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Posted on 01/10/2026 12:38:43 PM PST by Red6
President Donald Trump has assured the people of Venezuela that his undertaking to restore the country’s oil infrastructure will be mutually beneficial to both them and the U.S.
Ricardo Hausmann, professor of the practice of international political economy at the Harvard Kennedy School, isn’t convinced.
“There’s a reason why there’s no profit motive in government,” Hausmann told Fortune, referring to the U.S. controlling the Venezuelan oil market. “Profit motive in government is what we call corruption.”
Trump has unveiled lofty plans to revive Venezuela’s troubled oil industry, just days after U.S. forces captured Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro over the weekend. The White House explicitly said Maduro’s arrest—and the U.S.’s subsequent takeover of some of the country’s affairs—was an effort to dominate the Western Hemisphere, invoking the 19th century Monroe Doctrine to justify intervention in Venezuela. Venezuela is home to the world’s largest proven crude oil reserves.
“This is one of the countless good energy deals President Trump has brokered to restore American energy dominance that will benefit the American people, American energy companies, and the Venezuelan people,” White House spokesperson Taylor Rogers told Fortune in a statement.
(Excerpt) Read more at msn.com ...
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You have Biden drag us into a war in Ukraine and even after 3 years the MSM was beating a war drum, holding the line on how this was a great idea even though you CANNOT articulate a:
1. National security interest to the US.
2. Explain to the average American how this conflict will benefit him.
Our MSM regards Ukraine where we caused a war (NATO East expansion) hardly covered the Russian perspective and played apologetics for Biden 24/7 even in year 3 of this war with no end in sight.
To that end, the US MSM hardly covered the use of mercenaries in Ukraine or who is really paying for them (we are). The constant escalation of the conflict by our side as Ukraine began losing post failed counter offensive of 2023. In fact our MSM was painting the escalation with rosy colors, selling it as if these "wonder weapons" will surely turn the tide in our favor and how it's a great idea to do this. How Ukraine has no elections, banned opposition parties, how some opposition leaders have died under very suspicious circumstances. We don't report much on how TV, radio, Internet, and print media is censored in Ukraine, how those journalists that don't play along in Ukraine get blacklisted and even roughed up to include the death of US journalists: Gonzalo Lira. Suddenly, we have amnesia about the Nazi elements in Ukraine's military and government (even though you had Congressional headings on the topic before the war, UN reports etc. about this issue), how Ukraine was heavy handed in the ethnic Russian areas. In fact, we can't even seem to write about how there is a 20% ethnic Russian population in Ukraine (they apparently do not exist), or that Ukraine is also taking casualties and what those real numbers may look like, or how the current regime in Ukraine was more or less installed after a 2014 revolt / coups we helped instigate. In fact, the near 200 dead US citizens (not counting MIA, POW, WIA) in Ukraine that fought there as mercenaries gets hardly any reporting either.
A very incomplete list and the MSM ignores this story almost entirely: https://foreign-volunteers-killed-in-ukraine.fandom.com/wiki/List_of_Americans_killed_fighting_for_the_Ukrainian_side
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But then you have Venezuela:
Zero US casualties.
No US material losses.
A definitive start and end point (realistic and which we have control over) with a spelled-out goal post for the intervention.
Minimum losses to the Venezuelans.
Excellent coordination between government and the military.
Probably a long-term improvement for the Venezuelans as the Maduro government is ousted.
--A clear national security argument to be made: foreign Russian and Chinese influence in Venezuela.
--A clear interest to the American people can be spelled out: oil production and reserves, some cartel and drugs (the intervention sales pitch), a refugee crisis which impacts us.
Regards refugees: https://edition.cnn.com/2026/01/07/politics/venezuela-migrants-deportations-maduro
And then you get geniuses like this that basically put a negative spin on the story.
Does a war have to benefit someone else, some clown in the EU, or UN, but not us to be moral according to them?
How can you spin Venezuela or Iran negative, but then stand by as over a million in Ukraine are killed or maimed and not ask any hard questions for three years under Biden?
Harvard economist?? That is all you need to know about this story.
I don’t know much about this so I probably should just keep my mouth shut, but from my ignorant position it seems to me that if Venezuela is such a risky place that Exxon Mobil says it’s a no-go, Trump would be doing the Venezuelans a big favor if he can get anybody to invest there so that the oil business can be taken out of communist government control and put into the free market where Venezuelans could eventually profit.
