Discussion Board (Corporates)
 Board
Write new posting
Read old postings (archive)
Read your postings
Last 50 Postings | Last 100 Postings
11-30-25 savo
https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2025-11-28/us-needs-a-strategy-in-venezuela-not-airstrikes
The US Needs a Strategy in Venezuela, Not Airstrikes
November 28, 2025 at 8:00 AM GMT-3
By The Editorial Board
The Editorial Board publishes the views of the editors across a range of national and global affairs.
Regime unchanged.
The US has deployed a large array of military assets off the shores of Venezuela, but the purpose of this armada remains unclear.
The administration's ad hoc campaign against the drug trade is arguably doing more harm than good, and many Americans would favor a greater focus on the main cause of US overdoses: fentanyl smuggled from Mexico.
The White House needs to decide what its goals are and bring the right resources to bear, whether it's seeking to drive dictator Nicolas Maduro from power or stem the flow of drugs to the US.
With the deployment of the USS Gerald R. Ford, the world’s largest aircraft carrier, the US has amassed a fearsome array of assets off the shores of Venezuela: dozens of advanced fighter jets, thousands of troops, guided-missile destroyers, special operations forces, armed drones, gunships, possibly a nuclear submarine. More useful, however, would be a strategy.
What purpose this armada is meant to serve remains stubbornly opaque. Strikes on speedboats allegedly running drugs in the Caribbean and eastern Pacific — which have killed more than 80 people since early September — hardly require such firepower. The Pentagon has reportedly generated options to expand the campaign to targets in Venezuela itself, presumably in hopes of driving dictator Nicolas Maduro from power. At the same time, the president denied any such plans late last month, and White House officials seem unclear about the legal basis for an attack.
Many Americans would favor greater focus on the drug trade, which contributed to more than 80,000 deaths in the US last year — 10 times as many as the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan combined. But the ad hoc nature of the administration’s campaign is arguably doing more harm than good. Focusing on the Caribbean ignores the main cause of US overdoses: fentanyl smuggled from Mexico. Widely viewed as illegal, the boat strikes have reportedly led partners such as the UK and Colombia to cut off some intelligence sharing with the US. Maduro, by standing up to American bullying, may have bolstered his standing at home and in the region.
The Real Killer
Fentanyl is by far the biggest contributor to US drug overdose deaths
Meanwhile, the costs of this show of force are mounting. Operating a carrier strike group burns through millions of dollars a day. Each boat strike costs hundreds of thousands of dollars. Then there are the indirect trade-offs: With the Gerald Ford in Latin America, the US currently has no carriers deployed in waters off Europe or the Middle East. Any land-based strikes would likely involve Tomahawk missiles, of which the US has a limited supply.
The consequences of such an attack wouldn’t end there. Air and missile strikes are far from guaranteed to drive out Maduro or prompt a coup. Sending in the Marines could lead to a quagmire. Even if Maduro did step down or was captured by US forces, there’s no guarantee any transition would be smooth. Political instability would create more space, not less, for cartels to expand.
The White House needs to decide what its goals are. If the hope is that gunboat diplomacy will encourage Maduro to resign peacefully, the administration should be ramping up talks to seek a credible handover of power. Airstrikes would be unwise, let alone an invasion. Yet the longer US forces are engaged in pinprick attacks, the less intimidating they will be.
If, on the other hand, the administration really wants to stem the flow of drugs to the US, it ought to bring the right resources to bear. Rather than aircraft carriers and submarines, what’s needed are more Coast Guard cutters and Drug Enforcement Administration operatives. Rather than threatening Colombia and Mexico — the main sources of cocaine and fentanyl — the US should be working with them to develop intelligence on cartels’ financial and logistics networks. If drones or special operations forces are required for specific missions, they should be employed with the full cooperation of host countries, not unilaterally.
The Pentagon’s most advanced assets should be focused on deterring a major conflict with a peer competitor such as China or Russia. The sooner they can return to that mission, the better.
|
|
11-30-25 savo
President Donald Trump reportedly rebuffed Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro's push for sweeping amnesty during a phone call last week,
not credible... |
|
11-30-25 carib
| Checking on Flightradar24.. I see only a couple of local flights in Veny airspace.. and an F18 from the Gerald Ford hovering north of Aruba, with transponder active, meaning it wants to be seen there. |
|
11-29-25 victor
carib, we, creditors, paid enough already.
right |
|
11-29-25 carib
“You have sat too long here for any good you have been doing. Depart, I say, and let us have done with you. In the name of God, go.”
First uttered by Oliver Cromwell in 1653, the words were delivered again, perhaps most famously, in a 1940 critique of Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain.
Valid for Maduro & C too, IMHO. |
|
11-29-25 carib
PS: we, creditors, paid enough already.
|
|
11-29-25 carib
President Donald Trump reportedly rebuffed Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro's push for sweeping amnesty during a phone call last week, telling the embattled leader and his senior aides to abandon their demands and leave the country as U.S. pressure intensifies.
Trump and Maduro discussed a broad amnesty proposal during a phone call last week, people familiar with the exchange told The Wall Street Journal.
Maduro reportedly asked for general amnesty for himself, his senior aides, and their families.
|
|
11-29-25 carib
I agree with Victor in this.
It's just factual.
|
|
11-29-25 victor
savo, no price for me to pay. i did not vote for h chavez or nm.
i am not a vz citizen either, or have a reason to reside in vz.
unfortunately, vz citizens who did not leave, have "accomodated" themselves to living under nm.
this mentality needs to change. |
|
11-29-25 savo
victor.. if you think this is the price to pay... fine ... go to veni and pay it...
given that i have no intention to pay any price i do not expect anybody else to pay it either. |
|
11-29-25 victor
savo, fair enough.
this is the price to pay to get rid of nm.
dt should have done it a lot sooner, as in his 1st period..
|
|
11-29-25 savo
yes.. about time... let's block the airports.. let's block the ports... and let's starve the people of veni to death... like in medieval times... and if possible just burn Caracas.
I presume victor you do not live in veni?
thinking about moving there to enjoy the blockade? |
|
11-29-25 victor
about time..
To all Airlines, Pilots, Drug Dealers, and Human Traffickers, please consider THE AIRSPACE ABOVE AND SURROUNDING VENEZUELA TO BE CLOSED IN ITS ENTIRETY. Thank you for your attention to this matter! PRESIDENT DONALD J. TRUMP |
|
11-29-25 savo
and these are the good guys... supposedly.
The Washington Post
@washingtonpost
Exclusive: Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth gave an order to “kill everybody” in the first strike on suspected drug boats in the Caribbean. After two men survived, the mission commander ordered a second strike to comply with Hegseth’s instructions, according to two sources.
|
|
|
