Posted on 12/01/2025 12:53:55 AM PST by dennisw
Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro has received little support from long-time allies Russia and China as President Trump ramps up military pressure against Caracas.
Beijing and Moscow, Maduro’s two most powerful allies, have previously provided Venezuela with military equipment, financial aid, and army training in the face of American aggression — but both nations have strayed from their usual tactics as they face their own military and economic woes.
While Russia previously deployed two nuclear-capable bombers to Venezuela as a united show of force against the US in 2018, Moscow’s generosity has apparently dried up as it approaches its fourth year of war in Ukraine.
So far, Russia has only provided two oil tankers to help Caracas’ pump its own crude oil for export to China, Vladimir Rouvinski, an international relations professor at Icesi University, told the Wall Street Journal.
“These are small gestures that are not going to be sufficient if the US moves to deadly force on Venezuela,” said Rouvinksi, who tracks Moscow’s engagement in Latin America.
(Excerpt) Read more at nypost.com ...
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wow. I had not idea China provided 30 billion in military support to Venezuela in the past. Did the MSM or Fox report that?
Kremlin and CCP are not lifting a finger. Same as they did for the Ayatollahs. Tuck Qatarlson/ Rand Paul faction most disappointed, as so called BRICs alliance takes 2 big hits. So much for BRICs clown car being a threat to the US Dollar.
“wow. I had not idea China provided 30 billion in military support to Venezuela in the past. Did the MSM or Fox report that?”
This CCP investment will go up in smoke, if we can get someone good in there to replace Fidel clone Maduro. Another case of Zombie Joe not doing anything about it.
Mmmm. I just thought of something. America owns the Panama Canal now. That means Venezuela oil tankers need to travel the long way — Around Cape Horn — then travel up the Pacific to China.
The quicker DJT dispatches with Venezuela and Maduro, and focuses on domestic issues, the stronger his chances are of keeping the House majority. These Neocon excursions are best left to the belligerent nerds in the Bush GOPe.
Does China have refineries that can-do, the heavy - sour crude that Venezuela produces?
We should do the same with Ukraine.
Probably 30 billion in junk equipment. I’m sure that Venezuela doesn’t have anything to compete with what we have, and their pilots and soldiers are no match either. As far as the media goes, not a peep unless I missed something, which I doubt in this case.
Bondi should send him a strongly worded letter. That works well for her here.
Trump ramps up pressure on Maduro
Trump knows very well if things don’t get done in his term it never will get done.
He’s our last chance of saving America as we know it.
What a coup this would be to change Venezuela into a U.S. territory. Hell I’d settle for a new port for the U.S. navy.
They know that Venezuela is not in their backyard. I we had known the same about the Ukraine, American taxpayers would be a hundred billion dollars richer, and Russia would be our ally against EU leftists and its invading Muslims.
All oil is not created equal.
The Orinoco belt is not the source of all oil they output. There are other fields. There are also varied grades of viscosity within the Orinoco belt of fields. As in heavy and ultra heavy (this doesn’t get produced and is the majority of claimed big number reserves). The less heavy oil can certainly be refined in China.
The ultra heavy, no, and not in the US either.
However. Upgraders. Something new to talk about for FR guys who actually care about the only thing that matters — oil. Ultra heavy gets “upgraded” to a form that refineries can handle. There is also another issue, Sinovensa.
Rosneft (subsidiary) runs the Venezuela upgraders. Currently in recirculation mode to maintain equipment function — meaning there is nowhere to send the sanctioned output so the smart Rosneft people recirculate output in order to keep the upgrader functional.
CNPC and Ven run Sinovensa. This is a blender. The Maracaibo fields to the west have their output blended with Orinoco heavy. They are up to about 90K barrels/day last I looked.
The lessons?
1) There is no American exceptionalism in oil. No special expertise somehow only existing at Chevron or Exxon. Journalists love to write articles about how something is not working because only Americans can do that and America left that field, and it’s just silly. Rosneft and CNPC are running Venezuela just fine.
2) If there were no sanctions on Venezuela, they would be making plenty of money. Capitalism is not required to extract oil and sell it. It’s not required by the Sultan of Brunei, it’s not required of PetroBras, not required of Rosneft or Pemex or PetroChina or Equinor or any other state-owned oil company (which is the vast majority of the world’s oil companies, btw).
3) What happens if a Chinese or Russian flagged tanker loads up oil and takes it to market? The US does not interfere. A Russian tanker called Seahorse recently transported oil related products TO Venezuela and this enables oil to load onto Chinese flagged tankers for transport to China. Whoever is in charge of that blockade has chosen not to start WW III.
Kremlin and CCP are rightly concluding that it is only a matter of time before the American sheeple are stupid enough to elect another Democrat administration and now is not the right time to provoke a confrontation.
Cuba, you’re next.
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