Mirror: https://archive.ph/oFiQ4

At least Trump made it all clear and simple: "I'll kill, bomb or kidnap your a__ because I can". No more "freedom $ democracy" BS before robbing someone

This operation was a huge mistake. All Trump did was capture Maduro, Maduro’s government remains intact. There’s no US-installed interim government because Trump thinks he can rely solely on threat of force to control Venezuela without putting Americans in the country.

https://www.axios.com/2026/01/03/trump-maduro-venezuela-delc...

> He added that Rodríguez had talked to Secretary of State Marco Rubio and the vice president stated Venezuela would "do whatever" the U.S. needed, and that no U.S. troops would be on the ground "if the vice president does what we want."

Of course, Venezuela's not going to take this lying down and will most likely look for outside aid. Meanwhile Mexico, Brazil, Colombia, and other latam countries are pissed off now too.

Trump just drove all of Latin America into the arms of China and Russia.

"Trump's snatching of Maduro shows a new level of unrestrained global power": https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46476061

Doesn’t polarization imply a roughly even split? I only see Ukraine supporting the move.

On the one hand it’s a disturbing precedent, on the other hand it’s better than an all-out war. Maybe this will usher in a new era of leaders taking direct personal shots at each-other. Better than armies of innocent young men killing each other when leaders disagree.