Geminiv said:

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So if there was no oil none of this would be happening. Realistically.

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If there was no oil, Commie China, Russia, Iran, Cuba and Hezbollah wouldn't be crawling all over the place. However, the cartels would still be there so maybe.

Since Trump told the oil companies BEFORE the raid, we know what the true reason for the raid.

TexasAggie73 said:

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Since Trump told the oil companies BEFORE the raid, we know what the true reason for the raid.

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Which is?

It's national security, oil, and drugs. All of it.

I support the Monroe Doctrine. But the Monroe Doctrine also said we would not interfere with European affairs.

Kyle Field Shade Chaser said:

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It's national security, oil, and drugs. All of it.

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I was asking someone since they didn't seem to agree.

We need to pillage that oil industry and use the proceeds for 1 thing, pay down the national debt, strengthen the dollar, and keep the petrodollar in the forefront.

Let their country grow and prosper but tax the **** out of it to pay for having to govern the region with US taxpayer dollars.

It's the imperialist in me but in order to fund the governance of the hemisphere, it must come at a cost. And letting oil companies make the profit while the US tax payer foots the bill seems misaligned… but hey, we screwed that up in Afghanistan too where we could've taken over all of their resources as well.

Just whistlin' as we walk by the cemetery.

Queso1 said:

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I support the Monroe Doctrine. But the Monroe Doctrine also said we would not interfere with European affairs.

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This is Monroe Doctrine 2.0 LATAM Boogaloo.

Agree on The Monroe Doctrine, also agree on drugs. However, I do believe the overall goal for the USA in the new world is to stabilize it. Stable governments, no nukes, and good trading partners without Europe, Asia or whoever else influencing our Hemisphere. This is good practical policy. Consistently enforcing it, let's our enemies know we are dedicated to this policy.

Oil in the country, just makes it easier to do. Allows us to make change and sell their oil to pay for cost to fix their country.

ChoppinDs40 said:

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We need to pillage that oil industry and use the proceeds for 1 thing, pay down the national debt, strengthen the dollar, and keep the petrodollar in the forefront.

Let their country grow and prosper but tax the **** out of it to pay for having to govern the region with US taxpayer dollars.

It's the imperialist in me but in order to fund the governance of the hemisphere, it must come at a cost. And letting oil companies make the profit while the US tax payer foots the bill seems misaligned… but hey, we screwed that up in Afghanistan too where we could've taken over all of their resources as well.

Just whistlin' as we walk by the cemetery.

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The really big problem with this strategy is what will happen as our federal government will grow, spend more, spend more, spend more. What you're saying is get more money spend more money on more fraud more waste more poorly run programs.

100%. That's why it'll never happen. The only real way it works is if that tax, dollar for dollar, goes to pay down the debt. And no other increased budgetary items are line item'd

This, like everything else, will be to grow the wealth of few on the backs of many.

It was done for many reasons (most not altruistic) but the primary one was the self preening to difficulty ratio was very high here.

It wasn't a difficult operation generally speaking (small number of forces involved, plays to our strengths such as SF, air power, etc.) so the risk was relatively minor, it throws a chunk of red meat out for the base and allows Trump to do what his base loves the most: strut around and "own the libs".

Probably doesn't accomplish much in the grand scheme of things.

pagerman @ work said:

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It was done for many reasons (most not altruistic) but the primary one was the self preening to difficulty ratio was very high here.

It wasn't a difficult operation generally speaking (small number of forces involved, plays to our strengths such as SF, air power, etc.) so the risk was relatively minor, it throws a chunk of red meat out for the base and allows Trump to do what his base loves the most: strut around and "own the libs".

Probably doesn't accomplish much in the grand scheme of things.

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I mean, other than diminishing the influence of China, Russia, and Iran in our backyard sphere of influence. No big deal, really.

I'm going to become InfinityAg on this topic like a dog on a bone and be annoying - people's opinions on why we did this are irrelevant. What you posted here is nonsense. We didn't primarily do this for preening.

The administration laid out right after getting in office what our new DOW Strategic Doctrine would be which is Monroe Doctrine 2.0 focused on keeping China, Russia, and Iran out of the Western Hemisphere. It's official written policy and has been shared multiple times on multiple threads. So what you are seeing here is simply them executing the doctrine they told us about months ago.

China has publicly said they will not be dissuaded from infiltrating LATAM and the Caribbean in order to degrade our influence. Iran's Hezbollah has their WH base of operations in VZ - one of the worst terrorist groups on the planet. Russia we all know about.....

So this is us pushing back and making sure we at least maintain control of our backyard.

JW said:

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Agreed, though oil definitely plays a part in the geopolitics. Drugs just provides the legal cover.

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Drugs is the cover. If there were no oil in the countries south of our border we wouldn't even know they existed much less involve ourselves in them.

That it's becoming obvious and openly spoken about by the president and some in DC is at least honesty.

If W would've been as open and honest instead of the lies used or made up to get is in a decades long cluster.

aggiehawg said:

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I look at it this way.

Cheaper method to refill the SPR quickly. So there's that. And that wouldn't affect international oil markets that much. Side benefit, pisses off China and Cuba.

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I am being lazy. How empty are the SPR?

Oil = national security.

rab79 said:

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Geminiv said:

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So if there was no oil none of this would be happening. Realistically.

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If there were no oil there wouldn't have been anything for chavez to nationalize, therefore no reason to overthrow the existing government. You take oil out of the equation and you change the last 100 years of history of the country

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Bingo! If there was no oil, they'd just be another South American country with an illegal drug and agricultural fueled economy that I doubt even China and Russia would give a crap about.

Because their is oil, and oil is becoming a finite resource, we have to pay attention. Why would we allow other world super powers a foothold in our Hemisphere; especially, those that are major enemies to us and have super sonic Nukes that could be fired from Venezuela and reach our borders in 5 minutes...

It's pretty much the same reasons Putin doesn't want NATO fiddling around on his border in Ukraine.

Ramdiesel said:

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rab79 said:

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Geminiv said:

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So if there was no oil none of this would be happening. Realistically.

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If there were no oil there wouldn't have been anything for chavez to nationalize, therefore no reason to overthrow the existing government. You take oil out of the equation and you change the last 100 years of history of the country

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Bingo! If there was no oil, they'd just be another South American country with an illegal drug and agricultural fueled economy that I doubt even China and Russia would give a crap about.

Because their is oil, and oil is becoming a finite resource, we have to pay attention. Why would we allow other world super powers a foothold in our Hemisphere; especially, those that are major enemies to us and have super sonic Nukes that could be fired from Venezuela and reach our borders in 5 minutes...

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And Greenland presents similar issues, even though they have rare earth minerals. I just saw the following on x that lays it out.

Greenland - As viewed from a proper map

Why Greenland? Well because Moscow bases almost all of their strategic military assets on the Kola Peninsula next to Finland. This is where the Russian ICBM silos, submarine bases, and their strategic bombers are.

If you look at the… pic.twitter.com/z6qECCJ3u5

— Object Zero (@Object_Zero_) January 6, 2026

So if Maduro is under indictment for drugs, that's the pretext. The ultimate goal is a fundamental reset of the Western Hemisphere's relationship with the USA. It is international power politics to its core.

2000AgPhD said:

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So if Maduro is under indictment for drugs, that's the pretext. The ultimate goal is a fundamental reset of the Western Hemisphere's relationship with the USA. It is international power politics to its core.

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Of which I'm wholly on board.

2000AgPhD said:

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So if Maduro is under indictment for drugs, that's the pretext. The ultimate goal is a fundamental reset of the Western Hemisphere's relationship with the USA. It is international power politics to its core.

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Fortress America my good man. Trump has secured the gatehouse defenses (border). Outer defenses in the works (golden dome). This is battlements and curtain walls (western hemisphere).

Queso1 said:

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I support the Monroe Doctrine. But the Monroe Doctrine also said we would not interfere with European affairs.

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We honored that for almost 100 years, but WWs I and II nullified that aspect of it. It happens.

FCBlitz said:

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aggiehawg said:

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I look at it this way.

Cheaper method to refill the SPR quickly. So there's that. And that wouldn't affect international oil markets that much. Side benefit, pisses off China and Cuba.

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I am being lazy. How empty are the SPR?

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Biden drew them down a lot to try to bring down gas prices (which never works) but Trump has steadily refilled them month after month since he took office. Now down a little over a third left to fill up.

I would note that the trade war and proverbial war on Canadian sovereignty is also about the same thing; Canada had under Trudeau largely aligned with China in terms of trade and money laundering policies. It's going to come to a head still, and is relevant as the drug trade into/out of North America long utilized Canada's notoriously lax money laundering banking system.

As has been known for some time, Carney is a CCP banking stooge.

Quote:

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Two-thirds of Canada's economy is powered by trade, and roughly three-quarters of its exports flow to the U.S. It's a C$1.3 trillion annual relationship that was celebrated on both sides of the border in good times but has become a source of leverage for America, especially with the Trump administration expected to continue squeezing Canadian industries with tariffs.

Europe is Carney's top priority for deepening existing free-trade relationships. But closer integration with the European Union is a long game, and Canada has no interest in joining the bloc, according to the official, pushing Ottawa to explore other regions.

"Trade diversification is nothing new. People have talked about this for decades," Sidhu said. "The difference here is other countries' willingness to look at Canada as a reliable, stable trading partner," he added, saying Trump has had a bigger influence on Ottawa's strategy than any difference in trade philosophy between Justin Trudeau and Mark Carney.

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The tiff with Canada is not just about to blow over/be yesterday's news.

Absolutely. You'll never convince a lefty, but it's absolutely about national security.

doubledog said:

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Oil = national security.

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This. Cheap abundant energy is the most important development in the history of the world and oil is the cheapest source of energy we have. Every government's primary purpose is to maintain the core elements of their nations way of life and that includes securing adequate sources of energy. If that makes you uncomfortable you don't understand the world we live in.

You may be right about it being the cheapest, but it doesn't need to be. Couldn't nuclear be the most economical if much of the "unnecessary" regulations were relaxed/removed?