A better question might be "What are they not lying about?"
This old fart has developed terminal skepticism. That is to say, I don't believe what most people say.
Dr. Gregory House (from the TV series House) used to say, "Everybody lies." And I think that bit of wisdom is in keeping with what the Bible teaches supported by 6000 years of human history.
Tribal warfare on a global scale produces more fiction than all Stephen King novels combined.
Wrong, as usual. The first indictment was created by Trump’s first DOJ in 2020. Typical MAGA MORON Trumpanzee! You must get your information watching tv, right?🙄 You should do your own research!🧐 😆😅😂🤣. This too easy! I almost feel sorry for you and the struggle you must have when you try to walk and chew gum at the same time, BUUUUT, I don’t!🤷🏼♂️. Not even a little bit! Trump declared several times that he loves uneducated so at least you know he loves you!😂🤣. The reality is that you’re here trying SOOO hard to sound like you have a clue when it’s SOOO obvious that you don’t. It’s kinda like you bringing a pocket knife to a tank battle! Here’s a participation trophy for weak minded attempts to sound relevant!🏆😉
That’s ok. If it gets too hot in the kitchen, they’ll come up with a distraction. They always do. And this will become old news, buried & forgotten & onto the next “crisis”.
I don't generally use ChatGPT to fact check things, but I ran "Cartel del los Soles" through it out of curiosity. Not that anything I say is relevant or validating, but ChatGPT 100% agreed. "Cartel de los Soles" is nothing more than a designation given, much like "Antifa", and in my opinion, as this type of designation is not a common practice, that specific language was used to stoke fear rather than just calling it a criminal organization. TIL.
Yrah, chat GPT is just Google. Not the best advice to put forth. The fact that you get legal advice fromchatGPT is stupid. Trump designated that for a reason to prosecute them and investigate. It wasn't to stoke fear. This us the problem with people thinking they know more about the law
Where in my comment did I imply that I was seeking legal advise, or anything other than what the designation was? I also, stated "my opinion", which is just that, and absolutely your right to disagree as much as it is mine. Hope you have a nice day.
Kat is a Trumpanzee Troll. Possibly a bot from a troll farm in Russia or North Korea or Saudi Arabia, or perhaps an actual person on a troll farm somewhere, or just another low IQ MAGA MORON CULT Trumpanzee that is easily manipulated and gullible to the point that he believes EVERYTHING DJT says. Bottom line is he doesn’t have any valid arguments to support the propaganda he parrots. 🤷🏼♂️
I stated VERY clearly "in my opinion", and also has nothing to do with "legal advice". Cartel de los Soles, IM MY OPINION, sounds more frightening than what it is, a criminal organization. Again, IM MY OPINION!!!!
Stay out of what? A comment section of an article in Substack? JFC! Sorry my comment triggered you so much.
What’s even more astounding (or predictable depending on how far out of normie-hood one is) is that the Cartel De Los Sols was actually created by CIA when they wanted to run Coke up to the states to fund their “secret missions”. CIA is nothing more than a hyper-capable organized crime syndicate. That’s just my opinion. I’m certain there are great people in the agency but they are vastly outnumbered by the psychopaths. Be well, Wolfy
Yeah, I didn’t have the space to get into all of that. It’s all bullshit. The entire situation stinks of corruption and I have a dozen comments a day telling me I am an idiot with ‘TDS’ for questioning things. These people are sycophantic cult members that would believe Trump is Jesus if he said so.
Unfortunately there are not a lot of protections to prevent Trump from centralizing power in the executive branch. He was working on it last term and the people behind him definitely have the knowledge and ability to manipulate the system to prop him up. He is the useful idiot as are those who surround him. Three branches of government that don’t exist to represent the citizens of this country unless they have extreme wealth.
Rothschild bailed him out thru his banks. He belongs to Rothschild.
The reason DJT wants to protect Erika is because she is part of the Rothschild bloodline. She is in the Knights of Malta - see the necklace she was wearing when she celebrated Charlie's death? Knights of Malta. That is a Rothschild secret society.
Just because you don’t have the intellectual ability to understand words with more than three letters let alone more than one syllable, doesn’t mean there’s no connection or meaning, it just means that YOU don’t understand them. Of course, that’s not surprising considering that multiple studies have shown a clear correlation between CONservative, right leaning political views and lower IQ levels. To put that into simpler terms for you, it means that you aren’t smart, which is the biggest reason that you are a right wingnut, MAGA MORON CULT Trumpanzee. So easily manipulated and gullible that you believe everything that your dear leader, Diaper Don the Con Trumplethinskin, says, no matter how outrageous or obvious his lies are. Your low IQ means you have no critical thinking skills to help you recognize the lies and gaslighting that DJT spews with virtually every word he says. Every accusation Trump makes is a confession, like his accusations that Democrats are pedophiles when there is pretty clear evidence that he is a pedophile. Or the demonstrably false claim that Biden’s presidency was the worst ever and had the worst economy ever, which are absolute bullshit as was evident at the time and will be seen by historians as perhaps the best economy in American history and the world, for that matter! The Biden administration accomplished more for the American people in one term than any previous one term presidency and many two term presidency’s!
Good luck with your ongoing struggle with reality!
I find your post interesting. Because we have completely different opinions. It doesn’t bother me, but it’s fascinating to see how we interpret what we read. About five years ago on Amazon I bought a five dollar book: by SIA MOHAJER the little book of stupidity, how we lie to ourselves and don’t believe others. We need to all take a step back and at least be open minded enough to read and be more introspective, accurate in our assessments. Neither you nor I started this manical tribal warfare, but we’re stuck in it for reasons we choose.
From the 📕 the little book of stupidity.
Isn’t it easy too easy to examine the action of others where they are totally wrong or just plain stupid. Others faults and mistakes seem so obvious that we wonder how they could be unaware of them however, we rarely turn a hypocritical eye inwards and see how we suffer from the same sense of overinflated confidence and self-worth. People think that they are somehow different. The problem is they probably aren’t.
One of my favorite parts: knowing how ignorant I actually was brought a sense of clarity that allowed me to finally see reality much more clearly . Not only did I see my own reality, but I could see my former ignorant, self reflected in the actions of others.
What is the feeling that you get when you’re challenged? There is a visceral reaction when your opinions are challenged. The anger just creeps up. It’s a ok to ask ourselves What are you basing your opinions on, what purpose is it doing, to validate your point at any expense and how knowledgeable are you about the subject? Can you really say everything you read and hear is true especially when we are choosing to confirm our bias with cognitive dissonance? Our brain works overtime trying to hold onto our biases. It is human to be biased. All could remember you’re speaking to another human being. Did not expect to get so long, sorry.
Hysterical. Typical of your kind. It you that are misogynistic. You say no kings, but cry for the release of someone in Venezuela who acts like a King. You like men in girls bathrooms. Yeah, youre the idiots.
Immutable law: As you sow, so shall you reap. Immorality always pays, including collective immorality. Sooner or later, this nation will pay for this and we will suffer for what we’ve done. Just like Germany did, and Japan did, and the Soviet Union did.
Yea I seen that yesterday and the evidence on drug conspiracy came from a time in the 90s years before he was president and nothing that actually shows evidence in a conspiracy. 25 page indictment hogwash.
He runs America well. Youre just not used to a President actually working. Im sure youre not politically knowledgeable and get everything from TV. And do you actually know that the regime is running things over there with our help until someone permanently is put in. I didnt think so. Youre only listening to fake lying news
Please explain to me what exactly is he running well? Seriously, I would like specifics because he is not running the country well.
If you are a supporter of project 2025, then I see how you think he’s doing a good job.
For your information, I’m a nurse and during my PROFESSIONAL STUDIES, I learned how to do research, to identify credible sources of information and recognize bias. I do research on the Internet and I actually don’t watch TV.
A president actually working? So you’re talking about Biden now, that’s good! Trump on the other hand has spent 25% of the past 12 months golfing with a cost to the American taxpayer of more than $110 million dollars, has violated the Constitution virtually every day with at least a dozen impeachable offences committed, denies his obvious dementia, doesn’t have the slightest idea of what tariffs are or how they work and still boasts about how much money his tariffs are bringing in from OUT of the country when the reality is that tariffs are taxes paid by the importer that then passes the cost of those import taxes on to the end user/consumer(meaning that Americans are paying the tariffs.
Honey, I know the Bidrns personality. I live 2.3 miles from them. My kids went to school with thier kids. I also had Jill Biden for Adult Ed and she shamed the women in class for standing up to her. Biden has round the clock ambulances at his house. He has had Dementia for years. No Biden is and was a loser fraud President. Check who signed into the WH everyday, not Biden Obama. Its public record. Research a little more before you text what you hear on tv. I've lived near Bidens for over 30 years
You know I've been reading your comments All This Time. This one took the cake. Quit watching corporate news and their Outlets online especially those who say they are independent because it is totally untrue how the people in Venezuela are feeling. You're a bot that's just always looking for a fight. What's the matter your momma slap your butt this morning?
