drugs in those boats.

[putnam6]

I suppose if successful, we can reduce the drug flow by 5%.

It was like trying to bring the war on terror to Iraq who wasn’t even really involved.

Change can be good, this isn’t really much of change though. This looks like standard neocon foreign policy.

I mean, has there been anything the Trump administration has done that's semi-okay?

Your percentages are off...

It's 100% certain that this specific group of narco/terrorists won't be delivering thier product to the US. Even if it may be ....

so Uncle Sammy's little nieces and nephews can buy 100% American CIA-sponsored drug cartels' product.

[UltraBudgie]

so Uncle Sammy's little nieces and nephews can buy 100% American CIA-sponsored drug cartels' product.

It's cynical, but the reason Trump isn't going after drug criminals the way he is immigration criminals is because there are still too many nose-candy business owners and secret-bong libertarians in the coalition he needed to get elected. Once the foreign-funded anti-Americanism that is driving the rebel-state Democrats is put in check, the 2026 picture will look better for the resurgent Republicans, and the scofflaws on the right can be dealt with too.

It's shitty and hypocritical of him, playing politics, because in principal they're the same issue: whaa whaa we don't like federal law so our states will pretend it doesn't exist and doesn't apply to us.

If the libertarians want to actually change the law and make their weed federally permitted, and perhaps begin to address the corruption the death-drugs have in our society, then that would be great. After all, their party has Congress right now. But until they do, their objections to Trump's international actions affecting the drug trade have just as much moral weight as the Democrats objections to his border policy affecting the human trafficking trade. And they better be prepared for federal enforcement to move to the state and local level, if states and localities don't step up their game.

[CriticalStinker]

I mean, has there been anything the Trump administration has done that's semi-okay?

Your percentages are off...

It's 100% certain that this specific group of narco/terrorists won't be delivering thier product to the US. Even if it may be ....

so Uncle Sammy's little nieces and nephews can buy 100% American CIA-sponsored drug cartels' product.

If Venezuela makes up about 5% of the drug trade into the US, stopping them stops about 5%.

Also, if you look up addiction and drug deaths, it’s almost all opiates and fentanyl… South America is primarily cocaine which is a party drug. If someone dies from cocaine, it’s almost always because there was fentanyl in it.

Im not trying to argue if there is a drug problem. I live in Appalachia, and I know five people who were featured in the book Dope Sick. Two of them are dead, and one of the people they ran with just OD’d last week.

Everyone in this area intimately knows the damage some drugs do to the community.

My issue is that it’s become a political football to somehow make Venezuela the target of our military when they are close to inconsequential to the broader trade. Frankly, it’s patronizing.

Even the term Narco Terrorist is a way to hijack the narrative. 

Again, I don’t see how this is any different than Iraq. It’s playing on people’s emotions to justify involvement in a country that doesn’t even have to do with the root problem.

Futures markets has a 50% chance of a Venezuela/US military exchange by the end of the year. The irony to me of an admin dead set on going after waste, fraud and abuse while using the military to go after 5% of the drug trade, and not even the one that is killing people is just wild to me.

[putnam6]

If Venezuela makes up about 5% of the drug trade into the US, stopping them stops about 5%.

Also, if you look up addiction and drug deaths, it’s almost all opiates and fentanyl… South America is primarily cocaine which is a party drug. If someone dies from cocaine, it’s almost always because there was fentanyl in it.

Im not trying to argue if there is a drug problem. I live in Appalachia, and I know five people who were featured in the book Dope Sick. Two of them are dead, and one of the people they ran with just OD’d last week.

Everyone in this area intimately knows the damage some drugs do to the community.

My issue is that it’s become a political football to somehow make Venezuela the target of our military when they are close to inconsequential to the broader trade. Frankly, it’s patronizing.

Even the term Narco Terrorist is a way to hijack the narrative. 

Again, I don’t see how this is any different than Iraq. It’s playing on people’s emotions to justify involvement in a country that doesn’t even have to do with the root problem.

Futures markets has a 50% chance of a Venezuela/US military exchange by the end of the year. The irony to me of an admin dead set on going after waste, fraud and abuse while using the military to go after 5% of the drug trade, and not even the one that is killing people is just wild to me.

The Trump administration can do something immediately about Venezuela's narco trafficking, cause Venezuela isn't the WWIII or economic threat China is, nor is it the ally and economic partner Mexico is.

This administration has identified more fraud and financial malfeasance embedded in our government than any 3 administrations in my lifetime.

Just year one, and as Ive said im about 65% for 35% against Trump's moves so far.

We don't know what the final tally is or how much was saved, and where those funds will go, but USAID  completely separates persons, professions, and procedures from the interdicting narco smugglers from Curacas...

Besides, it gives US a reason to have an extended Naval presence in the Caribbean theater for a multitude of missions

[CriticalStinker]

The Trump administration can do something immediately about Venezuela's narco trafficking, cause Venezuela isn't the WWIII or economic threat China is, nor is it the ally and economic partner Mexico is.

This administration has identified more fraud and financial malfeasance embedded in our government than any 3 administrations in my lifetime.

Just year one, and as Ive said im about 65% for 35% against Trump's moves so far.

We don't know what the final tally is or how much was saved, and where those funds will go, but USAID  completely separates persons, professions, and procedures from the interdicting narco smugglers from Curacas...

Besides, it gives US a reason to have an extended Naval presence in the Caribbean theater for a multitude of missions

It's not about the drugs, it's about the oil.

No one has ever brought up Venezuela when addressing drugs until this admin. Not politicians, not public discourse. 

Just like Iraq wasn't about terrorism. But people keep taking politicians at their word when they do the same thing over and over.

[Maxmars]

Not to belabor the point...

Venezuela has been on the Big Energy hate list for some time.
Remember... seizing property for the state?  They were never forgiven.

Hence the "hate" aura around the subject...

What the cartel does is "useful" in that regard...

[putnam6]

It's not about the drugs, it's about the oil.

No one has ever brought up Venezuela when addressing drugs until this admin. Not politicians, not public discourse. 

Just like Iraq wasn't about terrorism. But people keep taking politicians at their word when they do the same thing over and over.

Iraq and Afghanistan were about rebuilding both countries

 

AND pillaging/controlling natural resources, a tale as old as time...
Bottom line, if UncleSammy doesn't, somebody else will: China, Russia, and Iran

Besides, if it wasn't Venezuelan oil, it would be lithium mines in the Congo 

 

Bottom Line: Low Short-Term, High Medium-Term Risk
Full-scale war is improbable by year-end (under 60% chance) due to deterrents like Chinese backlash and US domestic costs—it's cheaper to sustain pressure via CIA/sanctions. But if Maduro doesn't fold (e.g., via coup or exile), odds spike to 80%+ by mid-2026, mirroring Iraq's blueprint for oil-driven regime change.  The US doesn't "need" Venezuelan oil (domestic output covers 70% of demand), but controlling it secures hegemony against BRICS rivals.  Watch for Tomahawk strikes or Essequibo clashes as flashpoints.  This is empire politics: anger over lost control, not just drugs.