The Russians have sent in about 200 troops and I've read pundits blathering about whether or not we should intervene and how that would go. I've also heard the situation described as the Venezuelan economy "worsening."
Huh?
What Venezuelan economy? They don't have electricity or water. You could have 4 fully-equipped Russian infantry divisions there and it wouldn't make a bit of difference. This isn't an economy in decline, it's one that has hit rock bottom.
Most of their skilled workers have fled. With the electricity out, just where do you go from here? What's the rush? Next week will be worse than this week. Maduro, if he can stay in power, will rule over a neolithic nation. Good for him.
It's a good idea for the media to report on the place, provided they describe it as a socialist nation in its steady-state condition. Other than that, there's no real rush to intervene. They're not going anywhere.
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Especially since, like so many other dictators over the years, Maduro has been holding onto power primarily by using the US as a bogeyman to keep his own populace in line. "Watch out for the evil Americans!", they cry. "They want to destroy our government, and then suck everything worthwhile out of our country!". And then our idiot government, rather than just responding with "what on earth are you talking about?" and ignoring them, instead goes whole-hog with sanctions and military aid to the rebels trying to *overthrow their government*. "See?", the dictator yells. "They really *are* trying to get us!". And this gets their people in line behind them, at least for a while, regardless of how evil or incompetent the dictator is.
It worked for the dictators of Cuba, Libya, North Korea, Iran, Iraq, Syria, Panama, Nicaragua, arguably the Palestinians, and probably a bunch of others that aren't occurring to me at the moment.
The most useful way to get rid of Maduro at this point is to just take a hands-off policy and wait for him to finish imploding on his own. Any direct action to remove him will just make him stronger, the same way it did with Castro.
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