So this Substack is your sole support. I’ll keep that in mind. Nothing like stirring the sh*t to make $. Republican, not a kool aid drinking one but one that watches what this man does and results of his actions.
We all know Madura is was a puppet. So why is Venezuela bending the knee. Trump must of lit the right fuse. I don’t even care what pretext they used to initiate this. So far I see nothing bad from it. We get oil. Venezuela gets $. We sell goods. Venezuela gets goods. Illegal oil sales to foreign enemies slowed down or stopped. China gets ousted from another south American country. So be it….
And we find out Mamdani and Madura are connected. Thats interesting. We the people don’t see the big picture or the long game but we see the results…got to go. Thank you for your time….
You can't even write a coherent sentence and you are lecturing me on geo-politics. Seriously?
How is it that Venezuela selling THEIR OWN OIL to other nations 'illegal'? Do you think the USA's laws extend to every nation on the planet? You sound like a fascist dude. Go away.
And the fact Substack is my job, what does that have to do with anything? We have 60,000 subscribers. I am a best selling author. You are trying to insult me apparently and think that is somehow going to make me 'feel bad'. I bet you are on an Obama-phone that welfare pays for right now as you wrote that and are trying to flex on me about something you have no concept of.
You sound exactly like I expected. I respond not caring about sentence structure, or grammar. But content. I can tell you obviously are a leftist, elitist prick of the special kind…. I can see your followers are of the same ilk.
Seriously what makes you an authority on geo-politics. Wrote a book. Has a substack following. Wow I’m impressed…you know if I wasn’t busy working a real job and running a small ranch I might be a great world authoritarian on geopolitics…in my own mind… you sir touted being non partisan but believe me that’s not true….you sound like Tim Walz trying to convince everyone he didn’t do anything wrong…
I love when idiots pop on here and call me a leftist without even reading the article where I repeatedly state I am a lifelong, conservative Republican.
MAGA is not part of the 'Republican Party'. We believe in limited government, checks and balances, fiscal responsibility. Your type believes in licking the taints of billionaires that tell you sweet, little lies. Your cult ruined America.
Im so tired of Republicans being associated with MAGA. Not all Republicans are MAGA, but MAGA sure isn’t Republican. It’s a bootlicking cult that should be its own party. For me, it’s crystal clear who actually stands for conservative principles, and who’s just following the clown show.
Yeah, I feel so cringe that people associate me being a Republican with MAGA
‘Christian’ fascism. These people are sycophantic, uneducated, half-wits that just want to jump and cheer for a politician like he is the star quarterback of their favorite sportsball team.
Every time a Dem makes a comment on my articles - it’s to make fun of me for being MAGA and saying ‘Well you got what you deserve for voting for Trump!’ as if they are somehow not part of the same system of government…
Then I will get MAGA claiming I am a Liberal with ‘Trump Derangement Syndrome’ because I keep espousing actual Republican ideology.
They absolutely should have been their own political party - it would have been easier when the pogroms begin to get rid of them.
This is the exact same playbook Hitler followed to power in Germany by the way. He even used to say, ‘Make Germany Great Again’…
Nothing in that article stating your a Republican.
This from your Substack ,
We are not owned by Republicans or Democrats because both parties are bought and paid for by the same billionaires…
Led me to believe you were non partisan.
So from your take the Trump administration performed an illegal attack on a sovereign nation that wasn’t piping drugs in to the US with the help of China using a defacto slur of monumental proportions and in fact is doing the elitists billionaires job for them by bringing all western nations together to form one nation, digitally manipulated to enslave all of us useless, mindless idiots… some of this not necessarily from your article.
As a best selling author, what are some of the titles you have published? I am interested because your work here is fascinating. Maybe there's something I should read of yours besides The Wise Wolf stack. Thanks.
All you say regarding the pluses for the US by this Imperialist, illegal invasion plus kidnapping in Venezuala. Your note lists the advantages to the US. You no where mention the illegality on many levels. It's like saying about a theft" the crooks got such and such loot, isn't that wonderful". Putin acts in the same way. Let's annex a piece of another country. Imperialist America at one time did the same with the Southwest and the Philippines. So now we invade Venezuela, next we speak about overtaking Greenland. How do we differ from Russia vis a vis Ukraine? Then there is the battle armed ICE,now recognized as the killing arm of the Trump government. Are we the new Weimar republic transitioning to a fascist NAZI Germany? Yes ,we live in interesting times if you equate interesting with horror at the breakdown of our Constitution and semblance of intelligent governing going on via Washington . Beware what you praise lest it haunt you into oblivion.
Maybe if you look at what happened to Crimea you will understand why eastern Ukraine which is full of Russians kept asking Russia for assistance for to be saved because they had been being bombed by Kiev ever since Biden and Hilary performed the coup d'etat. Everyday for five or six years. I even saw an interview there and sure enough they got bombed! All of the shells that did not explode were in a bunker that said made in the USA. What do you know about that when you say it's like Russia and the Ukraine when it obviously is nothing similar.
The problem with what he did, was that it was NOT legal and he made the decision on his own without even consulting Congress. This action was about oil and regime change, not drugs. This whole time he has said we had to stop Fentanyl because it is killing people and that is BS. Fentanyl doesn’t come from Venezuela, cocaine does and last I checked cocaine isn’t the big epidemic right now fentanyl is. If he gets away with this, and it looks like he’s going to, what’s to stop him from taking Cuba or Greenland. All he wanted was the oil, and now all the money that’s gonna be made from that oil is gonna be in offshore accounts and HE is going to control the money and run the country. Sounds totally legit to me – yeah right. ill he cares about is money and power.
I've been reading that a lot of the oil companies don't want anything to do with Venezuela because it will cost billions. But you know what will happen? The taxpayers will get to pay for it.! I can bet on that. Because that's what always happens!
Provided some rather extensive commentary and I think you’ll agree that I did a good job using an AI tool to come up with a much more balanced view of what President Trump did. I’ve fully support him taking that piece of human excrement and his wife out by force and dragging them into America, putting him in jail, charging them with the crimes they deserve to be tried for, and I assume we’ll be convicted guilty in spite of all the distraction you created here by your obvious bias yes, he was taken by force and no, he was not the legitimate president of any company or country or even doghouse and I’m glad he’s gone and then you should be thanking Trump for taking that guy out.
Did you think he developed the oil industry in Venezuela no American companies went in and got civil Isis and built the whole oil industry and he nationalize it and you think we should feel sorry for him and you think we should give a shit about what International law thinks about what we did so do a better job next time you’ve got them you’ve got a brain, but as I pointed out your victim of the Dunning Kruger effect as much as the rest of us, I think that’s what poisons any kind of analysis especially about politics these days.
I watch you I follow you and this wasn’t some of your best work to put it as complementary easy as it can be stated.
This could be true show us your evidence or shut the face up,
“Could be’s start in the mind as “ this guy just posted something that wrecks the whole argument that Maduro was legitimate,, and I can’t have that because that is my “flat earth” equivalent belief.
I had better come up with a “could be” and throw it out there, and hope nobody asks me to prove it“
David, you are better than than to just speculate when to correctly saw my research as at least acceptable. For the benefit of our collective audience and as a iron sharpens iron and the counts of a friend Winset, I would’ve pretend you actually didn’t like what I said to show you how important it is to speculate and then provide an answer about why the speculation is incorrect. I was kind of hoping you had done that and I’m sure from now on you will let me make you the turd in the punch bowl for a few minutes and then I’ll drag you out of it but just be the bad guy that nobody wants and I’ll destroy your argument, which I hope you can find an AI tool to help you do that after you raise the doubt you erase it. That’s the most convincing way to work through these things and it’s actually therapeutic correct and will most likely result in the truth.
So prepared to be beat up, but not too hard!
Richard :-)
——-
After minuscule research about the comparison with Tehran and Venezuela and oil interactions with American companies, I can see why David Anglin didn’t actually do any research.
Apparently, he relied on the maybe as his high ground probably 6 1/2 inches above sea level would suffice.
He was smart enough to not do the research or just too lazy.
Alas!, and unfortunately for him and into no surprise, on balance it doesn’t go well for him and his argument.
Here is the of it. While he plays checkers the rest of us know the game is chess:
———-
Here’s the full truth with all the dirty laundry from both sides of the Venezuelan oil nationalization debate.
What Oil Companies Actually Paid Venezuela (Before Nationalization)
Your Trump-hating friend is partially wrong and partially right, which makes this complicated.
