Trump launches ‘large-scale’ attack on Venezuela, captures Nicolas Maduro and wife
https://www.cnbc.com/2026/01/03/trump-us-operation-captured-venezuela-president-nicolas-maduro.html
https://www.cnbc.com/2026/01/03/trump-us-operation-captured-venezuela-president-nicolas-maduro.html
63 Comments
protist@mander.xyz · 89 pts · 242d
All this just to keep Epstein out of the news...
In all seriousness though, what in the ever-loving fuck
DaddleDew@lemmy.world · 44 pts · 242d
Epstein files, yes, but also don't forget the oil.
Xaphanos@lemmy.world · 15 pts · 241d
So... Tell me about the oil. I hear the cancellation of green projects and the forced operation of coal plants. But the barrel price is way down. Are they inept at cornering the fossil fuel industry? What's happening?
panda_abyss@lemmy.ca · 20 pts · 241d
The us refineries in the south only refine tar oil like Venezuela and Canada’s.
They’re doing this so they don’t have to do massive retrofits. It’s literally corporate interests.
athatet@lemmy.zip · 2 pts · 241d
trump said he is going to let big oil companies into Venezuela to rebuild the oil infrastructure.
Not only is it literally corporate interests, they aren’t even trying to hide that fact.
AreaKode@lemmy.world · 7 pts · 241d
China did really well with renewable, and we didnt. So we double down on oil...
protist@mander.xyz · 9 pts · 241d
But what's the endgame? Dump a lot of oil on the market, crash the price, devastate the US oil industry?
qarbone@lemmy.world · 9 pts · 241d
I don't believe these guys have an endgame. They're ignoring the crash and burn as someone else's problem since they're all old as hell, or are sure the money they pilfered will allow them to ride out the wave of devestation.
AreaKode@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 241d
The end game is the exact opposite of what GHINA did. Are you new here? There is no end game!
Xaphanos@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 241d
Right? The usual would be to corner the market then demand a much higher price.
Aljernon@lemmy.today · 2 pts · 241d
Ledivin@lemmy.world · 79 pts · 242d
American Pedophile President Illegally Deposes Venezuelan Leader in Violent Strike to Distract From Epstein File Release
socsa@piefed.social · 58 pts · 241d
Does this mean some other country can abduct Trump now?
Hermit_Lailoken@lemmy.world · 37 pts · 241d
Please take him, I beg you.
Lembot_0006@programming.dev · 5 pts · 241d
Who might want him?
Mouselemming@sh.itjust.works · 5 pts · 241d
I had a flash of hope but, "The Ransom of Red Chief." https://classicshorts.com/stories/redchief.html
LiveLM@lemmy.zip · 53 pts · 242d
This is so wild, not even for a second could I see this coming.
So, what's next? They're gonna put him in jail???
the_tab_key@lemmy.world · 49 pts · 242d
They had to pardon the other drug snuggling dictator so they had room for the new one.
protist@mander.xyz · 35 pts · 242d
Teehee...drug snuggling
Jimbabwe@lemmy.world · 16 pts · 242d
They’re so cozy.. can’t be helped!
the_tab_key@lemmy.world · 7 pts · 242d
Don't forget the foreplay before putting the drugs inside you.
JoMiran@lemmy.ml · 12 pts · 242d
The US fucking about in South America and its political stability? It's been a primary hobby of the US since the beginning. We just got distracted by 9/11 and took a break for a bit.
MiddleAgesModem@lemmy.world · 12 pts · 242d
yeah, it's not involvement that's surprising the action.
A phony military campaign because Trump raped children.
JasonDJ@lemmy.zip · 4 pts · 241d
A dog wags its tail because the dog is smarter than its tail. If the tail were smarter, the tail would wag the dog.
mkwt@lemmy.world · 11 pts · 242d
Pretty much. There's a live indictment in New York on drug and weapons charges, from 2020. It's not clear yet if they're going to prosecute that one, or a different one.
They're going to rely on the Noriega precedent to justify this.
Kirp123@lemmy.world · 32 pts · 242d
How can they charge him with weapons possession that happened in a different country? Is the US saying they can just prosecute anyone on the planet for having weapons? I also assume Maduro didn't literally own machineguns and destructive devices, the Venezuelan military does. So does that mean they are prosecuting a head of state for the fact that their army has machineguns and explosives? WTF
Edit: Would be hilarious if they lose the trial, the current regime doesn't have a great record on prosecuting people.
frongt@lemmy.zip · 1 pts · 241d
Easy. They have the military strength to do it and no one is going to stop them. That's how they can do it.
mkwt@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 241d
So I looked up the weapons possession charge, and it seems like Maduro could be guilty under the statute of her possessed a machinegun (really any full auto firearm) in furtherance of the drug trafficking activity. Even if the weapons were only possessed outside of US jurisdiction.
Short version: the "possession of weapons charge" is actually for possession while drug trafficking.
I don't know if they have to prove that Maduro physically handled a weapon or not. But if they do, and they don't have that evidence, he could still be guilty of the subsequent conspiracy charge.
Edit: For the avoidance if doubt, the drug trafficking is very important to the whole case, because that's what gives the US courts extraterritorial jurisdiction.
matlag@sh.itjust.works · 8 pts · 242d
Come on! It's still a righful democracy! He will be promised a fair trial before committing suicide.
whyNotSquirrel@sh.itjust.works · 6 pts · 242d
he might die on the ship and get funerals in accordance with his beliefs (aka throw overboard)
rayyy@piefed.social · 6 pts · 241d
Next? Bomb Iran and seize Greenland.
atzanteol@sh.itjust.works · 0 pts · 241d
No?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_invasion_of_Panama
MiddleAgesModem@lemmy.world · 33 pts · 242d
Definitely raped children.
kmartburrito@lemmy.world · 12 pts · 241d
Serially too I bet
Rentlar@lemmy.ca · 27 pts · 242d
I question whether the DoJ even actually got a grand jury to sign off on this.
