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[–] 58 points 10 months ago (3 children)

Does this mean some other country can abduct Trump now?

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  • [–] 53 points 10 months ago (15 children)

    This is so wild, not even for a second could I see this coming.

    So, what's next? They're gonna put him in jail???

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  • [–] 48 points 10 months ago (3 children)

    They had to pardon the other drug snuggling dictator so they had room for the new one.

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  • [–] 11 points 10 months ago (3 children)

    Pretty much. There's a live indictment in New York on drug and weapons charges, from 2020. It's not clear yet if they're going to prosecute that one, or a different one.

    They're going to rely on the Noriega precedent to justify this.

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  • [–] 32 points 10 months ago* (2 children)

    Nicolas Maduro has been charged with Narco-Terrorism Conspiracy, Cocaine Importation Conspiracy, Possession of Machineguns and Destructive Devices, and Conspiracy to Possess Machineguns and Destructive Devices against the United States.

    How can they charge him with weapons possession that happened in a different country? Is the US saying they can just prosecute anyone on the planet for having weapons? I also assume Maduro didn't literally own machineguns and destructive devices, the Venezuelan military does. So does that mean they are prosecuting a head of state for the fact that their army has machineguns and explosives? WTF

    Edit: Would be hilarious if they lose the trial, the current regime doesn't have a great record on prosecuting people.

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  • [–] 1 point 10 months ago*

    So I looked up the weapons possession charge, and it seems like Maduro could be guilty under the statute of her possessed a machinegun (really any full auto firearm) in furtherance of the drug trafficking activity. Even if the weapons were only possessed outside of US jurisdiction.

    Short version: the "possession of weapons charge" is actually for possession while drug trafficking.

    I don't know if they have to prove that Maduro physically handled a weapon or not. But if they do, and they don't have that evidence, he could still be guilty of the subsequent conspiracy charge.

    Edit: For the avoidance if doubt, the drug trafficking is very important to the whole case, because that's what gives the US courts extraterritorial jurisdiction.

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  • [–] 13 points 10 months ago (2 children)

    This is so wild, not even for a second could I see this coming.

    The US fucking about in South America and its political stability? It's been a primary hobby of the US since the beginning. We just got distracted by 9/11 and took a break for a bit.

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  • [–] 27 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago) (2 children)

    U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi said Maduro and his wife have been indicted in the U.S. for “narco-terrorism.”

    I question whether the DoJ even actually got a grand jury to sign off on this.

    Edit: for the record here's the indictment

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  • [–] 24 points 10 months ago

    Damn. That peace prize for next year looking shaky.

    When the opposition person got the peace prize, you knew regime change was coming.

    Looks like Trump was jealous of Israel and Russia land grabbing.

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  • [–] 78 points 10 months ago*

    American Pedophile President Illegally Deposes Venezuelan Leader in Violent Strike to Distract From Epstein File Release

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  • [–] 19 points 10 months ago (3 children)

    This is crazy. Was this war even approved by congress?

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  • [–] 16 points 10 months ago (2 children)

    Has any war been approved since WWII?

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  • [–] 6 points 10 months ago (1 child)

    Yes. It's basically been renamed to "authorization for use of military force" (AUMF).

    e.g.

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Authorization_for_Use_of_Military_Force_of_2001

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  • [–] 17 points 10 months ago (1 child)

    FIFA are going to want their Peace Prize back.

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  • [–] 86 points 10 months ago (10 children)

    All this just to keep Epstein out of the news...

    In all seriousness though, what in the ever-loving fuck

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  • [–] 44 points 10 months ago (8 children)

    Epstein files, yes, but also don't forget the oil.

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  • [–] 15 points 10 months ago (7 children)

    So... Tell me about the oil. I hear the cancellation of green projects and the forced operation of coal plants. But the barrel price is way down. Are they inept at cornering the fossil fuel industry? What's happening?

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  • [–] 20 points 10 months ago (1 child)

    The us refineries in the south only refine tar oil like Venezuela and Canada’s.

    They’re doing this so they don’t have to do massive retrofits. It’s literally corporate interests.

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  • [–] 2 points 10 months ago

    trump said he is going to let big oil companies into Venezuela to rebuild the oil infrastructure.

    Not only is it literally corporate interests, they aren’t even trying to hide that fact.

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  • [–] 7 points 10 months ago (4 children)

    China did really well with renewable, and we didnt. So we double down on oil...

