Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

Trump’s Gunboat Diplomacy
The Nation ^ | Nov 6, 2025 | Peter Kornbluh and William M. LeoGrande

Posted on 12/16/2025 4:27:29 AM PST by where's_the_Outrage?

Any day now, a US Navy strike force, led by the USS Gerald R. Ford aircraft carrier, will join an armada of war ships already positioned off the coast of Venezuela. Described in the naval media as “the most capable, adaptable, and lethal combat platform in the world,” the USS Gerald R. Ford bristles with state-of-the-art attack aircraft on its massive deck: Super Hornet fighters, Growler electronic warfare jets, and Seahawk helicopters among them. And the battleship carries some 5,000 seamen and Marines, adding to the phalanx of 10,000 military personnel already deployed on bases in Puerto Rico and on at least ten other war ships now aiming their artillery, cruise missiles and bomb-dropping drones at Caracas.

This show of force is unprecedented in the 21st century. Not since the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis has the United States assembled such a lethal array of firepower in the Caribbean. Trump administration officials have begun leaking attack plans to media outlets such as the Wall Street Journal and the Miami Herald, which have reported that initial raids would target Venezuelan military installations and that US airstrikes “could begin within days, even hours.” An unprovoked US military assault on one of Latin America’s largest nations appears likely in the near future.

Since the Venezuelan armed forces have not attacked or even threatened to attack the United States, the Trump administration has been forced to concoct a public justification for its actions—the widely reported but spurious claim that Washington is combatting “narco-terrorists.” The post-9/11 war on terrorism established a precedent for waging war against so-called “non-state actors;” defining low level speedboat pilots and alleged drug smugglers as “terrorists” is intended to provide a dubious legal cover for killing them.

(Excerpt) Read more at thenation.com ...


TOPICS: Constitution/Conservatism; Foreign Affairs; News/Current Events; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: caribbean; gunboatdiplomacy; ohnoanyway; smuggling; venezuela
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-2021 next last
Did a search and didn't find this month-old article posted. I'm a Peace thru Superior Firepower kind of guy so I support the change.

From the article: "Not since the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis has the United States assembled such a lethal array of firepower"

What about the Granada invasion? Figured that'd have a lot of support.

1 posted on 12/16/2025 4:27:29 AM PST by where's_the_Outrage?
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | View Replies]

To: where's_the_Outrage?

The Nation
Katrina vanden Heuvel
Go away.


2 posted on 12/16/2025 4:31:19 AM PST by bwest
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: where's_the_Outrage?

I wonder what the narco-boat count was before the military started hunting them down and what it is now. I would guess there aren’t too many people willing to risk it now, but I don’t know the numbers...wish I did.


3 posted on 12/16/2025 4:42:21 AM PST by econjack
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: where's_the_Outrage?

The Panama, Grenada and Dominican Republic interventions were far bigger in firepower terms. But this is The Nation, where they don’t let facts get in the way of a good polemic.


4 posted on 12/16/2025 4:43:20 AM PST by Zhang Fei (My dad had a Delta 88. That was a car. It was like driving your living room)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: where's_the_Outrage?

The Nation is an old-line Communist publication, plain and simple.

Really good, very long article about Pentagon leadership.

A Week In The Pentagon – Chaos, Complexity and Hope

https://gcaptain.com/a-week-in-the-pentagon-chaos-complexity-and-hope/

Also covers a fair bit about what is really going with the Caribbean surge.


5 posted on 12/16/2025 4:45:31 AM PST by FreedomPoster (Islam delenda est)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: where's_the_Outrage?
The Grenada invasion under Reagan?

Not exactly a huge challenge.

The island is 133 square miles.

Population?

115,000 - mostly poor Black Africans.

6 posted on 12/16/2025 4:45:53 AM PST by zeestephen (Trump Landslide? Kamala lost the election by 230,000 votes, in WI, MI, and PA.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: where's_the_Outrage?; All
https://youtu.be/9y3nVjTdWT8

This is what is happening to Americans with a drug habit, all day, every day.

