There are several reasons why the US decided to bomb Venezuela and kidnap the Maduros, but the most obvious one is that Trump needed a distraction from the Epstein files. Evidence in those files indicates Trump might have murdered one of the girls he raped, and committed many other heinous crimes. Another girl says Trump watched as her baby was murdered on a yacht and thrown overboard. This is what we’ve been able to glean from heavily redacted files, only a tiny portion of what have been released. Just imagine what the unredacted files would reveal if they were published in full.
Now you might think it doesn’t matter because nothing will happen to Trump anyway, but I disagree. I think the contents of those files are so heinous that even Trump could not recover. He is a desperate man flailing at everything in sight. Expect him to annex Greenland. Expect him to go after Cuba and Iran. Expect him to drag the world’s powers into a global conflict without any thought for the consequences.
It is not hyperbole to say that whoever leaks the unredacted Epstein files in full might just save the entire world. Those files might be the only thing that can save us. Our only other weapon is to stand in solidarity and raise our collective voices.
When I was younger, we would say we blame the politicians for their illegal wars, but we always support the troops. We do not play that game any more. Invading another country is the ultimate crime under international law. Every troop taking part in these operations is a war criminal who belongs behind bars. We must give the fascists nowhere to hide.
Aside from anything else, are they not fucking embarrassed? They must surely know they are going to war to protect a paedophile and his friends from accountability. Several US troops were injured in the abduction of the Maduros. If any are killed, I will feel no more sympathy than I would for a Nazi. Personally, I can’t think of anything more humiliating than dying for a paedophile ring. The US army is now officially the Paedophile Army™.
This conflict is not only about paedophilia, of course. By now, you are surely aware Venezuela has the world’s largest proven oil reserves, but it’s bigger than that. Venezuela is one of only three countries that produce heavy crude oil—the most important kind—in major quantities. The other two countries that produce heavy crude oil are Canada and Russia.
Most US oil refineries are designed to process heavy crude oil, and if they can’t get any, they will have to shut down. You might therefore think war is a necessity for the US oil industry, but that’s not true because Venezuela was willing to do a deal. Trump rejected the deal, presumably because he doesn’t fancy paying anything close to market value. When you factor in Venezuela has large reserves of gold, it becomes abundantly clear what is going on.
While we are told this is about narco-trafficking, Trump and his allies could not help talking about oil—and as Maduro points out, why would a leader with huge quantities of gold and oil need to sell drugs? It makes zero sense.
Trump’s team is realising the narrative is falling apart so they are frantically scrambling for a legal justification. They are now trying to claim that US adversaries planned to use Venezuela as a launchpad to attack the US. It’s so laughable, it deserves nothing but contempt. Why would a country that is not capable of protecting its own president from abduction start an unwinnable war with the US? I mean come on…
Maduro has been indicted in New York on ludicrous charges of drug trafficking and arms possession. Given the CIA smuggles drugs into the US and arms into Venezuela, the hypocrisy is off the charts. It makes me wonder what is coming next. Is the US really going to conduct a show trial and fake some evidence?
Surely, the optics would be better if they sent Maduro to Venezuela to stand trial, once they have installed their puppet, but I doubt they’re thinking ahead. Expect a court case where the evidence is even more ludicrous than in the Tyler Robinson case. It’s matter of time until they tell us Maduro is a furry with a transgender boyfriend who engraved “I h8 Trump” on his bullets.
Disturbingly, Trump is saying the US will run Venezuela and US companies will get the oil. At this point, I wouldn’t be surprised if he pays Venezuela nothing and calls the oil “payment for liberation”. This is just naked imperialism. Thinking it is about drug trafficking is like thinking Trump redacted the Epstein files to protect the victims. If you genuinely believe either of these things, please seek help.
Trump cares so much about Venezuelans that he is prepared to blow them to pieces if they don’t obey him. He has stated he will continue to bomb “Maduro loyalists”, but given that Maduro has armed the civilian population, that is an awful lot of people he is going to bomb. If Trump puts boots on the ground as he has indicated, he could end up creating another Vietnam. That means an awful lot of soldiers in the Paedophile Army™ are going to die.
It will be interesting to see how the world reacts. Are we going to see the US kicked out of sporting competitions like Russia, or does it not work like that? Are we going to see the UN take meaningful action? Are we going to see the ICC issue arrest warrants? I actually think the latter is most likely because the ICC has already done the unthinkable by issuing arrest warrants for Netanyahu and Gallant. If nothing else, it will be interesting to see how other world leaders like Starmer and Macron squirm.
