Oil & Gas: Major stakes were seized from oil giants like ExxonMobil and ConocoPhillips after they refused to cede majority control to Venezuela's state oil company, PDVSA. Oil service companies like Helmerich & Payne (drilling) also had assets nationalized.
Food & Agriculture: The processing plants of U.S. food giant Cargill were seized in 2009, along with thousands of acres of farmland from ranchers.
Manufacturing: The Venezuelan branch of Owens Illinois, a glass container maker, was nationalized in 2010.
Hospitality: The Margarita Hilton Hotel Complex was forcibly acquired after the management contract expired.
Infrastructure: Control over ports and oil-related maintenance/transportation companies was also assumed by the state.
Yes but the equipment is not. Imagine if the US government came in and nationalized the car plants for all the foreign automakers because it’s th US’ land?
Oil & Gas: Major stakes were seized from oil giants like ExxonMobil and ConocoPhillips after they refused to cede majority control to Venezuela's state oil company, PDVSA. Oil service companies like Helmerich & Payne (drilling) also had assets nationalized.
Food & Agriculture: The processing plants of U.S. food giant Cargill were seized in 2009, along with thousands of acres of farmland from ranchers.
Manufacturing: The Venezuelan branch of Owens Illinois, a glass container maker, was nationalized in 2010.
Hospitality: The Margarita Hilton Hotel Complex was forcibly acquired after the management contract expired.
Infrastructure: Control over ports and oil-related maintenance/transportation companies was also assumed by the state.
A quick search also showed that US companies got reimbursed for those rationalization.
Further, that's not a US interest. That's a private company's interest. Going to war to give free money/property to a private company is the opposite of good
Up till 1958, Venezuela was under a military dictatorship established with the help of Usa. They gave the oil fields to American companies for peanuts. When this dictatorship fell, a democratic government nationalized the oil industry in 1974. Hugo Chavez, Maduro's predecessor significantly increased state control over Venezuela's oil industry, building on the initial nationalization in 1976 by renegotiating contracts in 2007 to mandate majority Venezuelan ownership in joint ventures, effectively seizing control from foreign companies like ExxonMobil and ConocoPhillips, and giving it to the state-owned Petróleos de Venezuela (PDVSA).
So none? I’m just trying to figure out Americas claim to foreign oil. From what you said, Venezuela renegotiated the contracts under their laws, and the government that made the deals was overthrown in the 50s. So this is going to be Iraq 2.0, a desperate war for oil, that will either be a load of war crimes or cost American soldiers their lives. I hope congress decides to actually exercise its constitutionally mandated control of war powers.
This Trump admin views the nationalisation process as theft and they want to take back their colonial assets. I don't think though there will be a full scale invasion. Venezuela is not Panama, is not Vietnam and certainly it's not Iraq. It's well armed, it's not diplomatically isolated, its society is polarised but not on the verge of collapse and its terrain presents strategic difficulties for aspiring invaders. I believe the plan is to put enormous pressure on their government so that they get the concessions and contracts they want.
Human life with drugs and human trafficking? Their government is objectively a shiity regime but I do find it difficult to justify the actions that are being taken now.
“The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.”
It’s subjective. You could argue the military for stopping the drugs runners. You could argue the people fighting to stop the killing of drug runners. You could even argue the drug runners themselves. It all depends on what you value and how you see the world.
Those boats they’re running aren’t actually gonna make it across the Atlantic Ocean. They go to commercial ships in international waters that are shipping stuff legally and hide the drugs on board. You have no clue where those drugs are going.
Disregarding all that though let’s assume the drugs aren’t bound for America should we turn a blind eye to suffering in other countries? Or should we stop aiding other countries entirely? America first?
Youre arguing that we deserve the oil in Venezuela because you believe the lies about drug boats? There has been no evidence that a single boat destroyed had drugs on it.
And, if stopping drugs was important to trump, why did he pardon a convicted drug smuggler?
When did I say we deserve anything from that country?
Do you really think those boats are just families on a pleasure cruise or out fishing. They literally watch the boats being loaded with drugs by know drug cartels. The boats and crew then proceed to run full throttle into the ocean with no fishing equipment just cargo and fuel pulling wild maneuvers to thwart surveillance and interception. Venezuela exports in drugs account for about the same economic value as their highest legal export, crude oil.
