Russian mercenaries reportedly in Venezuela to protect Maduro

Countries are rarely united on these matters... drug cartels can be bought and we know there are many of those in South America.

So the new Brazilian leader is an American stoo...cough "supporter" doesn't mean all of Brazil support him in these pro American efforts.. in fact history have taught us that when it comes to the allegiance of outside powers... countries are always deeply divided.

 

We have the same relationship with Germany as we have with Japan, and although I like the Japanese people as I do the Germans, and I admire their orderliness and politeness, they have yet to face up to what they did in WWII. I'm thinking of China and Korea.

 

Russia was going to establish a base in Venezuela, which is what the coup is all about - or so I think. I do believe Russia will get involved if a war breaks out in Venezuela, but I'm curious about China? They do have a lot of problems with Washington's provocations and incursion into its seas, that it might not be able to.

 

The Chinese are claiming international water as their own as they build islands. I suppose the U.S. should build islands just off China and claim the surrounding area as "American waters".

 

They are building islands in the South CHINA Sea. As far as I have heard, these are not "international" waters, though other countries have had competing claims to these waters (Philippines, Vietnam).

 

They are in recognized international shipping lanes.

 

Trying to figure out your post. You appear to be a bit unhappy with a Trump presidency and since all good alt-lefties believe "the Russians" forced every left-leaning voter to switch their vote to Donald Trump for president, perhaps you can explain the Trump support for Maduro's opposition? Would't that be an anti-Russian position?

 

Yeah...that's quite possible, Cuba not that far from VZ, and Castro&Chavez were close.

 

I would doubt the russkis could fully establish themselves anywhere in the OAS....and yeah I still support that idea of the Monroe Doctrine.

 

The equivalent would be if the US were to build islands in the Caribbean, and China took it on its own initiative to advocate for Mexico or some Caribbean island. Wouldn't you say what damn right does China have interfering in our part of the world? Well by the same token, what damn right do we have interfering in China's part of the world.

 

We should absolutely pull out.

Then ISIS will kill even more of them, but hey, at least we won't make other countries feel bad.

 

What you heard wasn't very accurate.

They are not waters to which China has any legitimate claim and they do include huge swathes of international waters. Google the 'nine dash line'. China claims everything within that as 'blue soil' - territorial waters. Under international law territorial waters extend 12 nautical miles.

Other nations have claims to the islands, shoals & reefs China is occupying & other nations have claims to the waters China is claiming as territory as parts of their EEZ. China doesn't even have a legitimate claim to that.

BTW, if you are hanging anything on the 'China' part of the Sth China sea then India gets an entire ocean & North Korea is a democracy.

 

Corrupt government will tend to create instability and dissent. It doesn't take western involvement.

 

Venezuelan military attaché in Washington says he no longer supports President Maduro

(CNN)One Venezuelan official has very publicly switched sides in the nation's power struggle.

Venezuela's military attaché in Washington, Col. Jose Luis Silva Silva, told CNN on Saturday that he's breaking with President Nicolas Maduro and supporting Juan Guaido, the self-proclaimed interim president.

"I stand by the roadmap of acting President Juan Guaido," Silva said on a video shared on social media.

Silva said the roadmap included "ceasing the usurpation of the executive power," the "beginning of a transition to a new government" and "free and transparent elections for all Venezuelans who want to participate."

... https://www.cnn.com/2019/01/26/americas/venezuela-eu-un-calls-for-elections/index.html

 

Makes me think of post comunism collapse nations of Europe.

Soviets agents posing as businessesmen, bought crucial entities after state business were sold on the market for dirt money. There was instances where whole factories were intentionally bankrupted, the industrial equipment was melted and sold as raw materials.

They intentionally distroyed the economies of some East European countries.

 

The sore loser mentality is very telling.

 

As will covert CIA operations designed to destabilise government and sanctions

 

You have a problem with US operatives. How do you feel about the Russian ones?

 

Yes many governments engage in a wide range of "on the surface friendly" but ultimately ruthless tactics to undermine those they consider a danger to them... some more than others. The stakes are high, and the people in these countries pay the highest price.

 

The Russian operatives are sweet and kind and hand out candy to the enemy

see my reply above... there are no good guys... you can't afford to be...

ps. if you are asking because you are trying to work out where my loyalties are... then it is a little more complicated than simply picking a side

 

Eye of the beholder.

 

Except there were no such operations, of course. The worst thing Americans did was encourage the Ukrainians to improve their own situation. For them, that meant tossing one of Putin's puppets out when he began breaking promises in Russia's favor and contrary to the will of the Ukrainian people.

 

D.... just wake up will you

 

Just because you say there were doesn't mean there were. Anyway, how is the CIA supposed to have had such an impact on the thinking of the Ukrainian people? You're giving them an awful lot of credit.

 

China can afford it

Americans give china $350 billion a year to play with