Tell Me If This Sounds Familiar

 

 

    Another oil-rich nation invaded in the name of regime change. Another dictator with a cheesy mustache toppled. Another pack of lies to justify invading said oil-rich nation. Does any of this sound familiar?

     Seven years ago almost to the day, DNI Tulsi Gabbard warned us about this. Of course, at the time, she was just winding up her presidential ambitions in preparation for crashing and burning in the 2020 Democratic primaries but one has to admit she was right.

     Early this morning, America did what one would think was the unthinkable and we invaded and bombed a sovereign nation and even kidnapped its head of state. Nicholas Maduro is now in New York awaiting charges of trafficking in drugs. We even kidnapped his wife.

     Let's get one thing straight- I'm no fan of Maduro. Like Trump last year and 2016, he robbed his way to power and nakedly stole Venezuela's last election. And, like Trump, he tanked his own nation's economy, not because Socialism doesn't work, but simply because he's a corrupt asshole.

     But regime change spearheaded by the US government has a very, very poor history. Iran. Vietnam. Chile. El Salvador. Nicaragua. Iraq. Afghanistan. The list goes on. Since WWII, the United States, usually under Republican leadership, has done the bidding of giant corporate interests whether it be fruit companies or oil cartels. In the 80+ years since the end of WWII, we've toppled no fewer than 60 democratic nations virtually every time their leaders don''t toe the right wing corporate line.

     Venezuela is the latest casualty of those interests.

     As with Iraq 23 years ago and their phantom weapons of mass destruction, we, too, have invented a false rationale to bomb the capital city of a sovereign nation and capture its head of state. Now Trump is saying we're going to "run" Venezuela as if it's a distressed company under receivership. This is coming from a buffoon who can't even run the United States except as a banana republic.

     It started with the US military bombing back to the Stone Age over 20 boats, probably all fishing boats, out of the water under the guise of combating drug trafficking. Keep in mind, this is being engineered by a clown who'd pardoned no fewer than four drug dealers.

     And now, Trump is openly admitting it was all about capturing Venezuela's oil reserves, the largest in the world. He's not even pretending, any more. It's all about the oil, always has been, always will be.

     Just like Iraq.

     Did Venezuela need regime change? Absolutely, it did. But their fate, their destiny, as Gabbard said seven years ago, should've been left in their hands, not in our grasping ones.