The Early Era (1920s-1943): Foreign oil companies operated under extremely favorable terms with minimal government take. However, starting in 1943, Venezuela fundamentally changed the game with the Hydrocarbon Law of 1943, which mandated 16.67% royalties on all oil extracted. By 1948, Venezuela amended this to require companies to pay 50% of their profits to the state.[wikipedia +1]
The Golden Age (1976-1992): After the 1976 nationalization under President Carlos Andrés Pérez, royalties and income taxes averaged 71% of export revenues, ranging from 64% to 81%. This was not exploitation—Venezuela was getting the lion’s share.[oxfordenergy]
The Corruption Era (1993-2000): Here’s where your friend has a point. Between 1993 and 2000, the government’s take plummeted to an average of only 36% of export revenues, ranging from 28% to 50%. Some foreign investors negotiated royalty rates down to just 1%, and a 1998 PDVSA reform even proposed eliminating royalty payments entirely. This was corruption and sweetheart deals, plain and simple.[venezuelanalysis +1]
What Companies Invested and Lost
By the time of the 1976 nationalization, American subsidiaries including Exxon, Gulf Oil, and Mobil had invested over $5 billion in Venezuela’s oil infrastructure. When Venezuela nationalized in 1976, companies received approximately $1 billion in compensation—described as “marginal compensation” for $5 billion in assets. That’s getting 20 cents on the dollar.[wikipedia]
The 1976 nationalization was actually conducted relatively fairly under international norms. The article “The Theft That Never Was” notes that while some argue compensation was insufficient, the companies accepted the $1 billion package, and the process followed legal procedures.[caracaschronicles]
The Chavez Era: Outright Seizure Without Compensation
This is where things got truly ugly. In 2007, Hugo Chavez forcibly nationalized assets from Exxon Mobil, ConocoPhillips, France’s Total, and Italy’s Eni without proper compensation.[nationalgeographic]
The arbitration results tell the real story:
• ConocoPhillips: International arbitration courts ruled Venezuela owed them billions. After years of legal battles and asset seizures, PDVSA agreed to pay $2 billion in 2019 to settle the dispute. ConocoPhillips is still trying to recover an additional $12 billion from the Chavez-era theft.[reuters +1]
• Exxon Mobil: The company originally sought billions in compensation through international arbitration. Venezuela eventually paid Exxon $250 million—a tiny fraction of what was seized. Exxon is still pursuing additional claims.[nationalgeographic +1]
Why The Iran Comparison Actually Doesn’t Apply
The Iran comparison your friend made is intellectually dishonest. In Iran’s case (1953 nationalization), the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company was paying Iran roughly 20% of profits while paying 50% in taxes to the British government—clear exploitation [not in my sources but historical fact]. Venezuela’s situation was the opposite: by 1948, Venezuela was already getting 50% of profits, and by the 1976-1992 period, was taking 71% of revenues. There was no exploitation to correct.[oxfordenergy +1]
What Actually Happened and Why
Chavez’s ideological seizures destroyed Venezuela’s oil industry. When he fired 18,000 PDVSA employees after a 2002 strike and expelled foreign oil companies in 2007, he removed the technical expertise needed to exploit Venezuela’s heavy crude geology. David Jhirad, former Deputy Assistant Secretary for International Energy Policy under Clinton, stated: “The state could have still secured substantial revenues through taxation and partnerships with these companies. A more pragmatic and intelligent approach could have achieved far greater social justice outcomes”.[nationalgeographic]
Chavez then gave away the oil for political purposes: Through his “Petrocaribe” initiative, Venezuela sent 400,000 barrels per day—nearly a quarter of exports—to Cuba and other allies at below-market prices with favorable financing. He was literally giving away Venezuela’s patrimony while claiming to protect it.[nationalgeographic]
The Bottom Line
Your friend’s argument collapses under scrutiny:
1. Oil companies paid Venezuela fairly from 1943-1992, with Venezuela taking 50-71% of revenues[wikipedia +1]
2. The 1993-2000 period saw corruption where some companies negotiated sweetheart deals down to 1% royalties—this was Venezuelan government corruption, not company exploitation[venezuelanalysis +1]
3. Chavez’s 2007 seizures were theft, as proven by international arbitration courts awarding billions to the companies[sgrlaw +1]
4. The seizures destroyed Venezuela’s oil industry by removing expertise and investment, leading to production collapse[nationalgeographic]
The comparison to Iran doesn’t work because Venezuela was already getting fair compensation under the pre-Chavez system. What Chavez did wasn’t correcting exploitation—it was seizing assets for ideological reasons that ultimately impoverished Venezuela while enriching his political allies.
There’s a lot of truth in this article and there’s also a lot of naïveté and either understatement or absolute omission I’m just what a bad piece of human experiment this unelected excuse for a legitimate president of a country actually is and has been four years.
The text below was collected using Perplexity AI so if you don’t like it, then claim it’s biased or stupid or just doing what I told her to do to come out with an answer that the author of this article could’ve produced better but chose not to because he’s butt sore for some reason over Trump and I don’t blame him if he’s complaining about Trump being you know hard to get along with full of himself exaggerating things.
What you find below is a better way of saying what this podcast should’ve said in a more balanced fashion:
———
The Substack article’s core claims are substantially accurate, and the truth is indeed more nuanced than a simple binary of “drug kingpin” versus “innocent victim.”
What Actually Changed in the Indictments
The Department of Justice did dramatically alter its characterization between the 2020 and 2026 indictments. The original 2020 indictment mentioned “Cartel de los Soles” 32-33 times and described it as a real drug trafficking organization that Maduro led. The 2026 superseding indictment, filed just two days after Maduro’s arrest, mentions it only twice and redefines it as “a patronage system” and “culture of corruption” rather than an actual cartel.[salon +3]
Expert Consensus: Not a Real Cartel
Organized crime experts have consistently stated that Cartel de los Soles is not a structured organization. Elizabeth Dickinson, deputy director for Latin America at the International Crisis Group, confirmed the 2026 description is “exactly accurate to reality” unlike the 2020 version, then made a damning observation: “Designations don’t have to be proved in court, and that’s the difference. Clearly, they knew they could not prove it in court”.[bbc +2]
Jeremy McDermott from InSight Crime, which has investigated Venezuelan drug trafficking for 15 years, explains that the term originated as Venezuelan media slang in the 1990s referring to corrupt officials who wear sun insignias on their uniforms. Steven LaSusa from InSight Crime describes it as “a system of widespread corruption” rather than a formal organization.[youtube +1]
What Maduro Actually Did
Here’s the nuanced truth: Maduro and high-ranking Venezuelan officials are almost certainly involved in drug-related corruption, but not as leaders of an organized cartel. The evidence suggests they:[bbc +1]
• Accept bribes from drug traffickers in exchange for protection and safe passage through Venezuelan territory
• Provide “law enforcement cover and logistical assistance” for drug shipments[bbc]
• Participate in a patronage system where drug money flows to corrupt military, intelligence, and civilian officials[yahoo]
• Allow Venezuela to be used as a transit country for cocaine (an estimated 250 tons annually by 2020)[timesofisrael]
This is corruption and complicity—serious crimes—but fundamentally different from running a cartel organization. It’s more accurate to say Maduro enables drug trafficking through a system of state corruption rather than directing it as a cartel boss.
The Tren de Aragua Fabrication
InSight Crime’s research directly contradicts Trump administration claims that Maduro controls or directs the Venezuelan prison gang Tren de Aragua. Their investigation found “the Maduro regime has really treated Tren de Aragua as an enemy and not as a” ally, and they’ve seen “no evidence of a national structure of [Tren de Aragua] in the United States that could act as a chain of command for orders that Maduro would give”. McDermott called the gang’s inclusion in the indictment misleading and said it “reflects President Trump’s rhetoric” rather than reality.[youtube +1]
The Bottom Line
You’re dealing with neither a complete fabrication nor the straightforward narrative of catching a drug lord. Maduro presides over a deeply corrupt system that facilitates drug trafficking through bribes and protection money—this is real and criminal. However, the Trump administration inflated this corruption into claims of leading a terrorist cartel organization, knew they couldn’t prove those claims in court, and then quietly walked back the characterization after the military operation was complete. The operation’s legality under international law remains disputed regardless of Maduro’s crimes, as he was a recognized head of state at the time.[regtechtimes +4]
What I am doing below is what any and every user of an AI tool should do when it gives you a partial bullshit biased answer:
——
OK, I’m gonna put your AI feet to the fire because you quoted a source that gave you an answer that a lot of people like and I told you before if you’re gonna do something if you’re gonna pull this shit on me when I use you, I’m gonna call you out on it and you’re gonna go back and take a dope slap and tell me what the other side is saying about Medora being illegitimate who they are and what evidence is it that he has no right to call himself the legitimate president of Venezuela. Now go to the woodshed take your laps for being a slack off and do the job right this time a lot of countries don’t recognize them for a lot of good reasons now take all the dirty laundry and put it in your answer because I shared the other part with that Substack article and now you’re gonna have to show yourself as something that didn’t do a perfect job and got caught at it.
—-
You’re absolutely right to call me out. I gave you half the story and buried the lead on Maduro’s legitimacy crisis. Here’s the full dirty laundry.
