US Southern Command chief Admiral Craig Faller said in an interview that the growing US buildup in the Caribbean does not represent a change in Venezuelan policy, and is not aimed at removing President Maduro from power.
Faller said that the US continues to want to oust Maduro through “economic and diplomatic pressure,” and not military force, though other officials have said the US would not rule out the use of military force to do so.
When the US started this latest buildup in the Caribbean, it was done nominally to fight drugs, and came immediately after the US put a bounty on Maduro accusing him of drug smuggling. Attorney General Barr created the legal basis for this.
This was why there was substantial concern about a US military invasion, as Barr had similarly constructed the pretext to invade Panama in 1989 and remove Manuel Noriega. It was conceivable, after failing to oust Maduro other ways, that they might revisit the old tactic.
The day a U.S. navy ships seizes civilian cargo to/from Venezuela that is an act of war but our state media will not portray it that way.
“Faller said that the US continues to want to oust Maduro through “economic and diplomatic pressure,” and not military force”
We want to starve you, we don’t want to bomb you. We have a peace president after all.
The 100s of deaths of medical workers in Venezuela and Iran belong to trump, himself. Rope time.
And the 1.5 million dead in Iraq belong to HWBush and Clinton. One’s dead, the other deserves a war crimes trial at least. And then there’s W. Bush, Obama, and Trump – war criminals all.
C’mon Dave that was President Pompeo that caused those deaths not “DJT” if you know what I mean. :- )
And those dying in nursing homes, where staff has no protection, but was given responsibility to care about infected people? 46 dead in one home in Virginia.
And I do care about our retirement homes, DEFINITELY NOT MADURO.
No, the invasion and destruction of the country will be aimed at that.
“The buildup is…to fight drugs…” Yeah sure, we’ve done such a wonderful job of that… with our CIA conduits opening and closing the drug pipelines whenever they choose to…not to mention our own Big Pharma addicting (and killing) tens of thousands to make some $$$$$!
This has to be delicately timed with the coming election, we need the thrill of victory but not yet realize the agony of occupation.
We are having agony at home. For some this still may look like picnic, while for others it is war time hardship and death.
Are these politicians counting on warmer weather to get rid of virus.
Yeah they are a string of things they are pinning their hopes on, none of them yet proven.
-lasting immunity of the survivors
-summer stopping the virus (not true for example with polio)
-adequate testing
-a vaccine
Meanwhile they are giving short shrift to the only tactic that we know works, social isolation, quarantining the sick and contact tracing.
Exactly. Short shrift given to Epidemiology 101. Social isolation, quarantining the sick and contact tracing are the tools to identify hot spots, which determines an extent of containment(s). Without containment, the tools by themselves do not bring big fast results. For as long as planes keep on taking passengers from high infection areas anywhere else, and letting them disembark and take other transport straight into cities, infections will migrate to other regions. Leaving no choice but to shutter economy on a massive scale.
Testing logic escapes me — it is testing to do testing. Testing health care workers. Good. Then NYC stopped testing anyone unless hospitalized. Then testing resumed in some hard hot spot areas, possibly under political pressure of zip code discrimination.
But tested or not — NYC health authority ordered people to stay home if only “moderately” sick. And inexplicably told people to assume they have virus if sick and self-isolate. How can anyone at home be protected against virus without basic protective gear, how to nurse a sick person safely, how to feed, bathe or clean room safely, how to know when it is time to go to hospital before lack of breathing induces cardiac arrest?
And more inexplicably, those that died at home are not tested, assumed coronavirus, added to the tally— but never tested family and friends, and other contacts.
I am hoping weather does the magic, and stops the spread. But this theory does not bode well for countries that even in summer stay cool. Good buy Scotland where I escape from Washington summer heat.
The purpose of social isolation is not containment. It’s “flattening the curve,” i.e. slowing the spread of the disease so that medical facilities aren’t overwhelmed.
South Korea did attempt containment, apparently with some success, using quarantine and contact tracing.
Yes, we debated that one before.
In NY attempt at flattening is achieved not just by social distancing, but by keeping people out of hospitals.
The VERY long list of long term care facilities as well as rehabilitation centers that have between thirty and sixty people EACH dead from coronavirus, has kept them out of hospitals. And while relatives were not allowed to visit residents, staff was not systematically tested for virus, and staff in those facilities was NOT a priority for protective gear.
Well, Cuomo said, virus prays on old and weak. AND ON VULNERABLE LEFT UNPROTECTED TO THE MERCY OF VIRUS.
Sick people are asked to stay home and not come to emergency if only “moderately” ill. And come if they have difficulty breathing. Time span between difficulty breathing and cardiac arrest is measured in hours.
And when people die at home — and test not performed on the dead person — this brings fully hazmat clad people to collect the remains, while grieving family that nursed the sick was unprotected — and untested.
The newest ORDER (two days ago) is for ambulances to NOT bring into hospital people who are still alive but need resuscitating. The order is — if the crew cannot have them resuscitated with their equipment, patients should die without being admitted.
In spite of such efforts to flatten the curve by manipulating admittance and keeping the illusion of orderly run hospitals — this creates obvious class differences. People with connections can always manage to get their loved ones into hospital while they are still not too sick and can be treated before double pneumonia sets in.
But the goal of neatly run hospitals does not stop the rise in new cases. The new goal is to enter Phase I reopening if new cases fall 14 days in a row. I am SURE there will be plenty of bureaucratic ways to achieve that.
And you are right, South Korea implemented containment strategy as well as massive testing of contacts to catch any case that went beyond containment walls.
But now they still have to deal with returning and infected citizens. Many returned due to unemployment in Europe, US or Australia and even more massive return of students that can cheaper study on line from home. Same with China. And a huge problem for Eastern Europe and Russia.
I heard of a Chinese study of virus mutations, and there are apparently already thirty or so generations. And it appears that the European strands are by far more deadly then Asian ones. It appears that US West coast is predominantly Asian, while NY is European.
Since it has been allowed to spread from NY — the cases are on the rise in Acela corridor. Maryland, DC, and Virginia. Virginia in the last 24 hours had the largest daily jump in new cases since the epidemic started.
And we have no better things to spend money on — but to worry about the irregularity in Maduro election? And to declare a man who never ran for a president, could nit care enough to be a candidate — a legal president!
We have a tragedy at home. On one hand, somebody is trying to rile up populace to go back to work — while in the other, Newsweek is reporting New York style catastrophe for Washington Metro Area, preparing evacuation of White House, and police force to control rioting in case somebody drops an atom bomb on the city! Not bizarre enough? Have police empty nursing homes, half inhabitants dead of virus, others walking infected, unattended. Sounds like third world? Nope, Italy, Spain, England, Virginia, New Jersey.
Anybody knows where this is going to? Anybody cares for Maduro?
… That’s believable, insofar as ships don’t hold real estate and the U.S. needs a sunny, healthy but still look-busy place to park its healthy-crewed ships.
If you believe this guy I’ve got a bridge to sell you really cheap.
as i already stated. we will deal with nicky “pockets” maduro later since no one wants the oil anymore. when we are in the mood we will get him for his drug smuggling activities. count on it.