by liberal japonicus
I read the news today, oh boy…
We are left with Kremlinology, but I assume this indicates the ascendance of the Rubio/Vance faction, though I don’t think there are any people who might have suggested restraint.
"This is the Voice of Moderation. I wouldn't go so far as to say we've actually SEIZED the radio station . . . "
It’s becoming clear through statements by Rubio and Miller, that the goal is hemispheric dominance by the US for the sake of dominance. Of course, there’s no commitment to freedom or elected government–they oppose that here and they sure don’t support it elsewhere. Trump, in rare bursts of honesty, has stated his motive: he sees money for himself. He has been planning for a while now to broker a deal with oil companies to give them access to Venezuela’s oil and he will want a percentage for himself beyond the money already paid to his election campaign.
Somehow I’m in the spam bucket after a comment with no links or anything else I can imagine would flag it.
Freed it. Spam filters are the magic sauce in commercial blogging software. Good ones make sites usable. The companies don’t reveal how it works, so there’s no reliable way to warn people about what not to do. That’s actually understandable: if the spam-detection algorithms were revealed, the spammers would be working even harder to find ways to defeat them.
It’s becoming clear through statements by Rubio and Miller, that the goal is hemispheric dominance by the US for the sake of dominance.
I’ve been saying since about February that the actions of the administration make some sort of weird sense if you assume the goal is Donald, First of His Name, Emperor of the Americas. There are lots of parallels to historical empires. Vassal states are to produce raw materials and consume manufactured goods. Citizens of the vassal states don’t easily acquire citizenship in the dominant country.
Perhaps not all of the Americas, though. Like the historical Monroe Doctrine, Trump’s version is very heavily Atlantic- and Caribbean-centric. There is an interesting test case: a shiny new deep-water port built by China opened in Chancay, Peru late in 2024. Bolivia has already signed a deal to increase their lithium production and ship it to China through that port. Estimates are that very soon there will be a million shipping containers per year of consumer goods shipped directly to South America through Chancay. There also appear to be lots of EVs going there as well in big roll-on/roll-off ships.
Fake headline from social media:
Maduro says he’s in the country illegally, asks ICE to deport him.
Kinda appalling that, if he did, it might even work. (Although being deported to South Sudan would be only a small improvement for him.)
bc, I’m glad your reasoning has more to do with conditions in Venezuela than with your trust in the current administration.
I’m hoping bc will tell us what her reasoning is (or will be) about the menacing of Greenland (or its takeover), given her extraordinary comments about the US occupation in WW2, bearing in mind for example that Greenland has been Danish longer than the United States has existed. Not to mention that 85% of the Greenland population (which is 56,000) have rejected the suggestion that they should be part of the USA. And an opinion about the comments by Steven Miller about this issue would also be welcome.
There’s also this.
https://thehardtimes.net/breaking/ice-accidentally-sends-maduro-back-to-venezuela/
Michael, my comment is still missing, which is weird. It’s not that big a deal if it never shows up. Thanks for trying?
Now I can see it, but it still has “awaiting approval” or whatever the exact wording is.
And an opinion about the comments by Steven Miller about this issue would also be welcome.
J. K. Rowling hasn’t yet admitted that Miller is the template for her Lord Voldemort character.
The memes are on the Maduro-asks-to-be-self-deported schtick:
Trump wants four things:
Controlling Venezuela is aimed at making money – he hopes to be paid to bestow oil rights. Kidnapping Maduro is to encourage foreign presidents to toady to him and to bribe him.
Greenland is a greatness project – he wants his legacy to include expanding the territory of the United States
In reality, Venezuela doesn’t traffic significant amounts of illegal drugs to the USA – look at the map. The US doesn’t need to own Greenland to meet its security needs: Denmark has always co-operated with the US. But facts about his purported justifications are irrelevant to him, because those justifications are not his real reasons.
Oh my God, you think nothing this administration does can still shock you, and then you see this in today’s NYT:
On the fifth anniversary of the pro-Trump mob attack on the Capitol, the Trump administration created a new page on the official White House website that represented the president’s most brazen bid yet to rewrite the history of the Jan. 6 riot with false claims aimed at absolving him of responsibility.
The site blames Capitol Police officers, who defended lawmakers that day, for starting the assault; Democrats, who were the rioters’ main targets, for failing to prevent it; and former Vice President Mike Pence, who rejected falsehoods about the 2020 election, for allowing the results to be certified.
