US Airstrikes on Venezuela (Maduro captured).

[Badgers Nose]

Originally Posted by Huntingwhale

Pretty ####ed up what is going on now, but not surprising given the recent buildup. Maduro had to go. It was definitely a stolen election and literally no one else is more hated in all of Latin America then him. I suspect deep down quite a few people there are happy with this. The hard part is what comes after and that's where it's going to get all screwy. Make no mistake, impossible there aren't Americans going to be sent home in body bags.

A huge wake up call to anyone thinking that regions like Greenland and Canada should assume there are a bunch of "good guys" in the US army who will ignore orders. A wake up call that his speaking about the 51st state is a troll joke job. A wake up call to those that think that we shouldn't nuke the F up as quickly as possible.

In a vacuum though, pretty wild to grab a sitting president in his sleep and whisk him away. I can only dream of this happening to Putin.

Yeah, definitely a dream scenario that this would ever happen to Putin. Because Trump just showed us that he’s got more in common with Putin than he has in common with the rest of the western world.

Regardless of what you think of the regime in Venezuela, this is not the way a civilized country conduct itself. And it largely undermines the world order that the United States was instrumental in creating over the last 75 years we can argue all day about its faults, but that system was a hell of a lot better than what we’re entering into right now.

For all the blue hair complainers that said western liberal democracy weren’t open and inviting enough, they’re gonna wish that that old order still existed pretty soon too. Because I have a feeling that the world is gonna get a lot more hostile to diverse perspectives if this is any indication of the direction we’re headed.

[Locke]

Originally Posted by puffnstuff

Its kinda odd they took his wife too, right? Was she under indictment as well? Or was she just there...and they said 'i guess we bring her too'

I'm thinking this one. Besides...as despicable as all of this is, how safe do you think that woman would have been in Venezuela without her husband around?

That was probably for the best.

[Senator Clay Davis]

There's theories floating out there that Maduro made a deal with Trump and this is all theatre to make Trump look good/change conversation away from him raping children. So if that's the case taking his wife makes more sense. Probably ends in a weak/non-existent prosecution against Maduro, so he walks or gets a pardon, and then lives in exile in Dubai after.

[bizaro86]

Originally Posted by Badgers Nose

Mexico can defend itself. Everyone in the world knows that Canada can’t. The next three years are gonna be pretty challenging. Trump can press the regime change button anytime he wants.

Pierre is already sucking up. He’d love to be the Canadian Lukashenko.

This is his plan for getting Mexico to pay for building a border wall?

[fotze2]

Has Trump had one pf those harious press conferences Shane Gillis could do a bit.

We captured Maduro
He cried
I wouldn't have cried

[Johnny Makarov]

Let's see him fly those choppers into Ottawa with our ... 20 drones to stop him. lol

Can someone call China asap and order 500,000 for next week?

[Fuzz]

Originally Posted by Badgers Nose

How did the world order disintegrate so quickly? The US system was supposed to be built to prevent exactly these kinds of unilateral decisions. One clown comes in and knocks everything over like bowling pins.

I don’t think you can overstate the risk to Canada right now. Trump does what he says he’s going to do and he’s got eyes on the resources of this country.

And all that posting about Greenland looks a lot more serious now than it did a week or two ago.

Finally, I don’t think I would be planning any trips to Taiwan soon. This represents a big window of opportunity for China to get involved in all this territory taking.

It wasn't quick. The religious right in the US has been transforming the courts. Mitch McConnell helped Trump stack the Supreme Court with toadies in his first term. Everyone ignored the warning signs and then the uber wealthy swept in to help.


The US system was never designed to prevent a takeover like this. Three separate branches don't mean anything when they are controlled by the same people. Mostly though, this is a failure of everyday people to give enough ####s about their governments to do anything about anything, and unrestrained capitalism did the rest.

[CorsiHockeyLeague]

The only circumstance where a standing milita helps is if we were annexed and already lost, and the militia had enough training to essentially become a terrorist force. So might as well train them in how to make ieds and chemical weapons.

[Fuzz]

Originally Posted by CorsiHockeyLeague

The only circumstance where a standing milita helps is if we were annexed and already lost, and the militia had enough training to essentially become a terrorist force. So might as well train them in how to make ieds and chemical weapons.

Drones. All the drones.

[Badgers Nose]

Originally Posted by Fuzz

It wasn't quick…. Mostly though, this is a failure of everyday people to give enough ####s about their governments to do anything about anything, and unrestrained capitalism did the rest.

I’d give you 1000 thanks if I could.

From a strictly operational standpoint, I’m curious how they pulled this off so quickly. I think this is an intelligence win more so than a military one. My guess is that they negotiated with the Venezuelan military at some high-level to just capitulate and let the Americans come in and take Maduro. Otherwise, I can’t imagine how this could happen so quickly. Guys like that are always paranoid and bunkered. Especially with the escalations the last few weeks.

