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As the U.S. continues committing extrajudicial murders in the Caribbean and expanding our military presence there, it isn’t clear if we are headed for war or just carrying on with killing sprees.
Many pundits and commentators have pointed to the U.S.’s desire to take over and control Venezuelan oil as the real motive behind this state of affairs, while others see this as yet another distraction from the Epstein files scandal.
German Public TV raised the question in a segment titled “What does Trump want in Venezuela? | To the point”:
What is clear is the international response to the current situation, with many nations weighing in with criticism toward the Orange Cabal in power.
The Guardian’s foreign affairs commentator Simon Tisdall did not mince words when he wrote “The US is now a rogue state - look at its extrajudicial killings off Venezuela’s coast”:
The UK’s reported decision to restrict intelligence-sharing with the Pentagon on suspected drug-traffickers’ boats in the Caribbean is a modest yet symbolic act of resistance to Donald Trump’s imperialist revival. Britain is said to have objected to repeated, lethal US airstrikes on alleged smugglers off Venezuela’s coast – which have been widely condemned as illegal extrajudicial killings amounting to murder.
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The US lacks a persuasive justification for war, despite Trump’s fanciful portrayal of Maduro, and Latin American cartel bosses, as “narco-terrorists” with whom he deems the US to be at war. But Trump doesn’t care. He believes that he and his country are above the law, that might makes right. Call it by its name: this is exactly the kind of brash, monarchic imperialism that the New World colonists famously rebelled against.
The self-aggrandising, regionally expansionist outlook of the second Trump administration is the most striking recent manifestation of the new era of state lawlessness that has taken hold around the world. The concept of a common rulebook and joint action to tackle shared global problems has been scorned. In Ukraine, Vladimir Putin has taken state lawlessness to new extremes – and no one seems able or willing to stop him.
The Trump regime’s recent decisions are putting a strain on our foreign intelligence alliances—not that the loonies in charge will probably care.
Just Security reported on “The International Law Obligation of States to Stop Intelligence Support for U.S. Boat Strikes”:
Several States have curtailed intelligence-sharing with the United States due to the continuing drug boat strikes in the Caribbean and Pacific that have killed 83 people to date. Notably, the United Kingdom, which maintains a significant presence in the Caribbean, has for years provided intelligence to support U.S. Coast Guard drug interdiction, in addition to conducting its own counter-narcotics operations. Concerned that the United States might use that support to unlawfully target drug boats, over a month ago, the UK suspended sharing intelligence. Asked about the CNN report that broke the story, Secretary of State Rubio labeled it “false,” without stating why.
Reports have also emerged that the Netherlands has curtailed intelligence cooperation due to fear that the United States might use it to support human rights violations or, a rather shocking concern, assist Russia.
The USS Gerald R. Ford aircraft carrier leaves Naval Station Norfolk on June 23 in Norfolk, Virginia.
Canada, which is conducting Operation Caribbe in coordination with the Coast Guard and 13 other nations, has likewise informed the United States that the information it provides is not to be used to facilitate the boat strikes. As a spokesperson for the Department of National Defence emphasized, “Canadian Armed Forces activities under Operation Caribbe, conducted in coordination with the United States Coast Guard, are separate and distinct from the activities you describe involving other branches of the United States military.”
And Colombia, which has long collaborated hand-in-glove with the United States on counter-drug operations, has similarly suspended intelligence sharing with U.S. intelligence agencies until the strikes end. Colombian President Gustavo Petro justified the decision by noting, “The fight against drugs must be subordinated to the human rights of the Caribbean people.” Mexico has also opposed the boat strikes, called on the United States to respect international treaties, and most recently announced an arrangement with the United States whereby the Mexican Navy will intercept boats near the countries’ coasts in order to prevent further lethal attacks in that area.
In recent days, E.U. leaders and member States, such as France, have told journalists that they consider the boat strikes flatly illegal. (France too has a significant presence in the region, including past work with U.S. counter-narcotics operations.) In response to such European legal concerns, Rubio quipped, because many of the shipments are bound for Europe, “Maybe they should be thanking us.”
Here’s a gift link to a New York Times article titled “Trump Said to Authorize C.I.A. Plans for Covert Action in Venezuela”:
The president has signed off on possible operations inside Venezuela but has also reopened back-channel communications with the government of President Nicolás Maduro
El País published “US escalates its campaign against ‘narco-terrorism’ in Latin America with the launch of Operation Southern Spear”:
U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced on Thursday the start of a U.S. military operation to remove “narco-terrorists” from the Western Hemisphere.
In a message on X (formerly Twitter), the head of the Pentagon explained: “President Trump ordered action — and the Department of War is delivering. Today, I’m announcing Operation Southern Spear."
Hegseth’s announcement comes just three days after the arrival of the aircraft carrier Gerald Ford — the largest in the world and the most modern in the U.S. fleet — to the area of responsibility of U.S. Southern Command in Latin America and the Caribbean. The ship and its escort group joined the flotilla already deployed in international waters at the edge of Venezuela’s territorial waters.