Literally both political side agree the boats have drugs. They disagree on how they are being stopped and exactly what drugs are onboard.
“After the 2003 Iraq War, major Western oil companies like BP, ExxonMobil, and Shell gained significant access to Iraq's vast oil fields through large development contracts, while Chinese firms (like CNPC) eventually became dominant developers of fields like West Qurna.”
So out of the main oil companies that actually got anything from the Iraq War…75% of them weren’t even US companies.
Such was the case at a meeting of prominent businessmen in Grand Rapids, Michigan last Friday, where the featured speaker was a prominent Washington and Wall Street insider.
A US war against Iraq is “probably the most bullish thing I can think of,” William Seidman, a senior economic adviser under four US presidents, told his audience at the posh Peninsula Club.
Seidman, a commentator for CNBC, was an adviser to presidents Nixon, Ford, Reagan and Bush senior. He is the former chairman of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation and also headed the Resolution Trust Company, the federal agency created to bail out the scandal-ridden savings and loans industry in the 1980s. He served as a consultant on the junior Bush’s transition team, and maintains close ties with top administration officials.
According to the Grand Rapids Press, Seidman told the meeting that he had just come from a State Department briefing in which US plans for a military occupation of Iraq were outlined.
Removing the Iraqi government and installing a US military regime that would control the country’s oil fields is “at least as important as eliminating weapons of mass destruction,” he said. “Getting control of that oil will make a vast difference in all sorts of things, but particularly the price of oil.”
Asked and answered. But you're a dupe so you'll deny reality.
Wall Street benefited from the Iraq War through massive defense spending, increased oil prices creating energy stock windfalls, and lucrative reconstruction contracts awarded to firms with political ties, while the overall market initially rallied as uncertainty faded, leading to major gains for defense contractors like Lockheed Martin and service providers like KBR, fueled by a steady stream of government funding and private equity involvement in military supply chains.
Wall Street benefited from the Afghan War primarily through defense contractors (Lockheed Martin, Boeing, etc.) whose stocks soared due to massive Pentagon spending, private equity/investment firms capitalizing on war-related contracts (like Veritas Capital), and the broader market for military-industrial complex-linked companies, all fueled by huge government budgets and a post-9/11 political climate that increased defense demand and made profits more predictable. Financial instruments like options also saw profits as investors bet on defense stocks rising.
Washington lost in Vietnam. But companies like Bell Helicopter (Huey), McDonnell Douglas (F-4 Phantom), Raytheon, Lockheed Martin saw huge spikes in demand and revenue as they supplied weapons, aircraft, and munitions for jungle warfare and rapid technological development.
Wars create massive government debt, which banks finance, generating interest and fees; this occurred during Vietnam as well, funding the war effort.
Yah no shit, Venezuela is under sanctions. From 1990 to 2010 oil companies invested hundreds of billions in refineries capable is processing Venezuelan heavy crude you clown.
What's it like being so ignorant and so confident wrong about everything? rofl.
.... so you're aware that was the case 15+ years ago, and those refineries have since converted to other styles, and are ALSO aware the cost to convert them back to Venezuelan oil--- what exactly are you doing here other than making my point?
You've gotta be a bad bot or a 6th grader. Because your comments are pure stupidity....
Even if what you said was true, which it's not, you don't think there would be some environmental updates or infrastructure problems with oil refineries that have just been sitting empty for over a decade? Just gonna walk in and flip on the lights?! rOfL... Reality is it's cheaper to convert an existing refinery with its prior infrastructure than build from new so that is what was done with 8/10 of them.
It would cost tens of billions and decades to get back to high volume sour crude refining..
Venezuela was a huge supplier, sending the U.S. 1.5 to 2 million barrels of oil daily, making it one of America's largest sources. It only fell under 10% after Chavez's nationalizations.
"United States Homeland Security Advisor and close Trump aide Stephen Miller suggested on Wednesday that Venezuela’s oil “belongs to Washington”."
