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Hate to be cynical about it, but ... Sorry. That's so 20th century. The USA used to openly meddle there all the time. E.g. Panama wouldn't even exist without o

Hate to be cynical about it, but ... Sorry. That's so 20th century. The USA used to openly meddle there all the time. E.g. Panama wouldn't even exist without our help. Then we decided to be a little more subtle. Well, that didn't work so well. Quite the thing about 30 years ago was Iran-Contra[1], where we were trying to fight the communists in Nicaragua. But I guess that was the wrong kind of help. A real domestic political shitstorm ensued. The crap was all over the airwaves for literally years. And, lo and behold, Daniel Ortega is now back in charge. No matter what the USA could do in Venezuela, there would be plenty of anti-American wailing, gnashing of teeth, and propaganda that would immediately erupt. Domestically, from all the banana republics in Central and South America, and from countless countries all over the world. Not worth it for the USA. Very little upside. And it really, really sucks for all the people who are literally starving in Venezuela right now. And, besides, how are Iraq and Afghanistan working out, lately? Anybody know? There should be some really stable democracies there by now, considering the billions, nay trillions of dollars, we've spent there recently in "nation building". [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iran%E2%80%93Contra_affair https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iran%E2%80%93Contra_affair

geezerjay 10y ago
> There should be some really stable democracies there by now Why would anyone ever assume that? I mean, the country was essentially started from scratch after the 2003 invasion, the constitution of Iraq was ratified in 2005, and 5 years later the coalition forces abandoned Iraq and left the fragile regime to fend off for themselves. This happened in a moment in time when 3 or 4 neighboring regimes were interfering directly in Iraq and the past ruling class, civilian and military, (i.e., the ones who actually had any experience running things) was banned and forced without any option beyond mobilizing for a rebellion. No wonder Iraq succumbed into a civil war a couple of years after the US abandoned it.

geezerjay 10y ago

> There should be some really stable democracies there by now Why would anyone ever assume that? I mean, the country was essentially started from scratch after the 2003 invasion, the constitution of Iraq was ratified in 2005, and 5 years later the coalition forces abandoned Iraq and left the fragile regime to fend off for themselves. This happened in a moment in time when 3 or 4 neighboring regimes were interfering directly in Iraq and the past ruling class, civilian and military, (i.e., the ones who actually had any experience running things) was banned and forced without any option beyond mobilizing for a rebellion. No wonder Iraq succumbed into a civil war a couple of years after the US abandoned it.