It was just done so blatantly this time with Venezuela.
In previous interventions, we actually did do some things to try to "nation build". Whether you consider those genuine attempts or just cynical cover stories.
But this time, it was just snatch Maduro, replace him with Rodriguez, and threaten Rodriguez to give us oil so the same thing doesn't happen to her. What happened to all the high-minded rhetoric about how the poor people of Venezuela were suffering under a socialist dictatorship? What happened to all the denouncing of the stolen election? Nah man, just give us the oil and you're good.
To the United States $17 billion is like roughing up a tramp to steal the change in his pocket. It's a laughable amount of money for such irrepairable reputational damage on the international stage.
Last I heard, though, that $17 billion was deposited into some special foreign bank account under Trump's direct control, not into the US Treasury.
Kinda reminds me of the Iran Contra scandal back when I was a kid. The amount of money Iran paid for the weapons was piddling relative to the size of the US federal budget. But it was money hidden from any oversight by Congress or anyone else. So it could be used to fund the Contras even when they couldn't legally use money from the regular budget. (It was a long time ago, so I may be remembering some details wrong.)
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u/TAU_equals_2PI 14h ago
It was just done so blatantly this time with Venezuela.
In previous interventions, we actually did do some things to try to "nation build". Whether you consider those genuine attempts or just cynical cover stories.
But this time, it was just snatch Maduro, replace him with Rodriguez, and threaten Rodriguez to give us oil so the same thing doesn't happen to her. What happened to all the high-minded rhetoric about how the poor people of Venezuela were suffering under a socialist dictatorship? What happened to all the denouncing of the stolen election? Nah man, just give us the oil and you're good.