Edit: for the record here's the indictment
Corkyskog@sh.itjust.works · 4 pts · 241d
I bet it wouldn't be hard to do, but I too have skepticism they actually did it.
DistrictSIX@lemmy.zip · 1 pts · 241d
I wonder how and when narco-trafficing becomes narco-terrorism. Presumably they'd have to explain that distinction in the kangaroo court?
IcyToes@sh.itjust.works · 24 pts · 242d
Damn. That peace prize for next year looking shaky.
When the opposition person got the peace prize, you knew regime change was coming.
Looks like Trump was jealous of Israel and Russia land grabbing.
TheDemonBuer@lemmy.world · 24 pts · 241d
This is wrong. I don't support this at all. We deserve to be condemned and sanctioned by the international community for this.
ZombieCyborgFromOuterSpace@piefed.ca · 19 pts · 242d
This is crazy. Was this war even approved by congress?
village604@adultswim.fan · 16 pts · 241d
Has any war been approved since WWII?
atzanteol@sh.itjust.works · 5 pts · 241d
Yes. It's basically been renamed to "authorization for use of military force" (AUMF).
e.g.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Authorization_for_Use_of_Military_Force_of_2001
Corkyskog@sh.itjust.works · 4 pts · 241d
I have nothing to really ad to the conversation at hand... But it's really cool that Wikipedia has a convenient section for all SC cases against a law in a section on that law.
UncleArthur@lemmy.world · 17 pts · 242d
FIFA are going to want their Peace Prize back.
Lembot_0006@programming.dev · 0 pts · 241d
Are they ready for the war with the USA, hmm?
irelephant@lemmy.dbzer0.com · 14 pts · 241d
Trump could annex Canada at this point and people will call it a distraction from the Epstein files.
MBech@feddit.dk · 5 pts · 241d
The Epstein files are the greatest distraction from Trump literally implementing a fascist regime and invading and annexing other countries.
Motherfucker could personally execute every single member of congress, the supreme court and the house, and these idiots will still say "muh Epstein files!!!"
Mouselemming@sh.itjust.works · 4 pts · 241d
Well, tbh it did occur to me this morning, not first but pretty early as the entire radio broadcast was about Venezuela, "that child-fucker will do ANYTHING to get the Epstein accusations off the front page."
pyrinix@kbin.melroy.org · 14 pts · 242d
protist@mander.xyz · 75 pts · 242d
We do not wonder that
MiddleAgesModem@lemmy.world · 6 pts · 242d
No, it's the people who realize that and the people who don't know about anything outside US borders.
neuromorph@lemmy.world · 12 pts · 241d
What I want to knownis why the wife was also captur3d and now being "charged". Did she have a formal role in the Venezuelan government?
The fact both are being extradited seems like this was a plan to leave the country possibly negotiated with Trump, that got flipped into an arrest.
Maybe a double cross.
lolola@lemmy.blahaj.zone · 3 pts · 241d
A headline I saw a couple weeks ago came to mind: "Confused by the Trump administration? Think of it as a royal family."
I didn't read the article tho lol. And now I'm seeing it's paywalled. But here it is if you're interested: https://www.vox.com/politics/471070/trump-neoroyalism-monarchy
carotte@lemmy.blahaj.zone · 12 pts · 241d
americans will invade your country, kidnap your leader, install a puppet dictator, steal your riches, and then call the whole thing a distraction that doesn’t really matter (they didn’t do that when the same guy renovated a house, seemingly the house matters more to them than your country and its people)
SnarkoPolo@lemmy.world · 11 pts · 241d
The first Blitzkrieg of the Fourth Reich has begun.
Are you in the states? You're fucked.
Aljernon@lemmy.today · 2 pts · 241d
Mihies@programming.dev · 6 pts · 241d
International response is so vassal, that it's pathetic. Specially EU.
DistrictSIX@lemmy.zip · 2 pts · 241d
Where I am (Europe), I haven't seen a single article calling this what it clearly is. Maduro is just a captive in every article, never a hostage. But they have no issue calling an Israeli pow a hostage despite him being taken from his damn tank in occupied territory. The west has become a total and very visible clown show, and I don't think changing Trump to the next Obama can do a lot to change that perception internationally. Specially Europe has shown itself to be a particularly pathetic entity with very little independence from 'daddy' Trump.
Mihies@programming.dev · 1 pts · 241d
Absolutely correct. Also claiming that as long as international law and UN charter are observed, everything is fine is disgusting beyond words. The world is facing an era of territory wars once more. Peak irony is Ukraine supporting illegal wars.
Ioughttamow@fedia.io · 4 pts · 241d
Gen-Z will get their illegal occupation to grind them up after all. Warms the cockles of my heart
jode@pawb.social · 2 pts · 241d
I feel like this has been done on purpose to start a migration wave that peaks during the next presidential election. They know the mids are lost so why not gin up a future boogeyman.
Palerider@feddit.uk · 2 pts · 241d
A migration wave of people leaving the US?
jasonweiser@sh.itjust.works · 0 pts · 241d
eli@lemmy.world · -27 pts · 242d
zikzak025@lemmy.world · 29 pts · 242d
Or maybe we can all just, like, stop trying to take over countries?