[Coach]

Originally Posted by Fuzz

Drones. All the drones.

Yes. We should be watching and learning from Ukraine. Border drones. Arctic drones. Water drones. Made in Europe. Or make em here.

[EldrickOnIce]

Assuming a huge blow to Canada's oil industry. Why will the US buy any Canadian oil when they can just take it from Venezuela?
Queue Venezuelan tankers up the St Lawrence

[Badgers Nose]

Originally Posted by CorsiHockeyLeague

The only circumstance where a standing milita helps is if we were annexed and already lost, and the militia had enough training to essentially become a terrorist force. So might as well train them in how to make ieds and chemical weapons.

True, but that might just represent enough of a pain in the ass for an aggressor to think twice about doing the deed. The only chance for a country like Canada is the deterrent. Once the war starts, it’s already over.

Right now we have a small armed forces and no militia. It would be very, very hard for a resistance to organize quicker than the Americans could take territory from us.

The reality is, I’m not even sure if any resistance would be possible. Do people even want to resist? Are you willing to risk your life and more importantly, the life of your children to oppose a US annexation? I wouldn’t want our arm services massacred fighting an overwhelmingly superior force like the Americans.

Times like this make you ask some really deep existential questions.

Or like most people maybe we just tune out and watch Stranger Things. Maybe instant gratification culture and social media is the secret weapon that defeated all of the western democracies.

[Badgers Nose]

Originally Posted by Johnny Makarov

Let's see him fly those choppers into Ottawa with our ... 20 drones to stop him. lol

Can someone call China asap and order 500,000 for next week?

Might as well, just ask China for a security guarantee.

It might be the only way that Canada can prevent US and maybe Russian aggression.

I’m not sure that sentences is as insane today as it would’ve seemed three weeks ago.

[Whynotnow]

Originally Posted by EldrickOnIce

Assuming a huge blow to Canada's oil industry. Why will the US buy any Canadian oil when they can just take it from Venezuela?

Because padd 2 in the Midwest is not easily replaceable outside of the Enbridge mainline and that’s still where the majority of exports land. They could import oil to the coast but right now can’t get it back to padd 2. That would be solveable but not quickly or cheaply.

It will have an impact though, I’d say putting about 400-500,000 barrels per day at risk, so in the range of 10 percent and may threaten the viability of other planned expansions designed to get more oil to the gulf coast.

[Badgers Nose]

I did see at least one report, I think it was the BBC, that stated Trump and Putin were discussing how they would divvy up Arctic resources.

It’s not crazy to think that Trump would position a lesser of two evils for Canada. Either join us or I’ll leave you to the Russians and you can see if you like them better.

[Badgers Nose]

Originally Posted by Whynotnow

Because padd 2 in the Midwest is not easily replaceable outside of the Enbridge mainline and that’s still where the majority of exports land. They could import oil to the coast but right now can’t get it back to padd 2. That would be solveable but not quickly or cheaply.

It will have an impact though, I’d say putting about 400-500,000 barrels per day at risk, so in the range of 10 percent and may threaten the viability of other planned expansions designed to get more oil to the gulf coast.

I thought Venezuela nationalized all of its oil infrastructure 20 to 25 years ago. And everything that I’ve read about it since then is that infrastructure has deteriorated significantly because of the absence of western oil companies there to maintain and develop it. Was that exaggerated?

If not, won’t it take some time for them to modernize and get full production
going?

What’s a realistic lag time before Alberta starts feeling the pinch?

[edslunch]

Originally Posted by puffnstuff

The press conference is insane

Q: China, Russia, and Iran have interests in Venezuela. How does this operation affect your relationships with them?
TRUMP: In terms of other countries that want oil, we're in the oil business. We're gonna sell it to them. We'll be selling oil.
Q: Who will run Venezuela?
TRUMP: Well it's largely going to be for a period of time the people standing right behind me. We're gonna be running it.
Trump: "We're going to have our very large United States oil companies go in, spend billions of dollars, fix the badly broken infrastructure and start making money for the country. And we are ready to stage a second and much larger attack if we need to do so."

That worked so well in Iraq. Step one, fire the military....

[edslunch]

Originally Posted by puffnstuff

He also threatened Colombia and Cuba

And Mexico

[Looch City]

Originally Posted by puffnstuff

Pierre Poilievre tweets: “Congratulations to President Trump on successfully arresting narco-terrorist and socialist dictator Nicolas Maduro, who should live out his days in prison.
The legitimate winner of the most recent Venezuelan elections, Edmundo González, should take office along with the courageous hero and voice of the Venezuelan people, María Corina Machado.
Down with socialism. Long live freedom.”

If PP could suck Trump's tiny little d###, you know he would in an instant.

Just needs the opportunity.

Absolute embarrassment to Canada.