Harriet Barber at the UK’s Telegraph wrote “Trump mulling over Venezuela attack order”:
The US president has held a string of back-to-back meetings in which he reviewed military options – including the use of special operations forces and direct action inside Venezuela.
Speaking to reporters on Air Force One late on Friday night, he said: “I sort of made up my mind. I can’t tell you what it is, but we made a lot of progress with Venezuela in terms of stopping drugs from pouring in.”
It’s easy to wonder how much “mulling” Trump is actually doing. I doubt he could locate Venezuela on a map, and it’s likely that instead of mulling, someone is “pulling” his strings.
Our colony of Puerto Rico has become a staging point for the US military buildup.
CBS reported “U.S. reopens shuttered Puerto Rico naval base as Caribbean military buildup continues”:
Ceiba, Puerto Rico — A U.S. naval base in Puerto Rico that was closed more than 20 years ago is now back in operation as the United States builds up forces in the Caribbean ahead of possible military action against Venezuela.
Naval Station Roosevelt Roads closed in 2004 after having been in operation since 1943. But the Roosevelt Roads base has been reopened and is now one of five locations where U.S. forces are operating in Puerto Rico, an American territory strategically positioned north of Venezuela.
In early September, a source confirmed to CBS News that the U.S. sent 10 F-35 fighter jets to Puerto Rico for operations targeting drug cartels.
Samuel Rivera Baez, the mayor of Ceiba, the town where the base is located, told CBS News that the F-35s wake him up in the mornings.
"Right now, the United States is the most powerful in the world," Baez said. "Having them here taking care of us, we feel more than safe."
Interesting that their report doesn’t include anything about the protests against the U.S. presence that are taking place on the island.
Brett Wilkins covered that unrest for Common Dreams in “Puerto Ricans Continue Protests Against US Militarism and War Threats”:
US Marines began large-scale amphibious warfare exercises involving hundreds of troops at the end of August as part of Trump’s remilitarization of the region amid his military buildup against Venezuela. There are currently around 10,000 troops on the island—which was conquered from Spain in 1898—as well as weapons including F-35 fighter jets, MQ-9 Reaper drones, surveillance aircraft, and support equipment.
The US buildup has evoked memories of the fight to kick the Navy out of Vieques, a picture-postcard island whose residents lived downwind from a US bombing range for six decades. Tens of thousands of tons of bombs were dropped. Deadly chemical weapons were tested and stored. Toxins polluted the land, air, and sea, including Agent Orange, depleted uranium, and so-called forever chemicals.
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Some Puerto Ricans dismissed the idea that the buildup on what’s often called the US’ “unsinkable aircraft carrier” signaled any sort of resurgence in the colonizers’ presence.
“The idea that the US military is no longer present in Puerto Rico is a myth,” former Puerto Rico Bar Association president Alejandro Torres Rivera told CPI. “They never left, they merely scaled back their presence, or the intensity of it, for a time in their colony.”
Condemning the buildup and the acquiescence of the territorial government in a Newsweek opinion piece last month, US Congresswoman Nydia Velázquez (D-NY)—the first Puerto Rican woman to serve in Congress—wrote: “The potential remilitarization of Puerto Rico is not progress; it is regression. It marks a step backwards in the struggle for Puerto Rico’s sovereignty.”
“To those who celebrate this militarization, or remain complicit, I say: There is no worse bet than one made against your own people, your own land, your own future,” she added. “If only someone would dare to bet on Puerto Ricans, and their right to decide their destiny. After generations of allowing others to exploit Puerto Rico, and abandon it without justice, we have had enough.”
The move to reopen bases extends beyond Puerto Rico, according to “The US military’s plan to revive old bases in Latin America”:
In the near future, U.S. troops could once again be based out of Ecuador after leaving 16 years ago. Ecuador is set to vote this weekend on a constitutional assembly that could allow foreign militaries to operate bases in the country, including the United States.
The Trump administration and Ecuador have been discussing security cooperation in recent months, including the possibility of once again basing American troops in the port city of Manta. Earlier this month, U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem visited the site with Ecuadorian President Daniel Noboa, as well as another military installation, according to Noboa’s office. The Pentagon has not said if it plans to send forces back to the country if allowed, but the referendum could open the door for an American footprint in the country.
Common Dreams reports that the people of Ecuador have soundly rejected their government’s willingness to allow the U.S. to reopen bases there and notes “It is, to date, the Noboa government’s biggest electoral defeat.”
Ecuador’s voters on Sunday delivered a major blow to right-wing President Daniel Noboa by decisively rejecting the proposed return of foreign military bases to the South American country’s soil—including installations run by the United States.
Around two-thirds of voters opposed the measure with most ballots tallied, a result that was widely seen as a surprise. Voters also rejected a separate effort to rewrite the country’s progressive 2008 constitution, which enshrined strong labor and environmental rights.
This news report from German public broadcasting has more details.
“Ecuador voters reject referendum to bring back US bases”
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