Russia withdrawing influence from Venezuala will definitely leave a power vacuum worth stabilizing.

Various pizzerias nearby the Pentagon are reporting above average traffic.

As of 1:45pm ET pic.twitter.com/4QHJPmxDIC

— Pentagon Pizza Report (@PenPizzaReport) October 31, 2025

According to military sources cited by the Trinidad and Tobago Express, the Trinidad and Tobago Defence Force has been placed on high alert, with the same elevated readiness extended to the Trinidad and Tobago Coast Guard.

The internal alert level, referred to as “State One… pic.twitter.com/gGXbQtUZiM

— GMI (@Global_Mil_Info) October 31, 2025

Significant GPS interference and jamming, previously not seen before, has been observed since October 29 over coastal areas of Northern Venezuela alongside Trinidad and Tobago. pic.twitter.com/3bkZVYDTWf

— OSINTdefender (@sentdefender) October 31, 2025

Sims said:

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Russia withdrawing influence from Venezuala will definitely leave a power vacuum worth stabilizing.

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I think you are right. Putin has his hands full in Ukraine and Russian oil refineries taking a beating. This is more about we know you cannot protect your buddy Maduro anymore. It is not about the drugs, well maybe a little. But I really don't think you send that big of a military presence there to knock out a few drug boats.

docb said:

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Sims said:

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Russia withdrawing influence from Venezuala will definitely leave a power vacuum worth stabilizing.

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I think you are right. Putin has his hands full in Ukraine and Russian oil refineries taking a beating. This is more about we know you cannot protect your buddy Maduro anymore. It is not about the drugs, well maybe a little. But I really don't think you send that big of a military presence there to knock out a few drug boats.

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I actually think the more likely scenario is that Trump, Putin and Xi have agreed on terms...so to speak.

ETA: It's one thing for a carrier group to be moved to that part of the world...it's a whole other thing for it to leave the med and come to that part of the world.

Who?mikejones! said:

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According to military sources cited by the Trinidad and Tobago Express, the Trinidad and Tobago Defence Force has been placed on high alert, with the same elevated readiness extended to the Trinidad and Tobago Coast Guard.

The internal alert level, referred to as “State One… pic.twitter.com/gGXbQtUZiM

— GMI (@Global_Mil_Info) October 31, 2025

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They will be hit guaranteed. Easiest retaliatory strike

captkirk said:

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Won't be much of a "war"

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Agreed. Striking specific target, drug cartels, is not a war. IMHO Venezuela will not, nor has the capability to wage war.

“Maduro is ending, and a free and prosperous Venezuela is dawning,” a source close to the White House told the New York Post.
“Within days, Maduro will exist only in the past tense, and in history’s judgment.” pic.twitter.com/2oNUNnYajD

— Faytuks Network (@FaytuksNetwork) October 31, 2025

docb said:

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Honestly something feels off about all of this. I think the drug boat hits maybe just a soft transition into something more. Why Venezuela? There are certainly bigger drug manufactures in South/Central America. I think there is more to this than the drug front.

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Not really. Trump wants China out of South America. They've already publicly said one of the reasons they are putting pressure on Maduro is to prevent further incursion by China.

It's the same reasons they gave for backing Milei in Argentina. It's just with them they are already on the right path.

IOW, Monroe Doctrine 2.0 - China.

YouBet said:

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docb said:

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Honestly something feels off about all of this. I think the drug boat hits maybe just a soft transition into something more. Why Venezuela? There are certainly bigger drug manufactures in South/Central America. I think there is more to this than the drug front.

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Not really. Trump wants China out of South America. They've already publicly said one of the reasons they are putting pressure on Maduro is to prevent further incursion by China.

It's the same reasons they gave for backing Milei in Argentina. It's just with them they are already on the right path.

IOW, Monroe Doctrine 2.0 - China.

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I think the Venezuela movements are more targeted toward Russia. Last year, if you'll remember, Russia brought a frigate and nuke sub to cruise around Cuban and Venezuelan ports to mess around with Biden.

Sims said:

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YouBet said:

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docb said:

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Honestly something feels off about all of this. I think the drug boat hits maybe just a soft transition into something more. Why Venezuela? There are certainly bigger drug manufactures in South/Central America. I think there is more to this than the drug front.

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Not really. Trump wants China out of South America. They've already publicly said one of the reasons they are putting pressure on Maduro is to prevent further incursion by China.

It's the same reasons they gave for backing Milei in Argentina. It's just with them they are already on the right path.

IOW, Monroe Doctrine 2.0 - China.

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I think the Venezuela movements are more targeted toward Russia. Last year, if you'll remember, Russia brought a frigate and nuke sub to cruise around Cuban and Venezuelan ports to mess around with Biden.

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True, but the point still stands. Granted, Russia no longer has much of an ability to project force beyond Ukraine at this point anyway so they are largely irrelevant. Would look at this as preventive maintenance against China establishing anything and booting out the vestiges of any Russian influence.

My Dad was being transferred to Caracas in the 1990s for work to head up a telecommunications dept there. He was in the Capitol when Venezuelan fighterjets flew thru downtown and Chavez took power. He flew back the next day. My parents had housing ready. I was looking forward to coming down when they got settled in. That country needs a cleansing now.