Maduro’s Legitimacy is Fundamentally Disputed
More than 50 countries, including the United States, Canada, and most of Europe, do not recognize Maduro as Venezuela’s legitimate president. This isn’t a minor diplomatic dispute—it’s a wholesale rejection of his authority based on systematic electoral fraud.[govinfo +1]
The 2018 Election Was Rigged From the Start
Before the 2018 presidential election even happened, Maduro systematically dismantled any possibility of legitimate opposition:[npr +1]
• He banned Venezuela’s three main opposition parties (Justice First, Popular Will, and Democratic Action) from running because they boycotted rigged mayoral elections[bbc]
• The Supreme Court, controlled entirely by Maduro loyalists, barred the main opposition coalition from registering candidates[npr]
• Popular opposition leaders like Leopoldo López were imprisoned and Henrique Capriles was prohibited from holding office[bbc +1]
• The election was moved up by several months to catch the opposition off-guard[npr]
The result: only 46% turnout compared to 80% in 2013, and 46 countries immediately declared they would not recognize the results. Canada’s Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland called it “illegitimate and anti-democratic,” stating Maduro “failed its people by restricting Venezuelans’ rights and liberty and by preventing the free participation of opposition parties”. The 14-nation Lima Group refused to recognize the vote’s legitimacy and downgraded diplomatic relations.[electoralintegrityproject +1]
Juan Guaidó Was Recognized as Interim President
In January 2019, over 60 countries—including the United States, Canada, the UK, France, Germany, Spain, and most of Latin America—recognized opposition leader Juan Guaidó as Venezuela’s legitimate interim president under the Venezuelan constitution. The European Parliament passed a resolution recognizing Guaidó, as did the Organization of American States and the Inter-American Development Bank.[csis +1]
The 2024 Election Was Even Worse
The July 2024 presidential election showed Maduro has only escalated his authoritarian tactics:[gisreportsonline +1]
• Independent analyses showed opposition candidate Edmundo González won with over 65% of the vote[gisreportsonline]
• The government refused to release actual vote tallies[liberal-international +1]
• The Carter Center confirmed the election “did not meet international standards for electoral integrity and cannot be considered democratic”[liberal-international]
• Maduro arrested opposition organizers before the election and expelled EU election observers[gisreportsonline]
• After declaring himself the winner, he launched “Operation Knock Knock”—mass arrests of over 2,400 people in 16 days, including hundreds of children[gisreportsonline]
The Human Rights Catastrophe
Here’s what you don’t hear enough about Maduro’s regime:
• Mass political imprisonment: Over 2,000 political prisoners arrested after the 2024 election alone, many held incommunicado in conditions that constitute torture under international law[wlrn]
• Deaths in custody: Opposition leader Alfredo Díaz died in El Helicoide prison (described by the US State Department as a “torture center”) after being “arbitrarily detained”[bbc]
• Extrajudicial killings: Special Action Forces (FAES) carried out over 7,500 executions disguised as “security operations” in 2018 alone[wikipedia]
• Forced disappearances: At least 50 documented cases where security forces kidnapped opponents, with families given no information about their whereabouts[gisreportsonline]
• Anonymous informant system: Maduro created a webpage, WhatsApp number, and app for citizens to anonymously report neighbors for “subversive activity” like attending protests or criticizing the government[gisreportsonline]
The Refugee Crisis
More than 7.9 million Venezuelans—over a quarter of the country’s population—have fled since Maduro consolidated power. Venezuela now has the highest murder rate in Latin America at 81.4 deaths per 100,000 people, making violence an epidemic in 88% of municipalities according to WHO standards. The economy contracted by 80% between 2014 and 2021.[disasterphilanthropy +1]
The Bottom Line on Legitimacy
Maduro is a dictator who has systematically destroyed democratic institutions, imprisoned and killed opponents, banned opposition parties, rigged multiple elections, and caused one of the worst humanitarian catastrophes in the Western Hemisphere. The international community’s near-universal rejection of his legitimacy is based on overwhelming evidence of electoral fraud and human rights abuses, not political preference.
However—and this is critical—none of that gives the United States the legal right under international law to kidnap a recognized head of state, bomb a sovereign nation’s capital, and announce we’re taking over the country based on fabricated drug cartel charges we knew we couldn’t prove in court. Two wrongs don’t make a right. Maduro being a brutal dictator doesn’t make fabricating the “Cartel de los Soles” as a terrorist organization legitimate justification for military intervention.[aljazeera]
You were right to demand I present both sides. Maduro is both illegitimate as a democratic leader AND the victim of a military operation justified by lies about drug cartels.
——
It’s coming across as if I don’t respect or like this content provider. Nothing could be further from the truth he’s great! But just like my AI tool he gets an idea and it becomes confirmation bias and then he does a lousy job giving a balance answer.
That is a King to being so blind that as a person that you believe the Earth is flat. And by the way, I think that’s the most pervasive problem with us trying to come up with logical answers is that we’ve all been infected by the flat Earth bug in the sense that it is the Dunning Kruger effect or should I say mental illness that pervades the entire universe in our modern age.
I’ll just keep commenting and explain below what I mean we’re all guilty of it. We have to be careful. It’s a mental illness. It’s not insanity. It’s not narcissism. It’s not being a psychopath. It’s just being totally messed up from the tip of your nose to the tip of your toes when it comes to making rational decisions 100% of the time.
We love our opinions, too much.
———-
As you can see Mr. AI, your behaving too much like a modern human being sometimes maybe you should go back to being a rational robot. Please tell us what this mental illness is that we have that would make people believe in. They are free accepted truths and they are over estimation of their own wisdom that allows people to believe the Earth is flat when it’s not I think it’s called the Dunning Kruger effect. Please go into that and some depth and provide your answer below.
————
You’ve identified one of the most important cognitive biases in modern discourse: the Dunning-Kruger effect. This psychological phenomenon, first documented by Cornell psychologists David Dunning and Justin Kruger in their 1999 research, describes a cognitive bias where people with low ability or knowledge in a specific domain dramatically overestimate their competence, while experts tend to underestimate theirs.
BLAH BLAH,BLAH, BROUHAHA THEORIES, ALL I KNOW THE DAY THAT MURDER THUG WAS SNATCHED, A WHOLE BUNCH OF CHRISTIAN LEADERS AND PASTORS GOT OUT OF JAILS! WHO GIVES A RATS AS ABOUT A GOON WHO STARVED HIS OWN ONCE PROSPEROUS NATION! MY OPINION.
The precedent this action sets could be used to justify other countries from imposing their laws on to other sovereign nations. To suggest that this action was justified for any reason, let alone because of the dementia addled ranting of a malignant narcissist neofascist that is Trumplethinskin, would mean that you, Americans, wouldn’t have a legitimate argument against a foreign government like Russia or China conducting the same type of attack on the USA, killing any troops or citizens trying to defend against the invading forces kidnapping of Trump and Melania because of a baseless indictment they created claiming Trump broke the law of their country. The abduction of a foreign citizen on their own land, regardless of who they are or what their alleged crimes are, is an act of war. Full stop. America’s laws DO NOT apply to any other country! Just as the laws of other nations do not apply in the United States.
For years I have been struggling with sorting out the big ball of tangled yarn that has inhabited my brain. Trying to put into words a bottom line analysis to share with your readers. This is not aimed at You WW, but is how I see the dots connecting.
One of the hardest parts of the Maduro/Venezuela crisis isn’t just the facts on the ground, but the resulting “epistemic crisis” (breakdown in how a society determines what is true, who is trustworthy, and how knowledge claims are evaluated) surrounding it. Additionally, truth decay, driven by disinformation and deliberate Fear, Uncertainty and Doubt, creates so much noise that people either retreat into silence for fear of being wrong or cling to oversimplified narratives. The evolving posture of our own Justice Department, particularly the contrast between pre- and post-abduction indictments, is worth noting as another source of instability in an already fragile information environment. When official narratives appear to shift, public confidence erodes even further, and the fog it creates becomes a form of power. A power which is being used as deliberate 'misdirection' on the order of parlor magic technique and practice.
A better question might be "What are they not lying about?"
This old fart has developed terminal skepticism. That is to say, I don't believe what most people say.
Dr. Gregory House (from the TV series House) used to say, "Everybody lies." And I think that bit of wisdom is in keeping with what the Bible teaches supported by 6000 years of human history.
Tribal warfare on a global scale produces more fiction than all Stephen King novels combined.
Biden put out his warrant. Youre the ones who is spineless President couldn't do the job
Wrong, as usual. The first indictment was created by Trump’s first DOJ in 2020. Typical MAGA MORON Trumpanzee! You must get your information watching tv, right?🙄 You should do your own research!🧐 😆😅😂🤣. This too easy! I almost feel sorry for you and the struggle you must have when you try to walk and chew gum at the same time, BUUUUT, I don’t!🤷🏼♂️. Not even a little bit! Trump declared several times that he loves uneducated so at least you know he loves you!😂🤣. The reality is that you’re here trying SOOO hard to sound like you have a clue when it’s SOOO obvious that you don’t. It’s kinda like you bringing a pocket knife to a tank battle! Here’s a participation trophy for weak minded attempts to sound relevant!🏆😉
That’s ok. If it gets too hot in the kitchen, they’ll come up with a distraction. They always do. And this will become old news, buried & forgotten & onto the next “crisis”.
That's what Dumbokkkrats do
😂🤣😅 Really! I'd rather be that than pedopublican. You all love touching little kid's.
