US headed for blockade of Venezuela, Trump official says

[Tanuki]

https://www.bloomberg.com/amp/news/articles/2019-08-02/u-s-headed-toward-blockade-of-venezuela-trump-official-says?__twitter_impression=true

"Donald Trump is serious about a possible U.S. blockade of Venezuela, a senior administration official said Friday, saying that the country’s president Nicolas Maduro has a short window to voluntarily leave power.

Trump told reporters on Thursday that he was considering a blockade or quarantine of the Latin American country, where the U.S. has been trying for months to unseat Maduro. He didn’t elaborate.

But the official said Trump’s statement should be taken seriously and is the direction U.S. policy is headed with regard to Venezuela. The official asked not to be identified as a condition of participation in a briefing for reporters.

The Trump administration has thrown its support behind National Assembly head and opposition leader Juan Guaido, who is recognized by about 50 nations as the rightful interim leader of the South American country.

.....

U.S. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross outlined plans to rebuild Venezuela’s financial institutions and infrastructure on Thursday in a speech to Latin American business executives in Brasilia".....(more)

[Eugene]

1. Will somebody remind the Deplorable in Chief that a blockade is an act of war?

[Igel]

2. Yes.

I remember reading about how the USSR took over one of the breakaway regions in the years after 1918.

A group of Communist Party members set up a "government". It didn't have a bureaucracy. It didn't have an army. It was essentially the leaders of a protest movement who, while a protest was going on, met in a room and declared themselves to be the One True Government.

A couple of days later the Red Army rolled in to support the allied, fellow socialist government and handed control over the territory to the One True Government. Immediately it signed control over to Lenin's government and joined the USSR.

Nobody cared because nobody wanted to get involved. Some governments ignored the invasion entirely and since they had scant contact with the former government barely noticed that the former government vanished and, really, just wasn't replaced. Others said, "Hey, that's not fair. But, okay, I guess, life's not fair." A few said, "Good on you, we approve, are there any bourgeoisie or people whose assets we can seize left to kill? Please send list." And for 70 years, the territory remained "liberated."

There are a number of blockades of one sort or another going on right now. And nobody considers any of them to be an act of war. Typically the victim of the blockade has little chance of going to war and coming out ahead. Very often the victim just finds an expensive, awkward, but non-bloody way of circumventing the blockade. And still, nobody considers any of them to be an act of war.

Of course, Russia probably would care. Because, well, only Russia has the patent from God to engage in that kind of behavior. (Now, that is. Before it had the Arc--or is that Ark?--of History on its side.)