I do not have any inside knowledge of whether anything is going down.

BREAKING:

USA just closed off the airspace near Puerto Rico with a NOTAM announcing hot pit refueling at the local airport.

Hot pit refuelling means aircraft are refuelled with their engines still running so they can take off quickly again. Long night ahead for Maduro… pic.twitter.com/g9ObTx98S0

— Visegrád 24 (@visegrad24) October 31, 2025

Waiting for markets to close

Yukon Cornelius said:

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Waiting for markets to close

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Thats my thought also

Venezuelan terrorist regime also huge supporters of Iranian terrorist regime

The Carrier has arrived. [/protoss voiceover]

Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro has reached out to Russia, China and Iran with requests to enhance its worn military capabilities and solicit assistance, requesting defensive radars, aircraft repairs and potentially missiles, according to internal documents from the U.S.… pic.twitter.com/XIa8RgIBUD

— OSINTdefender (@sentdefender) October 31, 2025

fc2112 said:

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I do not have any inside knowledge of whether anything is going down.

BREAKING:

USA just closed off the airspace near Puerto Rico with a NOTAM announcing hot pit refueling at the local airport.

Hot pit refuelling means aircraft are refuelled with their engines still running so they can take off quickly again. Long night ahead for Maduro… pic.twitter.com/g9ObTx98S0

— Visegrád 24 (@visegrad24) October 31, 2025

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Can a pilot translate what closing off that airspace really means? (Sorry for the dumb question and TIA.)

UPDATED: #USA military build-up of forces around the Caribbean Sea, as all eyes are on #Venezuela.

Disclaimer: All ship locations are approximate and may be a few days out of date by the time of production - this is merely intended to represent potential assets! pic.twitter.com/AZynNhKAuC

— DefenceGeek 🇬🇧 (@DefenceGeek) October 31, 2025

aggiehawg said:

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fc2112 said:

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I do not have any inside knowledge of whether anything is going down.

BREAKING:

USA just closed off the airspace near Puerto Rico with a NOTAM announcing hot pit refueling at the local airport.

Hot pit refuelling means aircraft are refuelled with their engines still running so they can take off quickly again. Long night ahead for Maduro… pic.twitter.com/g9ObTx98S0

— Visegrád 24 (@visegrad24) October 31, 2025

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Can a pilot translate what closing off that airspace really means? (Sorry for the dumb question and TIA.)

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Yes, it'll be put in the NOTAMS as restricted airspace and to stay out of it.

5Amp said:

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He is hated by his people and once Trump gives the order, expect a full revolution and his quick demise.

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Didn't we say the same thing about Iraq and Saddam?

Guyana oil is 75% US. 25% China. Don't F around with the superpowers oil.

Dan Scott said:

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Guyana oil is 75% US. 25% China. Don't F around with the superpowers oil.

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More importantly, Exxon has a massive find/project offshore Guyana.

If this is intended for the Venezuelan military as a means of regime change, I believe our efforts would be better spent elsewhere; Venezuelans should overthrow their own dictator.

It's about a show of force and dominating one of russias puppet.

Freedom for Venezuela

One Russian transport plane is not going to do anything to stop us if we decide to attack them.

Quote:

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Yes, it'll be put in the NOTAMS as restricted airspace and to stay out of it.

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But that far off of the coast of Puerto Rico, that's not international waters and airspace? Military, from US only?

Hard to tell from the little map whose airspace that is. Not sure where the carrier battlegroup is, but it puts out a flight restriction when it conducts flight operations...only people who want to avoid a mid air incident will care. Others, like Russians or Chinese will violate it to a certain extent. I havent followed this closely, but that seems to be for a high traffic military aircraft lane to a landbased airport where they can rapid refuel and then get back out.

Carriers operate on a launch/ recovery cycle. It reduces their sortie rate as compared to land based aircraft. So this may well be a solution to that.

The warning is primarily for civlian traffic. Its going to potentially be filled with fast moving military aircraft at all altitudes and not necessarily in constant contact with civilian ATC.

YouBet said:

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One Russian transport plane is not going to do anything to stop us if we decide to attack them.

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The Russians already don't have enough air defenses to protect their own refineries. Zero chance they are sending any significant number to Venezuela.

China wants their money back from Maduro. China probably already green lighted Trump.

With that said….this has nothing to do with regime change….regime change already happened last year when Edmundo Gonzalez was elected President .

96AgGrad said:

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5Amp said:

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He is hated by his people and once Trump gives the order, expect a full revolution and his quick demise.

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Didn't we say the same thing about Iraq and Saddam?

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I have seen a lot of people late to the Venezuelan game trying to compare it to Iraq. Totally different scenarios. Don't listen to Qatar's propaganda

BillYeoman said:

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96AgGrad said:

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5Amp said:

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He is hated by his people and once Trump gives the order, expect a full revolution and his quick demise.

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Didn't we say the same thing about Iraq and Saddam?

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I have seen a lot of people late to the Venezuelan game trying to compare it to Iraq. Totally different scenarios. Don't listen to Qatar's propaganda

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Because THIS TIME regime change will be easy!

Just like the next time communism is tried.