4 ms·

> What's really crazy (even by today's US standards) is how Trump and his clique speak as if he annexed Venezuela and he can do whatever he wants. Setting asid

> What's really crazy (even by today's US standards) is how Trump and his clique speak as if he annexed Venezuela and he can do whatever he wants. Setting aside what this does to the image of the US, this also just isn't grounded in reality. The US conducted a singular operation with a narrowly defined goal of extracting their president and his wife. They then declared that they were putting the Venuzuellan vice president in charge. I don't know what happened behind the scenes, but that looks a lot more like them getting behind a winner instead of dictating it. Sure, the military operation was a tactical success; and will probably make Venuzuella more subservient in the near term. But I see no evidence we have done anything close to annexing them.

skeledrew 9mo ago
The US is literally dictating that certain things must happen as they prefer in Venezuela, or else. Venezuela has no agency as a sovereign nation as long as this is the case, ie. they've been annexed.
- Freedom2 9mo ago
  Annexation usually refers to the US officially claiming legal and territorial sovereignty over another country. I think the terms client state or satellite state more accurately reflect the situation. Hope that helps!
  - skeledrew 9mo ago
    Not "client" as that sounds as though Venezuela asked the US to help them with something. I guess "satellite" works, and even so I'd still say they were annexed into that status.
    - amy_petrik 9mo ago
      No, it's simple. If you get a passport in "annexed" Venezuela, it would be a US passport. It would be a US territory similar to Puerto Rico which is part of the US. Passport is just an example but a good barometer. This implies in the federation of international states, Venezuala is an "independent" party, put recognized. Puerto Rico then by comparison has no such independence, this is all handled by the Federal government. It's also fair to say that this is nothing new. US has a long history of messing about with the affairs of central and south american states. Which - fairly - has lead to the US paying the price by said states collapsing and then having the US absorbing tens of millions of individuals claiming asylum

skeledrew 9mo ago

The US is literally dictating that certain things must happen as they prefer in Venezuela, or else. Venezuela has no agency as a sovereign nation as long as this is the case, ie. they've been annexed.

Freedom2 9mo ago
Annexation usually refers to the US officially claiming legal and territorial sovereignty over another country. I think the terms client state or satellite state more accurately reflect the situation. Hope that helps!
- skeledrew 9mo ago
  Not "client" as that sounds as though Venezuela asked the US to help them with something. I guess "satellite" works, and even so I'd still say they were annexed into that status.
  - amy_petrik 9mo ago
    No, it's simple. If you get a passport in "annexed" Venezuela, it would be a US passport. It would be a US territory similar to Puerto Rico which is part of the US. Passport is just an example but a good barometer. This implies in the federation of international states, Venezuala is an "independent" party, put recognized. Puerto Rico then by comparison has no such independence, this is all handled by the Federal government. It's also fair to say that this is nothing new. US has a long history of messing about with the affairs of central and south american states. Which - fairly - has lead to the US paying the price by said states collapsing and then having the US absorbing tens of millions of individuals claiming asylum