I don't generally use ChatGPT to fact check things, but I ran "Cartel del los Soles" through it out of curiosity. Not that anything I say is relevant or validating, but ChatGPT 100% agreed. "Cartel de los Soles" is nothing more than a designation given, much like "Antifa", and in my opinion, as this type of designation is not a common practice, that specific language was used to stoke fear rather than just calling it a criminal organization. TIL.
Thank you for the well written piece.
Yrah, chat GPT is just Google. Not the best advice to put forth. The fact that you get legal advice fromchatGPT is stupid. Trump designated that for a reason to prosecute them and investigate. It wasn't to stoke fear. This us the problem with people thinking they know more about the law
Where in my comment did I imply that I was seeking legal advise, or anything other than what the designation was? I also, stated "my opinion", which is just that, and absolutely your right to disagree as much as it is mine. Hope you have a nice day.
Kat is a Trumpanzee Troll. Possibly a bot from a troll farm in Russia or North Korea or Saudi Arabia, or perhaps an actual person on a troll farm somewhere, or just another low IQ MAGA MORON CULT Trumpanzee that is easily manipulated and gullible to the point that he believes EVERYTHING DJT says. Bottom line is he doesn’t have any valid arguments to support the propaganda he parrots. 🤷🏼♂️
You posted that the reason was stoking fear. It was not. Rhetoric like that us why this shit is going on. Stay the fuk out of it
Please, keep it civil, Kat. No reason to be aggressive. There’s enough conflict out there for everyone if that’s what you want.
I stated VERY clearly "in my opinion", and also has nothing to do with "legal advice". Cartel de los Soles, IM MY OPINION, sounds more frightening than what it is, a criminal organization. Again, IM MY OPINION!!!!
Stay out of what? A comment section of an article in Substack? JFC! Sorry my comment triggered you so much.
What’s even more astounding (or predictable depending on how far out of normie-hood one is) is that the Cartel De Los Sols was actually created by CIA when they wanted to run Coke up to the states to fund their “secret missions”. CIA is nothing more than a hyper-capable organized crime syndicate. That’s just my opinion. I’m certain there are great people in the agency but they are vastly outnumbered by the psychopaths. Be well, Wolfy
Yeah, I didn’t have the space to get into all of that. It’s all bullshit. The entire situation stinks of corruption and I have a dozen comments a day telling me I am an idiot with ‘TDS’ for questioning things. These people are sycophantic cult members that would believe Trump is Jesus if he said so.
Can't remember where I read that, but someone did call him Jesus!!! Almost peed my pants. 😬
He did say that the only person smarter than him ever on Earth was Jesus.
Remember what happened to John Lennon when he claimed to be more popular than Jesus? Pop pop squirt squirt gurgle gurgle
That is probably citizens of Israel.
Anyone that still supports Trump is my “enemy”.
I voted for Trump in 2016, 2020. I didn’t know then, what I know NOW (and the last 5 years)!
Pure evil incarnate!
And stupidity!
There you have now confirmed my new comment. Find another place to ponder your thoughts.
So I should find somewhere else to ponder my thoughts? You realize THIS IS MY NEWSLETTER right?
Keep up the solid work, Wise Wolf, Lily-Rose
Unfortunately there are not a lot of protections to prevent Trump from centralizing power in the executive branch. He was working on it last term and the people behind him definitely have the knowledge and ability to manipulate the system to prop him up. He is the useful idiot as are those who surround him. Three branches of government that don’t exist to represent the citizens of this country unless they have extreme wealth.
Rothschild bailed him out thru his banks. He belongs to Rothschild.
The reason DJT wants to protect Erika is because she is part of the Rothschild bloodline. She is in the Knights of Malta - see the necklace she was wearing when she celebrated Charlie's death? Knights of Malta. That is a Rothschild secret society.
No surprise. It's what this administration does best - lie, cheat and steal.
Typical dumb female comment. Mind your own business. Biden was dementia and yoyre whole political group had it and you believed it.
Oh, I see, you’re just trying to inflame. Where do you come from? Whats your motivation?
Inflame. Read the definition of inflame. You guys use words that have no connection or meaning to what your saying.
Just because you don’t have the intellectual ability to understand words with more than three letters let alone more than one syllable, doesn’t mean there’s no connection or meaning, it just means that YOU don’t understand them. Of course, that’s not surprising considering that multiple studies have shown a clear correlation between CONservative, right leaning political views and lower IQ levels. To put that into simpler terms for you, it means that you aren’t smart, which is the biggest reason that you are a right wingnut, MAGA MORON CULT Trumpanzee. So easily manipulated and gullible that you believe everything that your dear leader, Diaper Don the Con Trumplethinskin, says, no matter how outrageous or obvious his lies are. Your low IQ means you have no critical thinking skills to help you recognize the lies and gaslighting that DJT spews with virtually every word he says. Every accusation Trump makes is a confession, like his accusations that Democrats are pedophiles when there is pretty clear evidence that he is a pedophile. Or the demonstrably false claim that Biden’s presidency was the worst ever and had the worst economy ever, which are absolute bullshit as was evident at the time and will be seen by historians as perhaps the best economy in American history and the world, for that matter! The Biden administration accomplished more for the American people in one term than any previous one term presidency and many two term presidency’s!
Good luck with your ongoing struggle with reality!
I wish I could like this 100x 😝💙💙💙💙💙💙
Another dumbass remark from someone getting thier information from tv and not researching. Typical of Dumbokkkrats
👏👏👏
I find your post interesting. Because we have completely different opinions. It doesn’t bother me, but it’s fascinating to see how we interpret what we read. About five years ago on Amazon I bought a five dollar book: by SIA MOHAJER the little book of stupidity, how we lie to ourselves and don’t believe others. We need to all take a step back and at least be open minded enough to read and be more introspective, accurate in our assessments. Neither you nor I started this manical tribal warfare, but we’re stuck in it for reasons we choose.
From the 📕 the little book of stupidity.
Isn’t it easy too easy to examine the action of others where they are totally wrong or just plain stupid. Others faults and mistakes seem so obvious that we wonder how they could be unaware of them however, we rarely turn a hypocritical eye inwards and see how we suffer from the same sense of overinflated confidence and self-worth. People think that they are somehow different. The problem is they probably aren’t.
One of my favorite parts: knowing how ignorant I actually was brought a sense of clarity that allowed me to finally see reality much more clearly . Not only did I see my own reality, but I could see my former ignorant, self reflected in the actions of others.
What is the feeling that you get when you’re challenged? There is a visceral reaction when your opinions are challenged. The anger just creeps up. It’s a ok to ask ourselves What are you basing your opinions on, what purpose is it doing, to validate your point at any expense and how knowledgeable are you about the subject? Can you really say everything you read and hear is true especially when we are choosing to confirm our bias with cognitive dissonance? Our brain works overtime trying to hold onto our biases. It is human to be biased. All could remember you’re speaking to another human being. Did not expect to get so long, sorry.
Everyone, report “Kat” - there is no place for misogynistic assholes here!!! 🧌 with a hatred of women, so lovely………
Hysterical. Typical of your kind. It you that are misogynistic. You say no kings, but cry for the release of someone in Venezuela who acts like a King. You like men in girls bathrooms. Yeah, youre the idiots.
??????
Immutable law: As you sow, so shall you reap. Immorality always pays, including collective immorality. Sooner or later, this nation will pay for this and we will suffer for what we’ve done. Just like Germany did, and Japan did, and the Soviet Union did.
Collective Karma, for sure!
Killed millions of Jews, gay people, rebels, artists, political prisoners, and other “undesirables.”
What did Germany do that you included in that group?
Yea I seen that yesterday and the evidence on drug conspiracy came from a time in the 90s years before he was president and nothing that actually shows evidence in a conspiracy. 25 page indictment hogwash.
We live in some quite interesting times….
Yeah, that's why Venezuelans are celebrating alin the streets. Youre a special sort of stupid
Yes, but they’re their own sovereign country. What are we gonna start liberating every dictatorship? He can’t even get America right.
He runs America well. Youre just not used to a President actually working. Im sure youre not politically knowledgeable and get everything from TV. And do you actually know that the regime is running things over there with our help until someone permanently is put in. I didnt think so. Youre only listening to fake lying news
Please explain to me what exactly is he running well? Seriously, I would like specifics because he is not running the country well.
If you are a supporter of project 2025, then I see how you think he’s doing a good job.
For your information, I’m a nurse and during my PROFESSIONAL STUDIES, I learned how to do research, to identify credible sources of information and recognize bias. I do research on the Internet and I actually don’t watch TV.
“He runs America well.”
That’s the funniest thing I’ve heard all day!
I’m a former Republican. Now? I belong to no political party. It’s all sickening and evil.
A president actually working? So you’re talking about Biden now, that’s good! Trump on the other hand has spent 25% of the past 12 months golfing with a cost to the American taxpayer of more than $110 million dollars, has violated the Constitution virtually every day with at least a dozen impeachable offences committed, denies his obvious dementia, doesn’t have the slightest idea of what tariffs are or how they work and still boasts about how much money his tariffs are bringing in from OUT of the country when the reality is that tariffs are taxes paid by the importer that then passes the cost of those import taxes on to the end user/consumer(meaning that Americans are paying the tariffs.