The memes are on the Maduro…
The EU is upset because the water bottle Maduro is holding doesn’t have an attached cap.
Further to our earlier discussion about Fiona Hill’s testimony, this is from a new piece by Anne Applebaum in the Atlantic yesterday headlined “Trump’s ‘American Dominance’ May Leave us with Nothing”. Gift link to the whole article follows.
Back in 2019, Fiona Hill, a National Security Council official in the first Trump administration, testified to a House committee that Russians pushing the creation of spheres of influence had been offering to somehow “swap” Venezuela, their closest ally in Latin America, for Ukraine. Since then, the notion that international relations should promote great-power dominance, not universal values or networks of allies, has spread from Moscow to Washington. The administration’s new National Security Strategy outlines a plan to dominate the Americas, enigmatically describing U.S. policy in the Western Hemisphere as “Enlist and Expand,” and downplaying threats from China and Russia. Trump has also issued threats to Denmark, Panama, and Canada, all allies whose sovereignty we now challenge.
https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2026/01/trumps-american-dominance-may-leave-us-with-nothing/685503/?gift=cx0iluuWx4Cg7JjlT8ugCchlIvK22pg7_84-w9eIkzs&utm_source=copy-link&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=share
Now I can see it, but it still has “awaiting approval” or whatever the exact wording is.
I didn’t notice that unspamming it left it waiting for approval, rather than just releasing it completely.
No worries, MC. I appreciate the assistance.
bc, just a short note to thank you for answering. I’m getting most of my information from podcasts as opposed to written pieces, (which I think is a bad thing for everyone, it’s difficult to nail down particular points), and most of them are talking about the precedent of Panama and Noriega, but the information is so scattered that, coupled with the inability to accept anything that comes out of admin mouths as being true or not makes it difficult to follow, which makes me think parsing all this is baasically a fool’s errand.
Pro Bono:
Trump wants four things:
That’s a perfect diagnosis of He, Trump. What I’d like to hear in addition is a diagnosis of those Americans who suffer from Trump Worship Syndrome.
For all I know, TWS sufferers may not actually disagree with Pro Bono’s list. They might merely not care about it because they have a list of things that their Orange Jesus is doing for them. It would be interesting to know what’s on that list.
Alternatively, TWS sufferers might in fact dispute Pro Bono’s diagnosis. It would be fun to hear one of them do so, if we had one commenting here.
–TP
Regarding ” narcoterrorism”, apart from the obvious Netflix reference (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Narcos), I always feel that these compound words are coined because they roll of the tongue so easily and thus become popular.
Other examples are:
Islamo-fascism
Islamo-gauchisme
And I am happy to announce that I will be continuing my habit of posting comments which contain no less than one grammar, spelling, orthography or stylistic mistake in the new year …
I just watched a video of an ICE agent shooting dead a woman in her car, in Minnesota.
Then I read a statement about the shooting from President Trump, who claims that he’s watched the video and it shows that she “violently, willfully, and viciously ran over the ICE Officer who seems to have shot her in self defense”.
The video is readily available online. It clearly shows that the Officer was in no danger of being hit by her slow-moving vehicle. He fires three shots, one of them through the very corner of her windscreen – the bullet-hole is on video – the others through the side window, which appears to have been open.
Who are the Rs going to believe? Their president, or their eyes?
Their president of course. Eyes give fake news.
It seems that what used to be disqualifications are now job requirements for federal agents.
“Video of the shooting, obtained by the Minnesota Reformer, shows a SUV stopped at an angle in the street as a pickup truck with emergency lights on approaches and stops in front of it. Masked ICE agents exited the truck and immediately ordered the woman to get out. As the officers started to pull on the door handles of the SUV, the woman backed the SUV up and then started to pull away, forcing an ICE officer who had stepped in front of the driver-side bumper out of the way. The officer drew his gun and fired three shots in quick succession into the car. The SUV continued down the street a short distance before crashing.”
ICE Shoots and Kills Woman in Minneapolis: Video shows ICE officers were trying to pull the woman out of her car when she started to drive away, leading an officer to fire three shots through her window.
ICE “agents” are all thugs. Their MAGAt apologists are all scumbags. That is all.
–TP
I have some sympathy for the folks who, a year ago, were just doing their routine jobs as customs inspectors. And now are tarred by association with the horrific thugs Trump, Noem, and Miller have recruited and unleashed.
tarred by association with the horrific thugs Trump, Noem, and Miller have recruited and unleashed
russell upthread is right. These people are a cancer on the nation.
