Trump may get his personal donnybrook, but in Venezuela

By Martin Love

NORTH CAROLINA - It appears that Trump (and now especially with his appointments of some of the worst of the Zionist Neocons who planned decades ago the march to destroy polities that did not exactly kowtow to U.S. demands and submit to the “Empire of Chaos”) has been searching for a signature interference and possibly a war to assert U.S. hegemony.

Perhaps Trump and minions have found their primary target now, which is the lowest hanging and geographically nearest fruit – resource rich Venezuela – given the political and economic problems faced by Nicolas Maduro, which in fact are largely the result of U.S. economic and other sanctions on the proponents of the so-called “Bolivarian Revolution”.

What would be Trump’s signature war many have asked? All his predecessors in the White House had at least one, the most damaging of which to date was the Iraq War, with Libya and Syria not far behind. Might it be North Korea? Nah, probably because the Norks had developed a nuclear deterrence and the means to deliver nuclear bombs, at least in East Asia if not farther out to Hawaii and California, and anyway Kim Jong Un has an arresting and even jovial personality that Trump seemed to like, and Kim has proven to be rather smart in seeking détente or better relations with the other half of the Korean peninsula in the south.

 Might it be a ramp-up of U.S. hostilities towards Syria? Nah, because with the help of the Russians and Iran and also Hezbollah, and the bravery of the Syrian army, popular Assad managed to drive out or kill most of the mercenary terrorists funded by the U.S. and the Saudis.

But what about Iran? The jury is still out on a U.S. or Israeli military strike on Iran outside of Syria. The U.S. has, however, attacked Iran with the cancellation of U.S. participation in the JCPOA and harsh economic sanctions aiming to turn Iranians against the Islamic Republic and its leaders. 

One huge mistake by the Trumpists has been its promotion of the despised MEK as an alternative for Iran, or even the restoration of the son of the former shah. From a distance, this appears to have shored up at least nominal support inside Iran for the current government despite the lambent hardships suffered by Iranians generally.

Iran may simply too hard a nut to crack for the craven warmongers in Washington and Tel Aviv given the heavy investments in Iran and the alliances Iran has more or less maintained that seem to have turned Iran into a “red line” for countries like Russia and China. Iran may constitute a bridge too far, and anyway, if Iran were attacked, there would be Hell to pay throughout the Middle East and particularly in the Persian Gulf.

 How does a barrel of oil costing over $200 sound to the warmongers? You’d see an economic collapse in the West and the U.S. like none before, and the fortunes of both political parties in the U.S. would go up in smoke. Not to mention the fact that Trump was, allegedly, primarily elected to dampen U.S. military adventurism overseas and focus on domestic problems, which are rampant and growing by the day.

So, for now at least, with Venezuela and Maduro in the crosshairs of U.S. regime change efforts, horrible as that is potentially for the people of Venezuela, it seems possible that Iran, even if sanctions are not lifted, might witness some reduction of pressure upon it and allow the Islamic Republic to consolidate what bulwark it has developed against further attack. 

Imagine, for example, if the situation inside Venezuela goes “Mad Max” with civil war atop the economic disasters already present, and with the potential that the U.S. might invade. Venezuela has a population of about 32 million as well as the largest (heavy) oil reserves on the planet. While it is not nearly as big a country like Iran, it is far bigger than Iraq or Libya or Syria, for examples, and you can bet that if the U.S. did move in to attack Maduro militarily, the opposition there would be or become extreme. The Venezuelan armed forces have already said they support Maduro and not the lightweight fool who unilaterally and illegally declared himself “president”. 

For now, too, Maduro is trying to buy some time and has just declared that U.S. diplomats will not be kicked out of Caracas immediately. The U.S. could, if it makes the wrong moves, find itself MORE bogged down in Venezuela than ever it was in Iraq and as it has been in Afghanistan. And this, if it were to occur, would certainly take the spotlight off of Iran and quite possibly result in rejection of Washington and Trump and not just outside the U.S., but also inside the U.S. (It’s important to realize, as has been proven in so many countries faced with upheaval since World War 2, that a mere 10 percent of so of any population absolutely determined to radical change and willing to sacrifice for it can make it happen.)

Indeed, if Trump wants his personal donnybrook, he can have it with Venezuela, a far softer and closer target but also one that could prove to be equally as disruptive, it seems, as any further attack on Iran. At any rate, one ought not to be surprised if Trump, now having fully embraced the Neocons, is not elected for a second term in the White House. This latter would be glorious for all the world.