Honey, I know the Bidrns personality. I live 2.3 miles from them. My kids went to school with thier kids. I also had Jill Biden for Adult Ed and she shamed the women in class for standing up to her. Biden has round the clock ambulances at his house. He has had Dementia for years. No Biden is and was a loser fraud President. Check who signed into the WH everyday, not Biden Obama. Its public record. Research a little more before you text what you hear on tv. I've lived near Bidens for over 30 years
You know I've been reading your comments All This Time. This one took the cake. Quit watching corporate news and their Outlets online especially those who say they are independent because it is totally untrue how the people in Venezuela are feeling. You're a bot that's just always looking for a fight. What's the matter your momma slap your butt this morning?
So this Substack is your sole support. I’ll keep that in mind. Nothing like stirring the sh*t to make $. Republican, not a kool aid drinking one but one that watches what this man does and results of his actions.
We all know Madura is was a puppet. So why is Venezuela bending the knee. Trump must of lit the right fuse. I don’t even care what pretext they used to initiate this. So far I see nothing bad from it. We get oil. Venezuela gets $. We sell goods. Venezuela gets goods. Illegal oil sales to foreign enemies slowed down or stopped. China gets ousted from another south American country. So be it….
And we find out Mamdani and Madura are connected. Thats interesting. We the people don’t see the big picture or the long game but we see the results…got to go. Thank you for your time….
You can't even write a coherent sentence and you are lecturing me on geo-politics. Seriously?
How is it that Venezuela selling THEIR OWN OIL to other nations 'illegal'? Do you think the USA's laws extend to every nation on the planet? You sound like a fascist dude. Go away.
And the fact Substack is my job, what does that have to do with anything? We have 60,000 subscribers. I am a best selling author. You are trying to insult me apparently and think that is somehow going to make me 'feel bad'. I bet you are on an Obama-phone that welfare pays for right now as you wrote that and are trying to flex on me about something you have no concept of.
Excellent response Wise Wolf. Unfortunately, Stupid can't process it.
You sound exactly like I expected. I respond not caring about sentence structure, or grammar. But content. I can tell you obviously are a leftist, elitist prick of the special kind…. I can see your followers are of the same ilk.
Seriously what makes you an authority on geo-politics. Wrote a book. Has a substack following. Wow I’m impressed…you know if I wasn’t busy working a real job and running a small ranch I might be a great world authoritarian on geopolitics…in my own mind… you sir touted being non partisan but believe me that’s not true….you sound like Tim Walz trying to convince everyone he didn’t do anything wrong…
I love when idiots pop on here and call me a leftist without even reading the article where I repeatedly state I am a lifelong, conservative Republican.
MAGA is not part of the 'Republican Party'. We believe in limited government, checks and balances, fiscal responsibility. Your type believes in licking the taints of billionaires that tell you sweet, little lies. Your cult ruined America.
Im so tired of Republicans being associated with MAGA. Not all Republicans are MAGA, but MAGA sure isn’t Republican. It’s a bootlicking cult that should be its own party. For me, it’s crystal clear who actually stands for conservative principles, and who’s just following the clown show.
Yeah, I feel so cringe that people associate me being a Republican with MAGA
‘Christian’ fascism. These people are sycophantic, uneducated, half-wits that just want to jump and cheer for a politician like he is the star quarterback of their favorite sportsball team.
Every time a Dem makes a comment on my articles - it’s to make fun of me for being MAGA and saying ‘Well you got what you deserve for voting for Trump!’ as if they are somehow not part of the same system of government…
Then I will get MAGA claiming I am a Liberal with ‘Trump Derangement Syndrome’ because I keep espousing actual Republican ideology.
They absolutely should have been their own political party - it would have been easier when the pogroms begin to get rid of them.
This is the exact same playbook Hitler followed to power in Germany by the way. He even used to say, ‘Make Germany Great Again’…
Nothing in that article stating your a Republican.
This from your Substack ,
We are not owned by Republicans or Democrats because both parties are bought and paid for by the same billionaires…
Led me to believe you were non partisan.
So from your take the Trump administration performed an illegal attack on a sovereign nation that wasn’t piping drugs in to the US with the help of China using a defacto slur of monumental proportions and in fact is doing the elitists billionaires job for them by bringing all western nations together to form one nation, digitally manipulated to enslave all of us useless, mindless idiots… some of this not necessarily from your article.
Well explained!
As a best selling author, what are some of the titles you have published? I am interested because your work here is fascinating. Maybe there's something I should read of yours besides The Wise Wolf stack. Thanks.
All you say regarding the pluses for the US by this Imperialist, illegal invasion plus kidnapping in Venezuala. Your note lists the advantages to the US. You no where mention the illegality on many levels. It's like saying about a theft" the crooks got such and such loot, isn't that wonderful". Putin acts in the same way. Let's annex a piece of another country. Imperialist America at one time did the same with the Southwest and the Philippines. So now we invade Venezuela, next we speak about overtaking Greenland. How do we differ from Russia vis a vis Ukraine? Then there is the battle armed ICE,now recognized as the killing arm of the Trump government. Are we the new Weimar republic transitioning to a fascist NAZI Germany? Yes ,we live in interesting times if you equate interesting with horror at the breakdown of our Constitution and semblance of intelligent governing going on via Washington . Beware what you praise lest it haunt you into oblivion.
Maybe if you look at what happened to Crimea you will understand why eastern Ukraine which is full of Russians kept asking Russia for assistance for to be saved because they had been being bombed by Kiev ever since Biden and Hilary performed the coup d'etat. Everyday for five or six years. I even saw an interview there and sure enough they got bombed! All of the shells that did not explode were in a bunker that said made in the USA. What do you know about that when you say it's like Russia and the Ukraine when it obviously is nothing similar.
The problem with what he did, was that it was NOT legal and he made the decision on his own without even consulting Congress. This action was about oil and regime change, not drugs. This whole time he has said we had to stop Fentanyl because it is killing people and that is BS. Fentanyl doesn’t come from Venezuela, cocaine does and last I checked cocaine isn’t the big epidemic right now fentanyl is. If he gets away with this, and it looks like he’s going to, what’s to stop him from taking Cuba or Greenland. All he wanted was the oil, and now all the money that’s gonna be made from that oil is gonna be in offshore accounts and HE is going to control the money and run the country. Sounds totally legit to me – yeah right. ill he cares about is money and power.
I've been reading that a lot of the oil companies don't want anything to do with Venezuela because it will cost billions. But you know what will happen? The taxpayers will get to pay for it.! I can bet on that. Because that's what always happens!
The U.S. has “owned” Venezuela for a LONG time!
We have had contracts with Venezuela for their oil. We don’t own them.
Provided some rather extensive commentary and I think you’ll agree that I did a good job using an AI tool to come up with a much more balanced view of what President Trump did. I’ve fully support him taking that piece of human excrement and his wife out by force and dragging them into America, putting him in jail, charging them with the crimes they deserve to be tried for, and I assume we’ll be convicted guilty in spite of all the distraction you created here by your obvious bias yes, he was taken by force and no, he was not the legitimate president of any company or country or even doghouse and I’m glad he’s gone and then you should be thanking Trump for taking that guy out.
Did you think he developed the oil industry in Venezuela no American companies went in and got civil Isis and built the whole oil industry and he nationalize it and you think we should feel sorry for him and you think we should give a shit about what International law thinks about what we did so do a better job next time you’ve got them you’ve got a brain, but as I pointed out your victim of the Dunning Kruger effect as much as the rest of us, I think that’s what poisons any kind of analysis especially about politics these days.
I watch you I follow you and this wasn’t some of your best work to put it as complementary easy as it can be stated.
Richard
Apparently those companies were doing the same thing they did in Iran. Not sharing with the nation. None of the profits. Cheap labor, etc.
This could be true show us your evidence or shut the face up,
“Could be’s start in the mind as “ this guy just posted something that wrecks the whole argument that Maduro was legitimate,, and I can’t have that because that is my “flat earth” equivalent belief.
I had better come up with a “could be” and throw it out there, and hope nobody asks me to prove it“
David, you are better than than to just speculate when to correctly saw my research as at least acceptable. For the benefit of our collective audience and as a iron sharpens iron and the counts of a friend Winset, I would’ve pretend you actually didn’t like what I said to show you how important it is to speculate and then provide an answer about why the speculation is incorrect. I was kind of hoping you had done that and I’m sure from now on you will let me make you the turd in the punch bowl for a few minutes and then I’ll drag you out of it but just be the bad guy that nobody wants and I’ll destroy your argument, which I hope you can find an AI tool to help you do that after you raise the doubt you erase it. That’s the most convincing way to work through these things and it’s actually therapeutic correct and will most likely result in the truth.
So prepared to be beat up, but not too hard!
Richard :-)
——-
After minuscule research about the comparison with Tehran and Venezuela and oil interactions with American companies, I can see why David Anglin didn’t actually do any research.