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  • [–] 9 points 10 months ago (3 children)

    But what's the endgame? Dump a lot of oil on the market, crash the price, devastate the US oil industry?

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  • [–] 9 points 10 months ago

    I don't believe these guys have an endgame. They're ignoring the crash and burn as someone else's problem since they're all old as hell, or are sure the money they pilfered will allow them to ride out the wave of devestation.

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  • [–] 34 points 10 months ago (1 child)

    Definitely raped children.

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  • [–] 12 points 10 months ago (1 child)

    What I want to knownis why the wife was also captur3d and now being "charged". Did she have a formal role in the Venezuelan government?

    The fact both are being extradited seems like this was a plan to leave the country possibly negotiated with Trump, that got flipped into an arrest.

    Maybe a double cross.

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  • [–] 23 points 10 months ago

    This is wrong. I don't support this at all. We deserve to be condemned and sanctioned by the international community for this.

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  • [+] 14 points 10 months ago (2 children)
  • [–] 5 points 10 months ago

    The Epstein files are the greatest distraction from Trump literally implementing a fascist regime and invading and annexing other countries.

    Motherfucker could personally execute every single member of congress, the supreme court and the house, and these idiots will still say "muh Epstein files!!!"

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  • [–] 12 points 10 months ago

    americans will invade your country, kidnap your leader, install a puppet dictator, steal your riches, and then call the whole thing a distraction that doesn’t really matter (they didn’t do that when the same guy renovated a house, seemingly the house matters more to them than your country and its people)

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  • [–] 6 points 10 months ago* (2 children)

    International response is so vassal, that it's pathetic. Specially EU.

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  • [–] 2 points 10 months ago (1 child)

    Where I am (Europe), I haven't seen a single article calling this what it clearly is. Maduro is just a captive in every article, never a hostage. But they have no issue calling an Israeli pow a hostage despite him being taken from his damn tank in occupied territory. The west has become a total and very visible clown show, and I don't think changing Trump to the next Obama can do a lot to change that perception internationally. Specially Europe has shown itself to be a particularly pathetic entity with very little independence from 'daddy' Trump.

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  • [–] 1 point 10 months ago

    Absolutely correct. Also claiming that as long as international law and UN charter are observed, everything is fine is disgusting beyond words. The world is facing an era of territory wars once more. Peak irony is Ukraine supporting illegal wars.

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  • [–] 4 points 10 months ago

    Gen-Z will get their illegal occupation to grind them up after all. Warms the cockles of my heart

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  • [–] 10 points 10 months ago (1 child)

    The first Blitzkrieg of the Fourth Reich has begun.

    Are you in the states? You're fucked.

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  • [+] 14 points 10 months ago (2 children)
  • [–] 2 points 10 months ago (1 child)

    I feel like this has been done on purpose to start a migration wave that peaks during the next presidential election. They know the mids are lost so why not gin up a future boogeyman.

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  • [+] -21 points 10 months ago (1 child)
  • 32 comments in c/politics@lemmy.world view that post
    [–] 51 points 10 months ago (4 children)

    Yo we are capturing world leaders now?

    Can someone please reciprocate?

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  • [–] 7 points 10 months ago (3 children)

    He's your problem, don't try to get someone else to take him

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  • [–] 6 points 10 months ago (2 children)

    This sounds like something you tell your sister a couple days before her husband beats her and your niblings to death.

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  • [–] 51 points 10 months ago

    We all watch, shocked. This is wrong for so many reasons.

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  • [–] 22 points 10 months ago (1 child)

    Guys, I think we all need to be worried about an invasion of Greenland and fucking Canada actually happening..

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  • [+] 21 points 10 months ago (7 children)
  • [–] 37 points 10 months ago* (3 children)

    The anti-war FIFA peace prize winner just started a war to liberate Venezuela from imaginary drug lords, whose imaginary drug traffickers were systematically murdered as a pretense, for what is actually a ploy to avoid having to negotiate a deal with China for rare earth minerals because they're too expensive now thanks to tarrifs he imposed.

    I don't think this is real life anymore. It's more absurd than any media storyline I'm aware of outside of drug trip movies.

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  • [–] 10 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago) (2 children)

    Is this not about oil?

    https://archive.is/UGEmT

    It just feels like doublespeak to me

    "The Maduros have been charged with conspiracy to commit narco-terrorism, cocaine importation conspiracy, possession of weapons and destructive devices, and conspiracy to possess machineguns and destructive devices against the U.S., according to Bondi’s post."

