As promised, here are the key points from US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who has spoken to US media outlets this morning.
- This is “not a war against Venezuela”, he says - this follows strikes on the country on Saturday and the extraction of its president, Nicolás Maduro
- The US will judge Venezuela by “what they do” next, Rubio says, adding that Washington will keep “multiple levers of leverage” to protect its interests
- Speaking to ABC, Rubio says congressional authorisation wasn’t needed before the operation “because this wasn’t an invasion”
- He says that he hopes Maduro’s removal will lead to “a better Venezuela”, but adds that the “number one objective is America”
- Asked whether he thinks Interim President Delcy Rodríguez is now the legitimate president of Venezuela, he says the US does not believe the regime is legitimate
I guess the term “act of war” becomes meaningless when the act is done by someone nobody will hold accountable.
It’s been meaningless since Vietnam
Far earlier than that. Look up the career, and post career, of Smedly Buttler. He was a marine commander who publicly spoke out about how he had been used as a thug for capitalism.
Particularly in the creation of Banana Republics.
Prescott Bush tried to use Buttler to overthrow FDR, but Buttler went to Congress and reported the plot. Nothing was ever done and then we got two Bush presidents.
Who’d thunk it someone from the damn Bush family pushing for conflict. Something Prescott’s son, George, did and George’s son, Dubya did. If Jeb actually got into office, surely he’d go to war too.
Jeb was already at war with his own charisma