He shot her for trying to leave – for being disobedient. The bar for deadly force is almost on the ground.
Speaking of “f**ked up”, the US has withdrawn from the UNFCCC
https://edition.cnn.com/2026/01/07/climate/trump-withdrawal-climate-treaty-international-agreements
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/jan/07/trump-international-groups-un
https://www.un.org/climatesecuritymechanism/en/united-nations-framework-convention-climate-change-unfccc-and-climate-peace-and-security
lj: most of them are talking about the precedent of Panama and Noriega . . .
If memory serves, Noriega tried every argument that Maduro might try and failed as far as the extradition is concerned in his criminal case. Things don’t look great for him from a criminal law perspective. Of course separation of powers, international law and foreign policy concerns are another matter.
I’m hoping bc will tell us what her reasoning is (or will be) about the menacing of Greenland (or its takeover), given her extraordinary comments about the US occupation in WW2, bearing in mind for example that Greenland has been Danish longer than the United States has existed.
Well, I’m a guy, but thanks for not assuming. And while I am reluctant to respond to what appears to be another litmus test of some sort, I’ll bite.
I think the comments by both Trump and Miller are stupid, disrespectful and unnecessary. It threatens NATO. Prodding NATO members to pay their fair share is one thing. This is entirely another. Or is it?
Maybe it’s prodding to wake Denmark and the EU up. There is a geopolitical reality that Denmark’s comments seem to indicate it isn’t really grasping the threat, IMO. I hear about Greenlander self-determination but precious little about the strategic threat posed by the Russians and Chinese and what I understand is an inadequate response by Greenland specifically and Denmark and the EU in general. As I understand it, Greenland’s autonomy has led to more Chinese involvement than the US wants (and in fairness, Denmark seems to be concerned too). China is claiming to be a “near arctic state” and is expanding its influence in places like Greenland (and the waters off of Alaska). The Chinese want access to the rare earth minerals in Greenland and access to shipping lanes and have signaled they want more. Trump has made it clear that Greenland’s location and rare earths are a national security concern. Because of the strategic importance and threat to the US, the US is right to be very concerned about any Chinese or Russian presence in or near Greenland.
I don’t see my comments about WWII and Greenland as extraordinary. The question was whether the GRU letter prompted Trump’s comments on Greenland. I wasn’t using WWII as an excuse to annex Greenland.
That being said, when I hear “Danish longer than the United States has existed,” that was true at the time of WWII and the geopolitical reality required its occupation militarily. Could that be the case in the future? It doesn’t need to be if the situation could be dealt with by agreement now. And maybe it has been to a large extent in terms of US military access? Denmark signed an agreement last July that had been sitting on its desk since 2023 (drafted under Biden). Why did it take so long? Why is that not enough? Agreement here:
https://www.fmn.dk/globalassets/fmn/dokumenter/nyheder/2023/-us-denmark-dca-den-prime-english-20dec2023-.pdf
Interesting discussion about the agreement here (“we had to do it” vs. “But Trump!!”):
https://www.dw.com/en/denmark-finalizes-us-defense-deal-despite-greenland-gripes/a-73210846
Before, the US had to coordinate and it appears Denmark may not have been all that nimble in responding. But maybe this is entirely about giving China access and threatening security and not taking the threat (and the Russians in the Arctic) seriously. If you think the belts and roads initiative is entirely benign, well, I don’t. And the Chinese have tried in Greenland (airport and harbor).
Yes, Denmark’s claim to Greenland deserves respect. So does the fact that the US tends to pay the bill when things get really tough. Denmark has historically been way behind on NATO commitments. Trump is right to push NATO countries into their fair share (Canada, that means you). You would think Russian aggression would prompt more concern about Greenland. And maybe, just maybe, all this rhetoric is meant to get Denmark and the EU to care enough to do something about it. It seems to be working. Interesting article here from an EU perspective that covers what EU should do (and I largely agree with the suggestions).
https://www.epc.eu/publication/its-a-bargain-the-case-of-greenland/
bc, which of the concerns you list justify seizing Greenland by fiat?
The comments by Trump, Miller, et al are far beyond stupid and unnecessary. They are threats.
The people in Greenland, by an overwhelming majority, don’t want to be part of the US. That should be the end of the discussion.
russell: I did not say they did. I specifically support moves by the EU and Denmark to take global security vis-a-vis Greenland seriously that take any sort of unilateral action off the table.