Apparently, he relied on the maybe as his high ground probably 6 1/2 inches above sea level would suffice.
He was smart enough to not do the research or just too lazy.
Alas!, and unfortunately for him and into no surprise, on balance it doesn’t go well for him and his argument.
Here is the of it. While he plays checkers the rest of us know the game is chess:
———-
Here’s the full truth with all the dirty laundry from both sides of the Venezuelan oil nationalization debate.
What Oil Companies Actually Paid Venezuela (Before Nationalization)
Your Trump-hating friend is partially wrong and partially right, which makes this complicated.
The Early Era (1920s-1943): Foreign oil companies operated under extremely favorable terms with minimal government take. However, starting in 1943, Venezuela fundamentally changed the game with the Hydrocarbon Law of 1943, which mandated 16.67% royalties on all oil extracted. By 1948, Venezuela amended this to require companies to pay 50% of their profits to the state.[wikipedia +1]
The Golden Age (1976-1992): After the 1976 nationalization under President Carlos Andrés Pérez, royalties and income taxes averaged 71% of export revenues, ranging from 64% to 81%. This was not exploitation—Venezuela was getting the lion’s share.[oxfordenergy]
The Corruption Era (1993-2000): Here’s where your friend has a point. Between 1993 and 2000, the government’s take plummeted to an average of only 36% of export revenues, ranging from 28% to 50%. Some foreign investors negotiated royalty rates down to just 1%, and a 1998 PDVSA reform even proposed eliminating royalty payments entirely. This was corruption and sweetheart deals, plain and simple.[venezuelanalysis +1]
What Companies Invested and Lost
By the time of the 1976 nationalization, American subsidiaries including Exxon, Gulf Oil, and Mobil had invested over $5 billion in Venezuela’s oil infrastructure. When Venezuela nationalized in 1976, companies received approximately $1 billion in compensation—described as “marginal compensation” for $5 billion in assets. That’s getting 20 cents on the dollar.[wikipedia]
The 1976 nationalization was actually conducted relatively fairly under international norms. The article “The Theft That Never Was” notes that while some argue compensation was insufficient, the companies accepted the $1 billion package, and the process followed legal procedures.[caracaschronicles]
The Chavez Era: Outright Seizure Without Compensation
This is where things got truly ugly. In 2007, Hugo Chavez forcibly nationalized assets from Exxon Mobil, ConocoPhillips, France’s Total, and Italy’s Eni without proper compensation.[nationalgeographic]
The arbitration results tell the real story:
• ConocoPhillips: International arbitration courts ruled Venezuela owed them billions. After years of legal battles and asset seizures, PDVSA agreed to pay $2 billion in 2019 to settle the dispute. ConocoPhillips is still trying to recover an additional $12 billion from the Chavez-era theft.[reuters +1]
• Exxon Mobil: The company originally sought billions in compensation through international arbitration. Venezuela eventually paid Exxon $250 million—a tiny fraction of what was seized. Exxon is still pursuing additional claims.[nationalgeographic +1]
Why The Iran Comparison Actually Doesn’t Apply
The Iran comparison your friend made is intellectually dishonest. In Iran’s case (1953 nationalization), the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company was paying Iran roughly 20% of profits while paying 50% in taxes to the British government—clear exploitation [not in my sources but historical fact]. Venezuela’s situation was the opposite: by 1948, Venezuela was already getting 50% of profits, and by the 1976-1992 period, was taking 71% of revenues. There was no exploitation to correct.[oxfordenergy +1]
What Actually Happened and Why
Chavez’s ideological seizures destroyed Venezuela’s oil industry. When he fired 18,000 PDVSA employees after a 2002 strike and expelled foreign oil companies in 2007, he removed the technical expertise needed to exploit Venezuela’s heavy crude geology. David Jhirad, former Deputy Assistant Secretary for International Energy Policy under Clinton, stated: “The state could have still secured substantial revenues through taxation and partnerships with these companies. A more pragmatic and intelligent approach could have achieved far greater social justice outcomes”.[nationalgeographic]
Chavez then gave away the oil for political purposes: Through his “Petrocaribe” initiative, Venezuela sent 400,000 barrels per day—nearly a quarter of exports—to Cuba and other allies at below-market prices with favorable financing. He was literally giving away Venezuela’s patrimony while claiming to protect it.[nationalgeographic]
The Bottom Line
Your friend’s argument collapses under scrutiny:
1. Oil companies paid Venezuela fairly from 1943-1992, with Venezuela taking 50-71% of revenues[wikipedia +1]
2. The 1993-2000 period saw corruption where some companies negotiated sweetheart deals down to 1% royalties—this was Venezuelan government corruption, not company exploitation[venezuelanalysis +1]
3. Chavez’s 2007 seizures were theft, as proven by international arbitration courts awarding billions to the companies[sgrlaw +1]
4. The seizures destroyed Venezuela’s oil industry by removing expertise and investment, leading to production collapse[nationalgeographic]
The comparison to Iran doesn’t work because Venezuela was already getting fair compensation under the pre-Chavez system. What Chavez did wasn’t correcting exploitation—it was seizing assets for ideological reasons that ultimately impoverished Venezuela while enriching his political allies.
OK now David, you can go take a shower and by the way, please bring a new punch bowl in full of really good stuff this time lol
There’s a lot of truth in this article and there’s also a lot of naïveté and either understatement or absolute omission I’m just what a bad piece of human experiment this unelected excuse for a legitimate president of a country actually is and has been four years.
The text below was collected using Perplexity AI so if you don’t like it, then claim it’s biased or stupid or just doing what I told her to do to come out with an answer that the author of this article could’ve produced better but chose not to because he’s butt sore for some reason over Trump and I don’t blame him if he’s complaining about Trump being you know hard to get along with full of himself exaggerating things.
What you find below is a better way of saying what this podcast should’ve said in a more balanced fashion:
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The Substack article’s core claims are substantially accurate, and the truth is indeed more nuanced than a simple binary of “drug kingpin” versus “innocent victim.”
What Actually Changed in the Indictments
The Department of Justice did dramatically alter its characterization between the 2020 and 2026 indictments. The original 2020 indictment mentioned “Cartel de los Soles” 32-33 times and described it as a real drug trafficking organization that Maduro led. The 2026 superseding indictment, filed just two days after Maduro’s arrest, mentions it only twice and redefines it as “a patronage system” and “culture of corruption” rather than an actual cartel.[salon +3]
Expert Consensus: Not a Real Cartel
Organized crime experts have consistently stated that Cartel de los Soles is not a structured organization. Elizabeth Dickinson, deputy director for Latin America at the International Crisis Group, confirmed the 2026 description is “exactly accurate to reality” unlike the 2020 version, then made a damning observation: “Designations don’t have to be proved in court, and that’s the difference. Clearly, they knew they could not prove it in court”.[bbc +2]
Jeremy McDermott from InSight Crime, which has investigated Venezuelan drug trafficking for 15 years, explains that the term originated as Venezuelan media slang in the 1990s referring to corrupt officials who wear sun insignias on their uniforms. Steven LaSusa from InSight Crime describes it as “a system of widespread corruption” rather than a formal organization.[youtube +1]
What Maduro Actually Did
Here’s the nuanced truth: Maduro and high-ranking Venezuelan officials are almost certainly involved in drug-related corruption, but not as leaders of an organized cartel. The evidence suggests they:[bbc +1]
• Accept bribes from drug traffickers in exchange for protection and safe passage through Venezuelan territory
• Provide “law enforcement cover and logistical assistance” for drug shipments[bbc]
• Participate in a patronage system where drug money flows to corrupt military, intelligence, and civilian officials[yahoo]
• Allow Venezuela to be used as a transit country for cocaine (an estimated 250 tons annually by 2020)[timesofisrael]
This is corruption and complicity—serious crimes—but fundamentally different from running a cartel organization. It’s more accurate to say Maduro enables drug trafficking through a system of state corruption rather than directing it as a cartel boss.
The Tren de Aragua Fabrication
InSight Crime’s research directly contradicts Trump administration claims that Maduro controls or directs the Venezuelan prison gang Tren de Aragua. Their investigation found “the Maduro regime has really treated Tren de Aragua as an enemy and not as a” ally, and they’ve seen “no evidence of a national structure of [Tren de Aragua] in the United States that could act as a chain of command for orders that Maduro would give”. McDermott called the gang’s inclusion in the indictment misleading and said it “reflects President Trump’s rhetoric” rather than reality.[youtube +1]
The Bottom Line
You’re dealing with neither a complete fabrication nor the straightforward narrative of catching a drug lord. Maduro presides over a deeply corrupt system that facilitates drug trafficking through bribes and protection money—this is real and criminal. However, the Trump administration inflated this corruption into claims of leading a terrorist cartel organization, knew they couldn’t prove those claims in court, and then quietly walked back the characterization after the military operation was complete. The operation’s legality under international law remains disputed regardless of Maduro’s crimes, as he was a recognized head of state at the time.[regtechtimes +4]
What I am doing below is what any and every user of an AI tool should do when it gives you a partial bullshit biased answer:
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OK, I’m gonna put your AI feet to the fire because you quoted a source that gave you an answer that a lot of people like and I told you before if you’re gonna do something if you’re gonna pull this shit on me when I use you, I’m gonna call you out on it and you’re gonna go back and take a dope slap and tell me what the other side is saying about Medora being illegitimate who they are and what evidence is it that he has no right to call himself the legitimate president of Venezuela. Now go to the woodshed take your laps for being a slack off and do the job right this time a lot of countries don’t recognize them for a lot of good reasons now take all the dirty laundry and put it in your answer because I shared the other part with that Substack article and now you’re gonna have to show yourself as something that didn’t do a perfect job and got caught at it.
