Venezuela

US seizes Russian-flagged oil tanker in Atlantic after two-week pursuit

The US has seized a Russian-flagged oil tanker in the Atlantic Ocean in a high-stakes operation that could risk confrontation with the Kremlin after Moscow reportedly dispatched a submarine to safeguard the vessel.

The Marinera, formerly known as the Bella 1, “was seized in the North Atlantic pursuant to a warrant issued by a US federal court after being tracked by USCGC Munro”, US European Command said in a post on X. US media reported that the country’s coastguard had successfully boarded the oil tanker, facing no resistance.

The Russian state broadcaster RT earlier published two grainy photographs showing a helicopter approaching the tanker, saying an operation was under way.

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by Blazingcatfur••0•Posted inRussia, USA, Venezuela

Former Cargill executive reveals nightmare operations in Venezuela

CALGARY — A former senior executive at agricultural giant Cargill has offered a rare inside look at how that company operated in Venezuela under former president Nicolas Maduro’s regime.

Jeff Kazin, who according to his LinkedIn page served as vice-president of trading, procurement, and risk for Cargill from 2009 to 2022, described operating in a country devastated by a decades-long kleptocracy where bribery, government seizures, and widespread theft were commonplace.

(Incognito)

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by Blazingcatfur••0•Posted inVenezuela

What the raid on Venezuela teaches us about the Trump administration

The U.S. raid-and-capture operation in Venezuela that ended the rule of Nicolás Maduro and upended power politics in the Western Hemisphere was unusually complicated. The motivations behind it were perhaps even more complex – and so are the lessons that the Delta Force blitz provide for Americans and for governments across the globe.

Here are some of the important political currents running beneath the surface of the astonishing episode, which has provided a template for evaluating the early 21st-century Trump Corollary to the early 19th-century Monroe Doctrine – two policies that have no legal basis but still establish distinct American spheres of influence and behaviour and enforce them …

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by Blazingcatfur••0•Posted inCanada, USA, Venezuela

LILLEY: Mark Carney doesn’t have time to move slowly on new pipeline

 

Donald Trump said the Venezuelan oil industry could be booming again in 18 months. Here in Canada, we might have finished the first round of consultations on a new pipeline, but we won’t have concluded the court challenges to it.

This is the dilemma Canada is facing: We are still moving at Ottawa speed, meaning slow, while the Americans are talking about a breakneck pace in restoring Venezuela’s oil industry.

Carney has not changed his spots.

Venezuela: Trump announces plan to get up to 50M oil barrels

US President Donald Trump has announced that “interim authorities in Venezuela will be turning over” between 30 to 50 million barrels of sanctioned oil to the US.

“This ​oil ​will be sold at its market price, and that money will be controlled by me, as ‍president of the United States of America, to ​ensure it is used to benefit the ⁠people ​of Venezuela and the United States!”

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by Blazingcatfur••0•Posted inCanada, Canada's Corrupt Liberal Government, USA, Venezuela

AI deepfakes of Nicolás Maduro flood social media — depict Venezuelan dictator in jail with Diddy, among other vids

Within hours of President Trump’s announcement of the dramatic weekend capture of Nicolás Maduro, social media was flooded with AI-generated deepfakes showing the captured Venezuelan dictator in handcuffs and even sitting alongside Sean “Diddy” Combs, who was previously locked up in the same jail where Maduro now is in real life.

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by Blazingcatfur••0•Posted inUSA, Venezuela

Conrad Black: Maduro’s Removal an Astonishing Strategic Success for the US

The seizure and removal of Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro and his wife from their official residence in Caracas, to the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn, New York, with no American casualties, has been an astonishing strategic and tactical success.

It eliminates one of the few anti-Western governments in the world, reinforces the general move to the democratic right in Latin America, and strikes a deadly blow against the narco-terrorists who have severely provoked the United States. It probably cuts the lifeline from Venezuela to the dismal Marxist regime in Nicaragua, and has already been cited as a warning to the erratic president of Colombia, Gustavo Petro, whom Trump has named as head of the vast Colombian illegal narcotics producing and exporting operation. Trump also revoked Petro’s visa to enter the United States after he gave a speech in New York, urging American armed servicemen to ignore orders to engage with Hamas and other terrorists.

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by Blazingcatfur••0•Posted inUSA, Venezuela

Trump’s Hint to Oil Executives Weeks Before Maduro Ouster: ‘Get Ready’

El Palito Refinery

President Trump had a vague but tantalizing message for a couple of American oil executives roughly a month before the U.S. captured Venezuelan strongman Nicolás Maduro: “Get ready.”

Big changes were coming to Venezuela, Trump hinted.

Although Trump gave the executives a hint, he didn’t provide them with specific details of the strikes on Caracas that unfolded early Saturday, according to people familiar with the matter. Nor did he seek their advice on a plan unveiled the same day to have U.S. energy companies revitalize Venezuela’s dilapidated oil fields with multibillion-dollar investments.

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by Blazingcatfur••0•Posted inUSA, Venezuela

John Ivison: Starkly different reactions by Carney and Poilievre to Venezuela are revealing

It seems clear that there was great excitement in the Poilievre household on Saturday morning, as news of the surgical strike by U.S. special forces in Venezuela filtered through.

