Boots on the ground Economic perspective in Venezuela...

 As a preface, all the VZ friends of The Recapitulaltor have applauded the US action.  Again, dear readers, its not like the Monroe Doctrine was not invoked before...by Democratic Presidents...

The Obama Doctrine

So this snippet is a microcosm.  On a more amusing note and as a person living in Minnesota, it does seem a strange confluence of things leading back to here (Walz, fraud, etc.  Cargill is headquartered here)

https://x.com/agrisacademy/status/2008280244105380254

Cargill was/is the leading producer of critical staple ingredients such as flour, pasta, vegetable oil, and rice in VZ. I am not saying I agree with grabbing the dictator, but I did have a front row seat to the damage a kleptocracy did to innocent people.

Capture or Rescue?

 Not to be "too" cynical, but given the ovewhelming success and obvious intelligence "assistance" (read: omnipotence) during the capture and extraction of Maduro, one has to wonder if he reached out to US assets for a "rescue".

It's a low probability, but given the nature of this administration and its proclivity for decisive action and opportunism, one wonders.

Still, the entire exercise serves notice to the world that the margin of military superiority is even further than previously thought.  VZ had fairly modern defense systems that were rendered useless within an hour.  Zero casualties and zero war assets damaged on the US side for an operation that invaded a country with Billions of dollars in military equipment and plucked its sitting president away.  Incredible.

But the fog of war creates its own opportunities, and I am curious to see what else (if ever released) was happening.  If nothing else, Trump is very, very good at simultaneity and I have always been curious if this is planned or simply evolved organically from making decisive moves and reacting/adapting to the outcomes.  Given my belief in public choice theory, I "think" its the latter.