The US plans and executes a daring raid in Venezuela.
Yes, in a strategic masterstroke, the USA snatched the President of Venezuela from his own capital, so that they could appoint his deputy as President. No, really, they did. Huge props to the US military for a great execution of the plan.
Why?
No idea. Sorry- that’s not me, that’s the US administration. Of all the troubles in the world, apparently, Venezuela finding itself on top of a huge puddle of oil is the most important. That’s what the White House wants to risk the lives of some of the finest fighting men in the world for.
Having made himself look even more like a petulant toddler, the orange one then accepted the Nobel peace medal from the person who had been awarded it. With a straight face. He’s framed it and put it up with his golf course record certificates from around the world.
What’s next?
GREENLAND! I WANT IT!
Oh, for heaven’s sake. What for?
RARE MINERAL OIL METALS STUFF!
Sorry? What?
CHINA, RUSSIA BAD!
A couple of salient points.
One, the Danes (Greenlanders) have reached out to US mineral exploration companies, offering them the rights to extract to their hearts content. Every single one of these companies is um...washing its hair. (It’s the same story with oil companies in Venezuela.)
Two. The US of A already has the right to (through treaty) station as many soldiers as it wants on Greenland. It used to have up to ten thousand people based there - but has reduced its presence to a couple of hundred, and a dog called Frosty.
Trump is months from irrelevance. Everyone knows that. MAGA adherents are jockeying for position, and the Democrats are employing their own version of the “Ming Vase Strategy” - which is essentially to say or do nothing that might make them look any worse than the orange idiot.
Oil companies aren’t going to put any money into Venezuela for the simple reason that they don’t want to lose it (again). Likewise with setting up mining in the world’s biggest deep freeze. Nobody in the US military seriously believes that either China or Russia is going to storm Greenland imminently - and frankly, floating about in the Caribbean is much more fun.
Is the danger of Trump receding? Not entirely. He is desperate to keep stalling the Epstein stuff, to keep the grifts going for “the family” and to cement “his legacy”. He will keep pulling stunts. There’s a danger he will get more and more desperate. Heaven knows what he’s got planned.
Meanwhile, back in the real world, Putin needs putting in his box. Zelensky et al will do it, we just need to give him the tools to do so. That remains complicated and challenging. Will Europe (Yes, including the UK) have the gumption to get the job done? By no means a certainty.
Reading
I finished Dale Carnegie’s, “How to Win Friends and Influence People”. We’re all sales people, and this is THE manual. I prefer the first half to the second, and this book is one of the true evergreens of sales.
Next up was "The Psychology of Money". Well written and informative. If, like me, you avoid thinking about saving, spending and planning for the future, you should read this book. I’m currently battling through Nietzsche , which is pretty dense stuff. For light relief, I have "The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People" by Stephen Covey.
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