Any American gain could be sort of like a finder’s fee that eventually delivers profit back to the people who deserve it: the Venezuelan people, governed by the leaders they really do elect, rather than those chosen by Cuba, China, Russia, Iran, and SErbia via the Smartmatic software run via servers in Belgrade, Serbia that were put in by a company half-owned by John Brennan. Those servers have been used to steal the 2020 US election, and they would have also stolen 2024 except that the US military blocked them.
They are part of the boilerplate media employment contract and a draconian NDA...
The oil industry in Venezuela is run by the government so it really has no motivation for profit or future investment. A profitable oil economy would likely benefit almost everyone in Venezuela.
I don't trust a Haaarvaaad anything.
Only socialism sees the world as a zero sum game. Profit motive is an expectation that ones efforts will produce fruit. A farmer is corrupt because he wants a return on his time and money? A government is corrupt because it wants a return on investing in infrastructure for its people?
Bingo!
How much did they receive from Hugo and Maduro?
Ricardo can go f himself. Who cares what a Harvard commie thinks about anything.
It’s called “MVGA” - Trump wants for Venezuela to be great again through oil and commerce with the USA as their main business pardner.
Good comments.
“Harvard economist?? That is all you need to know about this story.”
You beat me to it.
Isn’t it a shame the such a formerly prestigious University is now the punchline of jokes.
That's not the point. Trump is only doing this so that he can oppress womyn, children, persons of color, LGBTQs and to starve Venezuelan Gazans and other indigenous people.
Right.
I’ve heard some Venezuelans say they don’t care if US gets all the oil, if they can help Venezuela get back to a non-communist government where the economy can get back. I don’t think Trump is after all the oil, but I think he wants to do what he can to get them past the nightmare communist regime that stole everything from the people and gave it instead to China and Hezbollah. I think he wants them to have a vibrant economy that is friendly with the US, which would be a win-win for both countries. He’s always after win-win deals.
So is he legal? Just asking.
Democrat wars are good wars.
Republican wars are bad wars.
It’s nice to have the majority of the MSM and social media on your side.
Speculation and analysis:
The lack of any professional standards and need for sensationalist crap, being the first to report, a focus on journaling vs reporting (we moved away from objective fact-based reporting as in the 1950s) COMBINED with the fact that of the 6 major media conglomerates (they control roughly 90% of what the average person sees and hears in the US), 5 are owned by Democrats, 1 is pro Republican (Viacom), and most journalists are Democrats has created a media landscape that is a near avalanche of pro-Democrat so called news.
Sasha (the articles author) found someone with a title to bad mouth the Venezuela campaign.
Did he do that regards Ukraine? He had three (3) years and there are —A LOT— of topics that could be addressed. But I doubt it.
Sasha would rather attack a campaign with minimal cost to the US taxpayer, no US casualties, no material losses, few Venezuelan casualties, no scope creep, a defined objective which has been accomplished, where you CAN articulate a security and economic interest to the US as a nation and the average American citizen.
But Trump is a Republican, and that means it’s a bad war. Something wrong, a failure must be found.
Frankly, I am shocked that the movie 13 hours was ever made. Why? Hollywood is also ultra-liberal. This movie paints certain folks in a negative light. Albeit they only skirt their culpability in that matter.
Today most people get most their news from social media (liberal). Hollywood is liberal and they largely define the values (some idiot actor gets a neck tattoo, every wannabe cool guy/gal in the US gets a neck tattoo). The MSM is the “reliable and fact checked source for information” (not really but that’s how it is perceived), but they too are overwhelmingly liberal.
If you want to see how that plays out in the real world besides Ukraine, look at Biden and his mental state which was described as “sharp as a tack.” This was a guy that would incoherently ramble, freeze up and awkwardly stare for a very long time, do the leg lift to let one rip before a British Royal, shit his pants at the Vatican, couldn’t remember the names of his own cabinet members, gets lost on stage nor can find the entry door to the White House (where he lived) and frequently would fall up the stairs, on stage, etc.
Where was the title wave of news articles asking if he was fit to be President?
If you’re a Democrat on the national stage, you basically have the MSM, social media and Hollywood propping you up.
I don't trust a Haaarvaaad anything.
Yes indeed. Thank the Lord for DJT. I don’t think people realize what an artificial matrix we live in. Over the years FR has given me an excellent education.
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