"Venezuela continued to be a major oil exporter to the US for some years, supplying 1.5 – 2 million barrels per day (bpd) in the late 1990s and early 2000s. But after Hugo Chavez took office in 1998, he nationalised all oil assets, seized foreign-owned assets, restructured PDVSA and prioritised political goals over exports"
Before Hugo Chavez took power in 1998, the U.S. received significant oil from Venezuela, with exports reaching 1.5 to 2 million barrels per day (bpd), making Venezuela one of America's top suppliers.
“Every time we kill millions”? My guy I understand and sympathize with your point and sentiment but that’s a tad bit of embellishment, wouldn’t you say?
3.8 million died in Vietnam and the vast majority were Vietnamese. Iraq they estimate as many as 400,000 people killed. Afghanistan approximately 240,000.
Again Iraq is doing fairly well and outperforming several of it's neighbors (Jordan, Iran, Egypt). Afghans simply weren't ready for western ideals like gender equality and wanted extreme religious fundamentalism so no degree of government intervention could have saved them.
On the other hand Venezuela has none of those traits of Afghanistan, they were an extremely rich modernized nation before Chavez ruined everything that was never fundamentally incompatible with western ways of living.
The whole region isnt doing well. Iraq doing better than its neighbors is good and Saddam needed to go, but I think its highly debatable that our continued intervention beyond that was helpful at all.
Venezuela may be different and the outcome will probably be different, but I personally dont want my tax dollars being spent on violent prolonged foreign wars while we are in massive amounts of growing debt. Its not a good enough risk vs reward
Inflation has been somewhat under control with the exception of the shutdown years where it was decided to trade inflation for avoiding a complete economic collapse (in my opinion only those with vulnerabilities should have stayed inside, like immunocompromised, elderly and obese so this wasn't an issue now)
Social security will need increased taxes until the birth curve matches the elderly curve (baby boomers die out or young people have more kids)
Not sure if you've been reading the latest reports but job growth has been negative more than positive and inflation is rising again. Its still over 3%
Social security does not need increased taxes because we have trillions of dollars to play with. Maybe instead of using an extra several hundred billion on an already costly over priced military the money could have gone to those things instead.
People seem to forget we are the richest country in the history of the world. We have the money to do all of this stuff. So much more than countries that are already doing it
The job growth loss is due to government cuts (~300K cut positions) or else all of these months would have been positive. Europe can afford a social net because it doesn't have a military like we do, if the US had the same military spending as the EU it could absolutely afford an all inclusive system, oh and they also have much higher tax burdens even on lower income individuals.
But the EU can only have spending that way because they can rely on the US government, or at least could. In the coming years they are likely to reform this.
Germanies West German Government was filled with Nazi politicians especially in the early years, and Japan was allowed to keep the very same monarch that ordered Japans rampage across Asia. There was no real regime change.
Yeah, circumstances were different though. Japan attacked the US and then Germany declared war. This Venezuela venture non sense has no legitimacy. No matter how far down the rabbit hole this administration goes. This will be just another continuation of endless wars of aggression and bullying. Mark my words, if we get committed to this, it does not end well in the long run.
I was simply responding to the person that said that every time America attempts a regime change it ends in failure. Wasn't commenting on projections for Venezuela, was simply pointing out that it is incorrect to say that when two of the strongest democracies in the world are the result of successful American regime change.
This is why America has immigration issues from South America. A war with Venezuela will destabilize the region and create a void that will be filled by extremist groups. Same thing happened in Iraq.
Well said, I agree. Hey, where was most of Venezuela's oil going? Asia I bet, some European countries. I wonder who'll be most upset by this (besides the obvious), who misses the oil? Africa, or maybe further south in South America?
If the U.S. goes into and attempts regime change, it will destabilize it further and we will be responsible and most likely create a vacuum of power that will be filled with bad actors like in Iraq and Afghanistan. This will cause an even bigger refugee crisis. Imperialism is never the answer, it creates more problems in the long run.
Nobel peace recipient who has massive amounts of disapproval from Venezuelans and is actively encouraging the bombing of her own country and its citizens, and who loves cuddling up to anti-Muslim pro-business fascists.
