America’s enemies just lost a strong ally in our neck of the woods, and we can all breathe a collective sigh of relief.
Maduro’s arrest has pluses, and, the inevitable minuses.
Whether this is a good thing for the people of Venezuela is an important criterion. News from Venezuela in recent years describes a corrupt, socialist government deeply involved with drug cartels. If Venezuela recovers from its economic and political swamp, it’s a good thing. (Keep in mind that Venezuela is said to have the largest oil reserves of any nation. Tapping these resources should help Venezuela restore their once-excellent economy, which it now woefully lacks.)
About 12 years ago, while walking our dog, I met a neighbor from Venezuela who had fled the country. He’d had a successful small business that had been destroyed by government policies. He said he would have stayed, except for the political oppression, disintegrating economy, and increasing public disorder.
This neighbor was very intelligent and hard working, as he’d established a new business here — your basic bootstrap entrepreneur.
Over the next few years, he described to me the steady deterioration of Venezuela and the increasing hardships of the people. He was describing a nation in collapse.
Clearly, Maduro’s arrest gives hope to Venezuelans that they may get a better government, freer society, and economic recovery. It depends on whether or not a new brutal drug cartel tyrant now grabs power. Presumably, Trump will work against that.
So, the prime criteria of Maduro’s arrest being good for Venezuelans is at least possible. A lot depends on how the USA follows through on our intervention.
The second most important criterion, for Americans, is will this be good for the USA?
Ending the socialist government in Venezuela could possibly help nations south of the border trend toward more conservative governments. It may decrease the flood of drugs into American bodies, which plagues our society and threatens our families and children.
It will probably decrease China’s leverage over Western civilization. Trump’s new National Security Strategy lists this as an important goal, as part of his revival of the Monroe Doctrine to protect the USA and the Western hemisphere. Anything that weakens China’s economic and political influence near us is good, worth the effort, and more important than worrying about whining liberals.
The downsides to Maduro’s arrest however, are many. It will mobilize Latin American leftists, communists, and drug lords into a frenzy of denunciations and attempts to energize anti-conservative political activity.
It will have a similar impact around the world. The outrage of Europe’s socialists, liberal whiners, and pervert coalitions may exceed Latin American outrage. This may not be that noticeable though, as these America haters have always operated at near maximum outrage.
Russia, China, and Islamic nations will express outrage according to their particular interests. This will mostly be for enraging their people against us, with a few economic, and social sanctions tossed in. But, they have all just lost a powerful ally in our neck of the woods.
Trying to convict Maduro in an American court seems to be the biggest hurdle; I don’t know why Maduro seems slated for arraignment in New York, a filthy nest of leftist judges. Maybe there are good reasons, but I don’t know of any at the moment. For sure, the legal battles will seem endless.
This will mobilize Trump haters and RINOs to challenge Trump at even higher levels of shriekiness. A new impeachment attempt seems inevitable. But, I’d rather Trump fight an impeachment on excellent moral grounds than some bureaucratic legal detail.
So, it’s very early to be assessing outcomes, but this seems to be very good for the MAGA nation. It all depends on how Trump’s team plays it, and on how strongly we MAGA supporters rally to Trump’s efforts.