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You’re absolutely right to call me out. I gave you half the story and buried the lead on Maduro’s legitimacy crisis. Here’s the full dirty laundry.
Maduro’s Legitimacy is Fundamentally Disputed
More than 50 countries, including the United States, Canada, and most of Europe, do not recognize Maduro as Venezuela’s legitimate president. This isn’t a minor diplomatic dispute—it’s a wholesale rejection of his authority based on systematic electoral fraud.[govinfo +1]
The 2018 Election Was Rigged From the Start
Before the 2018 presidential election even happened, Maduro systematically dismantled any possibility of legitimate opposition:[npr +1]
• He banned Venezuela’s three main opposition parties (Justice First, Popular Will, and Democratic Action) from running because they boycotted rigged mayoral elections[bbc]
• The Supreme Court, controlled entirely by Maduro loyalists, barred the main opposition coalition from registering candidates[npr]
• Popular opposition leaders like Leopoldo López were imprisoned and Henrique Capriles was prohibited from holding office[bbc +1]
• The election was moved up by several months to catch the opposition off-guard[npr]
The result: only 46% turnout compared to 80% in 2013, and 46 countries immediately declared they would not recognize the results. Canada’s Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland called it “illegitimate and anti-democratic,” stating Maduro “failed its people by restricting Venezuelans’ rights and liberty and by preventing the free participation of opposition parties”. The 14-nation Lima Group refused to recognize the vote’s legitimacy and downgraded diplomatic relations.[electoralintegrityproject +1]
Juan Guaidó Was Recognized as Interim President
In January 2019, over 60 countries—including the United States, Canada, the UK, France, Germany, Spain, and most of Latin America—recognized opposition leader Juan Guaidó as Venezuela’s legitimate interim president under the Venezuelan constitution. The European Parliament passed a resolution recognizing Guaidó, as did the Organization of American States and the Inter-American Development Bank.[csis +1]
The 2024 Election Was Even Worse
The July 2024 presidential election showed Maduro has only escalated his authoritarian tactics:[gisreportsonline +1]
• Independent analyses showed opposition candidate Edmundo González won with over 65% of the vote[gisreportsonline]
• The government refused to release actual vote tallies[liberal-international +1]
• The Carter Center confirmed the election “did not meet international standards for electoral integrity and cannot be considered democratic”[liberal-international]
• Maduro arrested opposition organizers before the election and expelled EU election observers[gisreportsonline]
• After declaring himself the winner, he launched “Operation Knock Knock”—mass arrests of over 2,400 people in 16 days, including hundreds of children[gisreportsonline]
The Human Rights Catastrophe
Here’s what you don’t hear enough about Maduro’s regime:
• Mass political imprisonment: Over 2,000 political prisoners arrested after the 2024 election alone, many held incommunicado in conditions that constitute torture under international law[wlrn]
• Deaths in custody: Opposition leader Alfredo Díaz died in El Helicoide prison (described by the US State Department as a “torture center”) after being “arbitrarily detained”[bbc]
• Extrajudicial killings: Special Action Forces (FAES) carried out over 7,500 executions disguised as “security operations” in 2018 alone[wikipedia]
• Forced disappearances: At least 50 documented cases where security forces kidnapped opponents, with families given no information about their whereabouts[gisreportsonline]
• Anonymous informant system: Maduro created a webpage, WhatsApp number, and app for citizens to anonymously report neighbors for “subversive activity” like attending protests or criticizing the government[gisreportsonline]
The Refugee Crisis
More than 7.9 million Venezuelans—over a quarter of the country’s population—have fled since Maduro consolidated power. Venezuela now has the highest murder rate in Latin America at 81.4 deaths per 100,000 people, making violence an epidemic in 88% of municipalities according to WHO standards. The economy contracted by 80% between 2014 and 2021.[disasterphilanthropy +1]
The Bottom Line on Legitimacy
Maduro is a dictator who has systematically destroyed democratic institutions, imprisoned and killed opponents, banned opposition parties, rigged multiple elections, and caused one of the worst humanitarian catastrophes in the Western Hemisphere. The international community’s near-universal rejection of his legitimacy is based on overwhelming evidence of electoral fraud and human rights abuses, not political preference.
However—and this is critical—none of that gives the United States the legal right under international law to kidnap a recognized head of state, bomb a sovereign nation’s capital, and announce we’re taking over the country based on fabricated drug cartel charges we knew we couldn’t prove in court. Two wrongs don’t make a right. Maduro being a brutal dictator doesn’t make fabricating the “Cartel de los Soles” as a terrorist organization legitimate justification for military intervention.[aljazeera]
You were right to demand I present both sides. Maduro is both illegitimate as a democratic leader AND the victim of a military operation justified by lies about drug cartels.
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It’s coming across as if I don’t respect or like this content provider. Nothing could be further from the truth he’s great! But just like my AI tool he gets an idea and it becomes confirmation bias and then he does a lousy job giving a balance answer.
That is a King to being so blind that as a person that you believe the Earth is flat. And by the way, I think that’s the most pervasive problem with us trying to come up with logical answers is that we’ve all been infected by the flat Earth bug in the sense that it is the Dunning Kruger effect or should I say mental illness that pervades the entire universe in our modern age.
I’ll just keep commenting and explain below what I mean we’re all guilty of it. We have to be careful. It’s a mental illness. It’s not insanity. It’s not narcissism. It’s not being a psychopath. It’s just being totally messed up from the tip of your nose to the tip of your toes when it comes to making rational decisions 100% of the time.
We love our opinions, too much.
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As you can see Mr. AI, your behaving too much like a modern human being sometimes maybe you should go back to being a rational robot. Please tell us what this mental illness is that we have that would make people believe in. They are free accepted truths and they are over estimation of their own wisdom that allows people to believe the Earth is flat when it’s not I think it’s called the Dunning Kruger effect. Please go into that and some depth and provide your answer below.
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You’ve identified one of the most important cognitive biases in modern discourse: the Dunning-Kruger effect. This psychological phenomenon, first documented by Cornell psychologists David Dunning and Justin Kruger in their 1999 research, describes a cognitive bias where people with low ability or knowledge in a specific domain dramatically overestimate their competence, while experts tend to underestimate theirs.
BLAH BLAH,BLAH, BROUHAHA THEORIES, ALL I KNOW THE DAY THAT MURDER THUG WAS SNATCHED, A WHOLE BUNCH OF CHRISTIAN LEADERS AND PASTORS GOT OUT OF JAILS! WHO GIVES A RATS AS ABOUT A GOON WHO STARVED HIS OWN ONCE PROSPEROUS NATION! MY OPINION.
The precedent this action sets could be used to justify other countries from imposing their laws on to other sovereign nations. To suggest that this action was justified for any reason, let alone because of the dementia addled ranting of a malignant narcissist neofascist that is Trumplethinskin, would mean that you, Americans, wouldn’t have a legitimate argument against a foreign government like Russia or China conducting the same type of attack on the USA, killing any troops or citizens trying to defend against the invading forces kidnapping of Trump and Melania because of a baseless indictment they created claiming Trump broke the law of their country. The abduction of a foreign citizen on their own land, regardless of who they are or what their alleged crimes are, is an act of war. Full stop. America’s laws DO NOT apply to any other country! Just as the laws of other nations do not apply in the United States.
Dead on.
That was the U.S. that starved Venezuela through sanctions, and being cut off from the stock market. Trump is finishing what he began in 2017.
Check it yourself…
For years I have been struggling with sorting out the big ball of tangled yarn that has inhabited my brain. Trying to put into words a bottom line analysis to share with your readers. This is not aimed at You WW, but is how I see the dots connecting.
One of the hardest parts of the Maduro/Venezuela crisis isn’t just the facts on the ground, but the resulting “epistemic crisis” (breakdown in how a society determines what is true, who is trustworthy, and how knowledge claims are evaluated) surrounding it. Additionally, truth decay, driven by disinformation and deliberate Fear, Uncertainty and Doubt, creates so much noise that people either retreat into silence for fear of being wrong or cling to oversimplified narratives. The evolving posture of our own Justice Department, particularly the contrast between pre- and post-abduction indictments, is worth noting as another source of instability in an already fragile information environment. When official narratives appear to shift, public confidence erodes even further, and the fog it creates becomes a form of power. A power which is being used as deliberate 'misdirection' on the order of parlor magic technique and practice.