Venezuela is very much a functional state with a central army and police force keeping Maduro in control. A failed state is what happens when eg. Saddam Hussein is toppled with no plans for filling the power vacuum. It's much, much worse.
It’s already destabilized. Thousands of Venezuelans are coming already. Stop trying to blame Trump for Venezuela’s problems when their wannabe dictator is ignoring elections, defying democracy, and turning Venezuela into a petro/nsrcostate.
I didn't blame trump for immigration, I blame US policy. Learn to read and comprehend before trying to confirm or argue your own biases.
The ironic thing is that you are describing trump and maduro with your description of maduro. That being said, where is it in the US charter that says we need to go and fix Venezuela's broken government? What is America First about a wanna be dictator trying to declare war on Venezuela without congressional approval?
Isn't trump acting like a dictator by trying to make a unilateral decision for our country to aggress another without getting the approval of our elected representatives.
Americans, especially republicans, have no moral ground to stand on and pontificate about dictators in other countries while defending and empowering an aspiring one in America.
Never mind that he said that "they (Venezuela) return all of the oil, land, and other assets that they previously stole from us." Did we all of sudden get claims on a sovereign nation?
I hope Reddit doesn't ban me for wishing dead on donie, but man the guy doesn't make it easy for me to wish him well...
I'm Venezuelan, I hate the current government but this is horrendous, so many innocent people will die so he can keep the presidency and can distract everyone from the Epstein files.
OH NOOOOOOO. ORANGE MAN BAD. SAVE US FROM ORANGE MAN SOMEONE. HE ACTUAL DICTATOR. HIDE YO KIDS, HIDE YO WIVES. CHECK UNDER YOUR BED AT NIGHT. AINT NOBODY SAFE FROM THE ORANGE MAN!!!
This is like the least war crime thing they've done around Venezuela. Blocking sanctioned oil tankers from moving oil is pretty cut and dry from a legal perspective. It's just coming after all that 'murder on the high seas' business.
Trump does a lot of bad shit, but stopping sanctioned vessels probably isn't up there. These are shipping networks that support Russia, Hezbollah, Iran.
Not to mention, Maduro himself is probably worse than Trump, even if he is the Tankie man of the hour. Even Bernie Sanders calls the man a dictator - because he is!
There are more drugs coming in from china. But you don’t see hair of the dog kegsbreath lining up our military off the coast of China popping fishing boats.
It's like iraq. There's no argument that the dictator is a good guy. The argument is that we can't topple every dictator. I don't object to a blockade, assuming they stop doing warcrimes. I just worry he's gonna invade. Fuck that. Countries should toppel their own dictators. We can give material aid to the rebellion.
I agree with this. We should not be the police of the world. That is not what our young men and women signed up for. That is an abuse and betrayal of their trust.
Well the world isn’t black or white either, if the people did revolt there is not guarantee the next regime will be like “power to the people not me”. I don’t know, I don’t think it’s as cut and dry as people want it to be, nor Trump wants it to be.
It doesn't matter whether the next government is better or worse. We don't have the right to decide an independent nation's political future. In that sense, it's very, very cut and dry.
The American regime is brutalizing its population as well. Eventually the inhumane and brutal tactics used in Venezuela will be used on the American people. The tactics used in Iraq and Afghanistan by U.S. troops are already being employed against U.S. citizens by ICE.
In the historical sense, it's exactly the same as any other forceful regime change. If you're in favor of meddling in other countries, then you should stand by it and defend that point. There are real arguments to make one way or the other, but this is just pussyfooting
Though one could argue that Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank being dictated by the Israeli govt, and how long has Bibi been the prime? So again, why aren't we doing the same thing to Israel?
Venezuela nationalised oil years before sanctions occurred under Obama. When he did it was because of Hugo Chavez violating the human rights of protestors, who were ironically protesting price controls and shortages through poor economic policy.
Yes, no one is safe, certainly not those in an OPEC country that is so corrupt that it has a lower GDP per capita than every other member by a large margin. Those people are certainly thriving right now and only stand to lose with anyone in the international community getting involved.
What’s the point of sanctions if they’re not going to be enforced? Many of the oil tankers under sanctions have been on the U.S. sanctions list since at least 2019, when sanctions were first imposed on Venezuela's oil industry. For example, the tanker "Skipper" was sanctioned in 2022 for its involvement in an oil-smuggling network.
