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I think it's one of the most incompetent moves by this administration yet. You have eyes on a suspected drug smuggling boat. No direct confirmation, and instead
by daveguy 1y ago
I think it's one of the most incompetent moves by this administration yet. You have eyes on a suspected drug smuggling boat. No direct confirmation, and instead of tracking the boat (which they can clearly do) to intercept and apprehend the crew picking up the payload (or at least identify the destination) -- they just blow it up. Like a child knocking down blocks. Hard to tell if it's incompetence or protection of recipients in the US. But what better way to signal to smugglers that you have the means and methods to detect and intercept while also protecting the recipients?
- lazide 1y agoOne thing is for sure, don’t be taking your speedboat out for a joyride anytime soon in the Caribbean.
- crooked-v 1y agoThe cruelty is the point.
- daveguy 1y agoPersonally I think incompetence and a malicious push toward authoritarianism is the point. But yeah, they do love that cruelty.
- PleasureBot 1y agoAn integral part of authoritarianism is cruelty. How else can you assert that you have unalienable authority over a group of people? If compliance with authority is easy and painless, you don't really know if people are just acquiescing but silently resisting or not resisting yet but could if they wanted to. By enacting cruelty on others you put them in a position where they absolutely would resist if they could, and thus you demonstrate to the world that people cannot resist your authority.
- nomel 1y ago> intercept and apprehend the crew picking up the payload The military stepping foot on the land to do this would be not taken well. They have no authority to invade or intervene, and shots would certainly be fired in the wrong direction. And, the local government has no authority to intervene, at the pickup point, as they're controlled by the cartels. The wider government has no interest in intervening, since it's too profitable. The alternative is precisely nothing happening, which is the goal, with previously profound success, for the cartels. It's all bad.
- daveguy 1y agoThe boat was presumably smuggling drugs from Venezuela. They destroyed the boat soon after departure off the coast of Venezuela. Not only did they not have authority to destroy the boat (due process, no declared war -- see GP for typical SOP), they apparently didn't even bother to find out the destination. Trump and his entire administration are fools. You know it, and I know it. And everyone else knows it.
- foogazi 1y ago> The alternative is False dichotomy
- nomel 1y agoThe US has no authority for any operations there, and no way to pressure the governments (what are we going to do, put a tariff on drugs?!). The local government is run by the cartels, and the larger government actively supports them. HOW is that a false dichotomy, when this IS the normal state? Please be specific, and describe your point of view.
- foogazi 1y agoYour comment presented the options as killing people at sea or doing nothing, when there are a range of more effective and lawful options 1. Negotiate with Venezuela to reduce drug exports 2. Increase drug interdiction efforts with other Caribbean nations 3. Prosecute the sale and distribution of illegal drugs in the US 4. Invest in treatment & rehab options for drug addiction in the US All of those take time and don’t show up on TV but are effective options
- PKop 1y ago[flagged]
- jaybrendansmith 1y agoThe point of due process is to ensure that INNOCENT people are not killed. What if they got the wrong boat? What if that boat was filled with women and children? Everyone is on board with killing murderous thugs, that's not the point of the article. That could have been a fishing charter going to deep water. No nobody knows. Due process protects us all.