Pierre Poilievre’s wife, Anaida, is Venezuelan, and like many of her fellow citizens, she likely rejoiced in the arrest and deportation of the illegitimate president Nicolás Maduro.

By 9:36 a.m. the Conservative leader had posted on social media his congratulations to American President Donald Trump for arresting the “narco-terrorist and socialist dictator.”

Summary: Trump bad, Poilievre bad.

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by Blazingcatfur••0•Posted inCanada, USA, Venezuela

Poilievre calls for immediate pipeline approval following U.S. action in Venezuela

OTTAWA — Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre is warning the federal government that the possible end of American sanctions on Venezuelan oil could displace Canadian exports to the U.S. — and is urging the Liberals to “immediately approve a pipeline to the Pacific Coast.”

In a letter to Prime Minister Mark Carney posted on social media Tuesday, Poilievre said the action taken by the United States over the weekend has “altered the global energy landscape.”

U.S. President Donald Trump ordered a military raid on the Venezuelan capital, capturing President Nicolás Maduro and bringing him to New York to face charges. Trump also has openly said that he plans to take control of the country’s oil industry and encourage American companies to revitalize the sector.

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by Blazingcatfur••0•Posted inCanada, USA, Venezuela

Michael Higgins: Mark Carney can’t decide whether removing Maduro was good or bad

The reaction to the capture of Venezuelan dictator Nicolás Maduro roughly falls into two camps: those who celebrate the downfall of a corrupt narco-terrorist and those who condemn it as a suspected breach of international law.

Prime Minister Mark Carney chose a third option, a wishy-washy, bland statement that neither praised the detention on moral grounds nor criticized it on the basis it might be illegal.

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by Blazingcatfur••0•Posted inCanada, USA, Venezuela

Far-left, China-aligned groups organized pro-Nicolas Maduro protests in New York and other US states: ‘Unprecedented crime’

Pro-Nicolas Maduro protesters who turned up in Times Square and outside the Brooklyn federal lock-up where the former Venezuelan leader is being held were organized by hardcore left-wing group The People’s Forum, which has close ties to China.

The group — also behind anti-Israel demonstrations around the nation — called for “emergency protests nationwide” shortly after President Trump announced Saturday US forces had captured Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores.

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by Blazingcatfur••0•Posted inUSA, Venezuela

US foes and allies denounce Trump’s ‘crime of aggression’ in Venezuela at UN meeting

The US has faced widespread condemnation for a “crime of aggression” in Venezuela at an emergency meeting of the United Nations security council.

Brazil, China, Colombia, Cuba, Eritrea, Mexico, Russia, South Africa and Spain were among countries that on Monday denounced Donald Trump’s decision to launch deadly strikes on Venezuela and snatch its leader, Nicolás Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, to stand trial in the US.

“The bombings on Venezuelan territory and the capture of its president cross an unacceptable line,” Sérgio França Danese, the Brazilian ambassador to the UN, told the meeting. “These acts constitute a very serious affront to the sovereignty of Venezuela and set an extremely dangerous precedent for the entire international community.”

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by Blazingcatfur••0•Posted inUSA, Venezuela

Don’t expect a big gush of Venezuelan oil onto world markets any time soon

When it comes to the country with the world’s largest oil reserves, U.S. President Donald Trump didn’t mince words on why U.S. commandos seized Venezuela’s president. “They stole our oil,” Mr. Trump said.

Put aside for a moment clear violations of international law from U.S. actions and the fact “our” oil somehow ended up under Venezuela’s soil.

A picture Mr. Trump posted on Truth Social of deposed Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro handcuffed and blindfolded in a tracksuit aboard a U.S. navy ship conjures images of other oil-rich autocrats deposed by Washington and its proxies: Iraq’s Saddam Hussein and Libya’s Muammar Gaddafi. Neither of those interventions ended well.

So many critics cite “international law” while ignoring the sheer delight of the Venezuelan people at Maduro’s removal.

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by Blazingcatfur••0•Posted inCanada, USA, Venezuela

Trump is forcing us to confront the world as it really is. That’s a good thing

The ignominious capture of Nicolás Maduro proves, if nothing else, that America no longer bothers with pretences.

It wasn’t always so. Back in the autumn of 2002, the US military machine was gearing up to invade Iraq and destroy Saddam Hussein’s regime.

Yet instead of sending his forces into action as rapidly as possible, George W Bush chose to place the case for war before the United Nations General Assembly, promising on Sept 12 2002 to “work with the UN Security Council for the necessary resolutions”.

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by Blazingcatfur••0•Posted inUSA, Venezuela

The Conservative and Liberal responses to Venezuela reflect vastly different foreign-policy outlooks

The Liberals and Conservatives offered completely different responses to the Trump administration’s abduction of Venezuelan strongman Nicolás Maduro.

Those responses reflect the worldview of each party. For Conservatives, foreign policy is rooted in values; for Liberals, in interests.

On Saturday morning, not long after word arrived that American special forces had captured and abducted Mr. Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre issued a statement on X. “Congratulations to President Trump on successfully arresting narcoterrorist and socialist dictator Nicolás Maduro, who should live out his days in prison.”

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by Blazingcatfur••0•Posted in"Canadian Politics", USA, Venezuela