One positive from this never-ending nightmare is that Trump is losing the crowd. Nick Fuentes (an American weirdo who is mysteriously popular) was initially supportive of the Maduro abduction, but has come out against further military action. The America first crowd seem furious at yet another imperial war. When I was younger, US conservatives were as pro-war as it gets so times are changing.
One thing that has surprised me is that some pro-establishment liberals have been pretty good on this. You know the ones I’m talking about—the types who call themselves left wing, but only in a sensible way. Who oppose every war apart from the current one. Who you would expect to say something like “I don’t like what is happening, but Maduro was a tyrant, blah, blah, blah.”
While some journalists are engaging in that sort of talk, I’ve noticed at least some aren’t doing that any more. Perhaps they’ve realised this talk broadens consent by making the public think war was probably worthwhile on balance. They did this recently with Syria, but it seems Venezuela is a step too far for them. I never thought I’d see the day…
In the UK, I’ve seen some centrists come down hard on Trump, unequivocally condemning the invasion when previously they would have said “he is finally looking presidential” for starting a war.
I saw one corporate journalist talking like a full on anti-imperialist revolutionary. This is where Trump is doing us a huge favour—he is making anti-imperialism mainstream. He is making it cool, just like Netanyahu is making anti-Zionism cool. In that respect, his madness is backfiring.
I need people to understand Trump’s imperialism is nothing new, it’s just that he is much worse at the optics than his predecessors. Some politicians do imperialism in a respectable way, Trump is not capable of that, and the people who base their politics on presentation are unimpressed. Whether they start realising anti-imperialists have been right all along is another matter. We shall see…
The mainstream media has been a mixed bag with the BBC adopting Trump’s language and interviewing Maduro critics to give the impression the invasion might have been legitimate. I saw Sky News do the same, but then they showed a good video on Venezuelan oil, explaining one of Trump’s real motivations for war. The US media, from what I’ve seen, has been a joke, but I haven’t paid much attention because I’d probably lose my mind.
Sir Keir Starmer seems to be malfunctioning while he awaits the results from his focus group to see how he should respond. Just look at the pathetic statement he made yesterday. In what universe is war a “safe and peaceful transition”?
Don’t do what Starmer is doing here. You might think you’re well-meaning, but the moment you start a sentence with “Maduro was a tyrant” or words to that effect, you are manufacturing consent. Even if you are opposed to this invasion, you are creating ambiguity where there is none. This is not a conversation on Maduro, it’s a conversation on sovereignty and international law. The rest is an internal Venezuelan matter.
I can’t see any universe in which Starmer condemns Trump, the best we can expect is some mild disapproval. Here is one massive problem for Starmer: arms licences. He had to suspend some arms licences to Israel due to the Gaza genocide, but he left most in place. He squirmed his way out of the others, but he is now going to face huge pressure because he is arming not one but two countries committing the ultimate crime.
If there is a glimmer of hope here it’s that things could get so messy that the US is forced to back down. In the early 2002, the CIA abducted Hugo Chavez and had to sheepishly return him after huge protests erupted in Venezuela.
Perhaps Trump could find an offramp where he gets some concessions from Maduro and in return, sends him home. You might think that sounds unlikely, but it has happened before. And remember, Trump recently pardoned the former president of Honduras for drug trafficking.
Of course, Trump will only seek an offramp if the pressure becomes unbearable and this is where we all have a role to play. I need everyone to understand what is happening here. Ultimately, we are seeing the Henry Kissinger mindset in action. This was a mindset that led to the genocide of communists, socialists, social democrats, and trade unionists across Asia and Latin America. If you’re one of those well-meaning people who look at Trump and say “this is not what America is about”, I am begging you to read a book.
Venezuela is about to become another country in a long line of “socialism doesn’t work” because the US won’t let it work. I must emphasise the main reason the US keeps going after socialist countries is not oil or natural resources or arms contracts, it’s that they don’t want you to think a better world is possible. A better world is only possible if you’re prepare to fight for it…
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This could be setting a precedent-let’s go and ‘capture’ Mr and Mrs Netanyahu.
Great reporting Ricky.
Well done. Stay safe and keep it up
x Steve