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Cynical Publius @CynicalPublius - Were you surprised by Operation Absolute Resolve?
I was.
None of us outside of the Pentagon had even the slightest idea this would happen.
No leaks. No rumors. Airtight OPSEC.
How was that possible?
Because no one told Democrat Senators and Representatives about it in advance.
https://x.com/CynicalPublius/status/2007518675641983427
Curiosity @MAstronomers - Locking the camera to the stars instead of the horizon changes everything.
It’s actually kind of terrifying to see the Earth spinning beneath us like this.
https://x.com/MAstronomers/status/2006772909621260456
Cynical Publius @CynicalPublius - I have been monitoring the Venezuela issue all day long, and there are so many questions yet to be answered (thanks to great Pentagon OPSEC), but the strategic reason for bringing down Maduro has become abundantly clear.
While we ostensibly captured Maduro based on legitimate, outstanding US drug charges from 2020, the real reason for the military operations early this morning is that neutralizing Maduro's Venezuela had become a strategic imperative for the USA.
Under Maduro, Venezuela had become the Latin American crossroads for all of the USA's principal enemies. Maduro was nurturing relationships with Russia, Hezbollah and Iran. Worst of all, Venezuela was eagerly becoming a part of Red China's Belt & Road initiative.
As America's enemies were lining up Venezuela as their base of operations in the Western Hemisphere to cause mischief and destruction for the USA, Maduro was at the same time making Venezuela a crossroads, safe haven and enabler for all manner of narcoterrorist operations, ranging from Colombia's FARC to Mexico's Sinaloa cartel.
On top of all that, Venezuela had become a key player in the illegal alien invasion of the USA, shipping its very worst to the USA in a deliberate and comprehensive destabilizing operation that might have worked had Donald Trump not won in 2024.
Next in importance: oil. The global and regional ambitions of both China and Russia are in large part dependent on the politics of petroleum, and the USA just deprived both of the cudgel afforded by friendly Venezuelan oil. Trump opponents say "It's about oil" as if that was a bad thing. Yeah, it's about oil.
Finally, all of this was in keeping with the most essential and fundamental foreign policy mandate of the USA almost since the nation's inception: the Monroe Doctrine. Operations like what Maduro was running simply cannot be allowed in the Western Hemisphere. Trump was right for falling back on this most basic of doctrines that protects the USA's sovereignty.
So was Maduro seized because of some five year-old drug charges? Yes. Legally--yes. However, like so many strategic issues in the world today, an action needed to be backed by the fine points of law, and it was. But the reality is that the Maduro takedown was a Monroe Doctrine-driven necessity that has greatly enhanced the power and national security of the USA.
Congratulations, Donald Trump, Marco Rubio, Pete Hegseth and the rest of the Trump national security team: you boldly took the steps necessary to defend the USA.
Well done.
https://x.com/CynicalPublius/status/2007644800779169936
Cynical Publius @CynicalPublius - I voted for Trump to not get us involved in useless, endless wars.
A surgical strike on narco-terrorist facilities in our hemisphere that murder thousands of Americans, coupled with a precision extraction of the lawless bandit in charge, is not a useless, endless war.
So I'm OK with it. Go America!
https://x.com/CynicalPublius/status/2007412199132934453
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