The people here are someone's children, brothers, sisters, family and loved ones.

If there is a heartless SOB in this country who objects to President Trump's effort to end this, they can kiss my a*&!!!!

7 posted on 12/16/2025 4:48:03 AM PST by SMARTY (In politics, stupidity is not a handicap. Napoleon Bonaparte I)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: where's_the_Outrage?

It’s only gonna be “ lethal” if Maduro and his cartels keep doing bad stuff that kills Americans….plus carrying out the somewhat lesser sins of killing our democracy with election rigging and paying off corrupted politicians and sending thousands of young angry male paramilitary criminals and gang bangers to take over our cities …

Ya think?


8 posted on 12/16/2025 4:50:19 AM PST by silverleaf (“Inside Every Progressive Is A Totalitarian Screaming To Get Out” —David Horowitz)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: econjack

9 posted on 12/16/2025 4:51:22 AM PST by FreedomPoster (Islam delenda est)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 3 | View Replies]

To: SMARTY; All
THERE'S MORE.....

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/hxVPrjL050g?feature=share

If this doesn't break your heart, youd on't have one!!!!

10 posted on 12/16/2025 4:52:12 AM PST by SMARTY (In politics, stupidity is not a handicap. Napoleon Bonaparte I)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 7 | View Replies]

To: bwest

Katrina vanden Shovel. Q.E.D.

That’s what I used to call her when she was on TV.


11 posted on 12/16/2025 5:08:29 AM PST by sauropod
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: where's_the_Outrage?

For starters, the Ford is not a battleship. But what do you expect from the “Nation”?


12 posted on 12/16/2025 6:48:19 AM PST by ealgeone
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: where's_the_Outrage?
Since the Venezuelan armed forces have not attacked or even threatened to attack the United States,

Well, no, Venezuela is not using its armed forces, but it sure as hell is sending narcotics in cigarette boats to destroy American citizens. It's an attack.

13 posted on 12/16/2025 6:49:05 AM PST by libertylover (The HBM (Has Been Media) is almost all AGENDA-DRIVEN and HATE-DRIVEN, not-truth driven.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: where's_the_Outrage?

14 posted on 12/16/2025 7:00:47 AM PST by Karl Spooner
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: econjack

Since sinking the first drug boat a few months ago, we now have to sink 2 or 3 per week or the fish start attacking real fishermen in real fishing boats...


15 posted on 12/16/2025 7:11:29 AM PST by Dixie Yooper (Ephesians 6:11)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 3 | View Replies]

To: where's_the_Outrage?

An unprovoked US military assault on one of Latin America’s largest nations appears likely in the near future.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>..
Unprovoked? I think flooding the streets of our country with life-threatening drugs that are killing a hundred times more people than have been killed on that country’s drug boats is more than enough provocation to put it out of business.


16 posted on 12/16/2025 7:11:54 AM PST by fortes fortuna juvat (I decided in 2008 that I'd rather be an American than a Democrat! "Deus Hoc Vult!")
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: where's_the_Outrage?

“An unprovoked military assault” 🙄


17 posted on 12/16/2025 7:25:13 AM PST by Georgia Girl 2 (The only purpose of a pistol is to fight your way back to the rifle you should never have dropped)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: FreedomPoster

There’s a call on line #1. A Mr. R. Paul Massie is interested in making a purchase...


18 posted on 12/16/2025 7:52:08 AM PST by SaveFerris (Luke 17:28 ... as it was in the Days of Lot; They did Eat, They Drank, They Bought, They Sold ......)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 9 | View Replies]

To: SMARTY

If there is a heartless SOB in this country who objects to President Trump’s effort to end this, they can kiss my a*&!!!!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Best post of the day!


19 posted on 12/16/2025 8:39:49 AM PST by mlitefan (Long time lurker...)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 7 | View Replies]

To: where's_the_Outrage?
Like Obama's "Gunboatdrone Diplomacy"?
20 posted on 12/16/2025 8:40:54 AM PST by T.B. Yoits
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-2021 next last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson