Posted on 12/21/2025 5:28:45 AM PST by yldstrk
This mom reflects what most Americans think.
I agree. All these old hippies I grew up with. Really pathetic.
yup. OP live really opened the can of worms regarding society’s ills. In January, Toledo OH comes back. Eye opening stuff.
My view is that drugs are not the primary issue. They are more a collateral issue. One, he is moving to keep Russia and China out of our hemisphere. Remember all the saber-rattling about Panama and Greenland? Same thing.
While he makes nice with Putin and Xi he is pushing them out. And going after the “shadow fleet”. Also, he is putting the squeeze on Cuba. Blockading Venezuela cuts off fuel to Cuba, which is already teetering on the brink. I think one of his goals is to free Cuba before he leaves office.
And the blockade is a bloodless way to bring down Maduro. For legal reasons he hasn’t been able to state that openly as a goal, so he talks about drugs and terrorism. But along with the Castro regime, he wants Maduro gone just on general principles.
If we start to see hits on Mexican cartel bosses, we’ll know that he is also serious about drugs, and it’s possible we may start to see that. Shutting the border has gone a long way to crippling their operations. But they are adapting.
Interesting. I can see that. DJT does overtly do stuff and say stuff that is promoting ultimate other and deeper goals so what you say could be part of it, actually.
Yes, I am well aware that cocaine adulterated with fentanyl has caused a heartbreaking number of American deaths.
Again, I am all for stopping this scourge. But facts are facts. The overwhelming majority of fentanyl comes here from Mexico. See my post #16 for more on fentanyl trafficking:
https://freerepublic.com/focus/chat/4358405/posts?page=18#18
See the DEA’s Drug Assessment Threat report here:
https://www.dea.gov/sites/default/files/2025-07/2025NationalDrugThreatAssessment.pdf
The Cartel of the Suns may be at “the top of the food chain” within Venezuela, and yes, real baddies, but not worldwide or the trafficking of drugs into the US. Not even mentioned in the above report.
Tren de Aragua is super nasty and I’d love to see these baddies wiped out. They aren’t so much involved in smuggling a large percentage of drugs into the US, but are responsible for a goodly portion of human trafficking and ery involved in distributing illegal drugs within the US. They are also into all manner of heinous criminal activity within the US. See page 18 of the report and read how horrible they are.
Yes it is! It’s really amazing seeing the behaviors of people in our society and especially how some folks feel like the laws shouldn’t apply to them.
I agree with your view.
Fentanyl isn’t even secondary. It’s all cocaine.
So, you think it’s really about oil?
Wait, are you claiming Venezuela is using oil to finance drug trafficking? Seriously? If you are not profiting off your drug deals and need something else to subsidize your drug biz, you ain’t doing it right!
Good post. Of course it’s not about drugs (and not at all about fentanyl!).
No doubt Rubio is thrilled at the prospect of the collapse of (1) Cuba and (2) the Maduro regime, but what’s the potential blowback if this plan succeeds?
We always like to imagine there will be a peaceful (or mostly peaceful) transition to the new ruler of our choice, but too often it does not work out that way. We might see Venezuela transformed into a sort of Libya on the Caribbean. We all know the ills launched from the failed state of Libya (the one on the Med) — floods of migrants, terrorists and crime, plus destabilization of countries in the Sahel (take that, France). Obama’s gift that keeps on giving. :(
And what if it isn’t successful and Maduro turns out to be as immovable as the Houthis are indestructible? I guess we could do what we did with the Houthis, declare victory and go home. “We blew up all your little boats, now bye!”
When you mention "business practices" you should keep in mind this is Venezuela in a formerly prosperous country, where citizens were reduced to eating zoo animals. In a socialist government such as Venezuela, all monetary assets are fungible. Money from sanctioned oil is in the same bucket in a socialist government as money from illegal drug production.
And all "assets" are used to promote ideological goals and power. So it doesn't make any sense to say Oil money is here and Drug profits are here. It doesn't operate the same way we do (or are supposed to) where money is allocated for specific purposes based on the actions of democratically elected officials.
In Venezuela, taxes collected on their own citizens are thrown into that same bucket as oil profits and illegal drug profits. There is no mandate that those taxes from Venezuelan citizens be funneled back into social support programs for farmers or the indigent.
That money is used for what the totalitarian leaders say it should be used for.
In any case, to me, it makes no difference to me whether it is cocaine, fentanyl, meth, or anything else. The entire drug issue is just one facet of the whole issue.
China is trying (with varying degrees of success) to make inroads in central and South America. Many Americans do not realize that at one point, Communist China controlled both ends of the Panama Canal. They get 70% of Venezuela's oil, off the back of American wealth that was stolen (they call it "nationalized", which sounds much nicer)
Just because we have issues with Marxists and Communists in our very own government doesn't mean we can willfully take our eye off the situation in the rest of our own hemisphere (or, in the case of the Biden and Obama administrations, fully support the CCPs advances in these areas.)
I don’t think a behavioral equivalency can be drawn between Latin Americans\Venezuelans and Mediterranean Muslims\Libyans. Libyan was\still is a tribal society* with a thin veneer of government. Remember Qaddafi was from the Banu Qadhadhfa tribe. (Hence his name Mommar al-Qaddafi, i.e. Mommar of the Qadhadhfa. They are notable for their role in the 1969 coup d’état King Idris.) Venezuela doesn’t have that instant fragmentation that tribal-based cultures have. As long as the US makes no attempt to govern\occupy. Venezuela will just settle into something like the normal Latin American routine. The is hopeful the trends to something other the a quasi-leftist comandante are on-going.
* The tribal basis of much of the world (Third World) is conveniently ignored by our 30 second sound bite media. Not only does explaining that not fit in the news program format it doesn’t fit the mindless leftist “all-cultures-are-equivalent-only-the-West-particularly-the-US-are-bad” narrative. They don’t want you thinking comparing and forming some independent opinion.
garble
“.. The is hopeful the trends to something other the a quasi-leftist comandante are on-going. ...”
Should be
The is hopeful the trends to something other THEN a quasi-leftist comandante GOVERNMENT are on-going.
You are, as expected, wrong on all counts. The cartels operate in all countries in that area. Fent comes in via any route that presents itself.
Each of those “little Vennie boats” (which you trivialize) carries enough drugs to kill hundreds, if not thousands. Importing across land has dropped significantly since the commie trash profiting from cartel bribes are out of power and the border has been significantly closed.
That’s a far cry from oil being used to subsidize or enable drug traffickng.
Also, most of the drug profits end up in the pockets of the cartels and military, especially military leaders. One could certainly argue that allowing military leaders lining their pockets with drug money keeps the military happy to be loyal to Maduro and keep him in power, however.
Yes, Venezuela became impoverished thanks to government corruption and mismanagement. Very sad. All the sanctions we’ve placed on Venezuela have had an impact, of course, but the gross mismanagement on the part of the government and corruption are the main culprits (although blaming the sanctions makes for fairly effective domestic PR).
China has been playing empire the smart and profitable way, and yes, making inroads and gaining influence all over, including in Central and South America. We continue to do it the expensive way, which is costing us dearly. Just look at our debt! Between 8 and 12 trillion (depending on the source) was racked up by our wars in Afghanistan and Iran alone.
Throughout history, empires that militarily overextended themselves have come to sad ends, from Rome to to the British Empire to the USSR. It would be interesting to see whether China’s method is more durable — but humans don’t live that long, so I guess I’ll never know.
You got a link to back up your claims?
I posted the link to the DEA’s Drug Assessment Threat report of 2025 in my #26 t0 back up what I posted:
https://freerepublic.com/focus/chat/4358405/posts?page=26#26
For more on fentanyl trafficking, see my #18:
https://freerepublic.com/focus/chat/4358405/posts?page=18#18
According to the 2025 DEA report, most illicit drugs come over the border from Mexico. Some is trafficked by air via Central America and certain Caribbean islands. And some drug cargo spends part of its journey on the sea.
You have not read or watched the CIA whistle blower Berntsen interviews about Cartel of the Suns. The history, their expansion, their controlling of multiple networks, their growth into the world’s largest mega cartel. How they have assumed control of other networks, internationally. Yes including fentanyl. The contracted narcos running the go-fast smuggling boats….just one source of their revenue. If we destroy that, its a start. Its about more than cutting off drugs…its about cutting off some of their power and money. Though Trump and Hegseth pixxing off cocaine runners and dealers losing money and cartel protection…excellent
This is not about one country, its become international. Global even.
Nor have you watched read or heard any of the reports done by Emerald Robinson on the Venezuelan election manipulation. Gary Berntsen, Patrick Byrne and others. Reported by Lara Logan and others. Thanks to patriots, The Venezuelan whistle blowers are under US protection. The 2024 election was saved because these people took action.
Do some research.
Maduro is a tool and a cancer. Needs to go.
If you want to believe Gary Bentsen and Emerald Robinson et al, you’ll believe them, and nothing will change your mind.
Why didn’t the DEA report mention anything at all about “Cartel of the Suns”? Hmm.
This academic researcher seems to think the Cartel of the Suns is something of a fairytale:
Is he any more or less credible than Bentsen?
How about this?
https://theiceman.substack.com/p/the-conspiracists-war
Any more of less credible than Bentson and Robinson?