    But then...

    "Venezuelan state-run energy company PDVSA’s oil production and refining were normal, and its key facilities had suffered no damage, according to an initial assessment, two sources with knowledge of the company’s operations told Reuters.

    The port of La Guaira near Caracas, one of the country’s largest but is not used for oil operations, was reported to have suffered severe damage, Reuters reported.

    Trump has repeatedly threatened action against Maduro. On Dec. 23, 2025, he said it would be “smart” for Maduro to leave power.

    Trump last month announced a blockade of sanctioned oil tankers moving in and out of Venezuelan waters, saying the country was “completely surrounded by the largest Armada ever assembled in the History of South America."

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  • [–] 4 points 10 months ago (1 child)

    It's about oil, but it's about so much more than oil. (Let's not forget ExxonMobil's history in Venezuela involves deep roots from Standard Oil (1920s) to its 2007 expropriation by Hugo Chávez, sparking a lengthy international legal battle over compensation for seized heavy oil assets, culminating in arbitration awards (around $1.6 billion) that Venezuela initially resisted paying but eventually settled partly, though the long-term deal structure remained complex amidst political shifts and declining production.

    Lots of trading for oil is done with US currency. This increases the demand for US currency and inflates it. Other countries are getting tired of America's bullshit and switching to the petroyuan, which is form of the official Chinese currency, the yuan intended at least initially for oil trading. One of the reasons the petroyuan was created was that Russia, Venezuela and Iran may be able to avoid the United States' sanctions, so nations such as Saudi Arabia, one of the main oil producers and extractors could avoid dollar hegemony and U.S. pressure. If enough countries switch to the petroyuan it will fuck the economy and the US dollar the way trump rapes little girls.

    What we are seeing here directly mirrors what happened in Iran in the 1950's through 1980's. The Anglo-Iranian Oil Company (AIOC) (now known as BP) played a central role in the events leading to the 1953 coup d'état that deposed Iran's democratically elected Prime Minister, Mohammad Mosaddegh. Mosaddegh's push to nationalize Iran's oil industry, previously controlled by the British-owned AIOC, directly motivated the British and American governments to orchestrate his overthrow (known as Operation Ajax or Operation Boot).

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  • [–] 32 points 10 months ago

    Anything to deflect from the Epstein files.

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  • [–] 14 points 10 months ago
    [–] 13 points 10 months ago (5 children)

    I've asked the same question in another thread, but was this war approved by congress? Isn't this illegal? 

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  • [–] 34 points 10 months ago (4 children)

    Congress functionally ceded it's war authority with the war powers act after 9/11. Anything that can be tagged as 'terrorism' lets the president act unilaterally. If I'm not mistaken though we haven't had a proper declared war since WW2.

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  • [–] 22 points 10 months ago (1 child)

    This. There's a reason they've suddenly coined and repeatedly abused the term "narco-terrorist" because they get a free pass with no oversight.

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  • [–] 4 points 10 months ago (5 children)

    I found some good background info on this "stolen oil" situation at snopes of all places.

    https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/trump-venezuela-us-oil/

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  • [–] 2 points 10 months ago (4 children)

    It was easier for me to do this:

    https://archive.is/UGEmT

    Than to log into my firewall and disable ad blocking.

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  • [–] 0 points 10 months ago (3 children)

    ok.... thanks for letting me know. It was easier for me to just read the text of the article. I didn't even pay attention to the ads because I was trying to read the information on the website.

    Do you not feel that snopes should be supported financially for this type of journalism?

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  • [–] 1 point 10 months ago (2 children)

    I'm not getting into the ins and outs of ad support models, laziness prevails.

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  • [–] 3 points 10 months ago

    Cool that Maduro is out of power.

    Less cool that we've set a precedent for using the military to abduct world leaders.

    Very uncool that some Republican sycophant is going to be military governor of Venezuela.

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  • [–] 2 points 10 months ago

    Are the people who didn't vote happy now?

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  • [–] 1 point 10 months ago

    Maduro just fled to the US, and all Trump had to say is "yep, we've got him". Venezuela is gonna fight back, aren't they?

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  • 3 comments in c/economy@lemmy.world view that post
    [–] 6 points 10 months ago

    What in the actual fuck...?

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  • [–] 6 points 10 months ago

    "Rules based order"

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  • [–] 2 points 10 months ago

    All to distract from the Epstein files. Add this to the Epstein files I guess

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