I’ve got doubts all around, but I don’t find Bentsen and Robinson all that credible on this subject. (And Emerald Robinson went all in on that nutty conspiracy theory about the Covid vaccines containing luciferase — oh dear!)
And the question remains: why is all this only coming from this loose cannon guy Bentsen? Why not so much as a mention in the DEA report?
Best I can tell, the so-called “Cartel of the Suns” is likely as described here, not the Humongous Scary Behemoth alleged by Berntsen::
“The Cartel of the Suns is a term used to describe groups within Venezuela’s armed forces implicated in a wide range of criminal activities, including gasoline smuggling, illegal mining, and other corruption schemes – most notably drug trafficking.
Rather than a hierarchical organization, the Cartel of the Suns functions as a loose network of cells within the army, navy, air force, and Bolivarian National Guard (Guardia Nacional Bolivariana – GNB), spanning from the lowest to the highest ranks. These groups operate essentially as drug trafficking organizations.
It is not clear how these cells relate to one another, or whether they interact at all.”
It’s an interesting article (with no love for Chavez or Maduro!).
Link: https://insightcrime.org/venezuela-organized-crime-news/cartel-de-los-soles-profile/
That is undoubtedly true that the profits end up in the pockets of the leaders. After all, they aren’t cost centers that are defined.
My outlook on this is derived from the specific work of F.A. Hayek “The Road To Serfdom” which argues that socialism cannot work, and is in any form a version of tyranny by definition. (I don’t view the political spectrum as Fascists/Republicans on the right side of the spectrum, and Socialists/Communists on the Left side.
I view the spectrum as no government (anarchy) as the terminus point at one side, and Socialists/Fascists/Communists clustered and somewhat indistinguishable on the opposite side of that same spectrum with total Orwell-like iron fist of government at the terminus of that side.
That is, I see a progression from no government to things like Greek-style “Democracy/Constitutional Republics somewhere in the middle, then socialistic oligarchies/Fascism/Communism all clustered at the other end, and those things can be somewhat indistinguishable in many ways. (In the middle of the 20th Century, Communists and Fascists both recognized the other ideology (Communists vs Fascists) was a fertile ground for new recruits for each of them, because even they understood that they weren’t that different in the end.
That is why I tend to lump Venezuela in with Cuba, China, Russia, et al because even though they are self-described as socialist, anyone who pays attention knows that the Venn diagram of socialism/communism/fascism all share common territory.
And I agree-blaming the sanctions on others is always an effective internal PR tactic. Germany did it quite effectively in the first half of the 20th Century, and Cuba did it quite effectively in the second half...and still doing it.
Where I would part ways with your analysis is any consideration of whether Communist China’s intentionally hybridized form of Communism/Capitalism has long legs or not-in the end, when they have control, the velvet glove of the Capitalist world trade partner will be removed, and Orwell’s “1984” will be the result.
Communist China would do that openly now if they thought they could still manage the “capitalist trade partner and friend to the world of commerce” but they know they have to be patient. They have managed to hollow out the industrial capacity of their enemies to an unprecedented degree, but...they aren’t there yet.
I see that you view this endeavor in Venezuela as an overextension of military force. I see it differently. For example, I see any involvement in Ukraine, any at all, as both a military and political overextension, and part of that is that I still view Ukraine and Russia through a historical prism where Ukraine was sharing the power with Russia in the Soviet Union, and had plenty of Ukrainians in the top levels of industry and government. Neither is part of the now defunct Soviet Union, but I still view this as an internecine fight in which we have zero strategic interest.
I do not see the events in Venezuela in that same light. We DO have a vested interest there, just as we do with respect to the Panama Canal.
With Communist China it may be more durable than the Constitutional Republic of The United States, but I have to throw my lot in with the ideology that values the individual over the collective, so I am compelled to support the one (US) over the other (CCP). My tagline makes my sentiment clear in that respect.
You read Berntsen’s bio and experience?
Too bad you missed the interviews with Lara Logan and others about what led up to 2020 being gamed, the history of Cuba and Maduro and the development of election manipulation via electronic voting, the role of Patrick Byrne in funding $80 million of his own in investigating and securing the evidence. The daring action that stopped the fraud from working in the 2024 election swing states. Real world Clancy stuff.
Why isnt the public aware that Venezuela basically committed an act of war by fostering the election fraud group that helped steal the US presidency in 2020?
Emerald broke her story she’d been researching for almost 2 years in November because another outlet was about to out some of it.
It’s a national security issue, because Americans and others whose elections were designed could lose all trust in the integrity of elections. And because so many politicians ( US and global) have benefitted politically and financially from not exposing this.
Based on the report, At least Musk and Trump are aware, having seen the evidence.
Twitter has the full thread of the Robinson story if it hasnt been scrubbed
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