Your title even mentions that the blockade is for “sanctioned oil tankers”. This is a physical sanction. We’ve seen how useless financial sanctions are against countries like Russia and Iran…we’re going back to the bad old days of actually having to do things to make people change behavior.
Then where are the physical sanctions against Russia? Wouldn’t it save us more money to quickly end the war in Ukraine we’ve been funding?
Trump wants war in Venezuela. It’s really as cut & dry as that. Murdering people in boats didn’t provoke a response, so he’s instituting a blockade. If that doesn’t provoke a sufficient response, he will escalate.
Maduro needs to surrender and relinquish power fast. USA has choked the economy via sea and air, hopping a non-bloody internal revolt against Maduro will ensue. If the plan works USA may not have to fire one shot into Venezuela. Also, if successful China and Russia will lose a foothold in South America, and funding for terrorist (drug cartel and Islam via Iran) will cease to exist. USA will take back control of lost assets. This can be a win win situation for the USA and the Venezuelan people. I pray 🙏🏻 no shots fired into Venezuela. 🫡🇺🇸❤️
It is the right thing to do. A future sister in law who is Venezuelan with her mom still living there both agree as do many Venezuelan s that Maduro has to go.
Not the first president to enact a blockade or enforce one. Why is this an issue? Ohhhh, right, because it's trump who did it and the left is so deranged by this man he could have a press briefing saying the sky is blue and the left would call him racist against the sky
We’ve been bombing boats of their coast for months. It’s already begun. It really began over a decade ago. Don’t you wan to play a part in stopping the oil from getting to “bad actors?” Or do you just cheer from the sidelines for wars you’ll never actually participate in?
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Can anyone please explain what land, oil, and assets Venezuela has taken from the US?
All you had to do was Google your question:
Key American Assets Seized by Chávez:
Oil & Gas: Major stakes were seized from oil giants like ExxonMobil and ConocoPhillips after they refused to cede majority control to Venezuela's state oil company, PDVSA. Oil service companies like Helmerich & Payne (drilling) also had assets nationalized.
Food & Agriculture: The processing plants of U.S. food giant Cargill were seized in 2009, along with thousands of acres of farmland from ranchers.
Manufacturing: The Venezuelan branch of Owens Illinois, a glass container maker, was nationalized in 2010.
Hospitality: The Margarita Hilton Hotel Complex was forcibly acquired after the management contract expired.
Infrastructure: Control over ports and oil-related maintenance/transportation companies was also assumed by the state.
It's their land though, surely.
Yes but the equipment is not. Imagine if the US government came in and nationalized the car plants for all the foreign automakers because it’s th US’ land?
Imagine is the US occupied a bunch of middle eastern countries and killed hundreds of thousand of civilians to secure oil.
Which countries are those?
Which countries in the Middle East does the U.S. own oil fields in?
Before you answer, provide proof cause the blood for oil crap is old and tired.
Then as awe this question
Would then Middle East be better off with Saddam and Assad still in power? Although Assad was not removed by the U.S.
Syria.
Saddam was terrible, but he didn't kill hundreds of thousand of civilians and there were no wmd's.
Thank you! I had the same thought. What does he think Venezuela stole from the US?!
If you had asked Google:
Key American Assets Seized by Chávez:
Oil & Gas: Major stakes were seized from oil giants like ExxonMobil and ConocoPhillips after they refused to cede majority control to Venezuela's state oil company, PDVSA. Oil service companies like Helmerich & Payne (drilling) also had assets nationalized.
Food & Agriculture: The processing plants of U.S. food giant Cargill were seized in 2009, along with thousands of acres of farmland from ranchers.
Manufacturing: The Venezuelan branch of Owens Illinois, a glass container maker, was nationalized in 2010.
Hospitality: The Margarita Hilton Hotel Complex was forcibly acquired after the management contract expired.
Infrastructure: Control over ports and oil-related maintenance/transportation companies was also assumed by the state.
A quick search also showed that US companies got reimbursed for those rationalization.
Further, that's not a US interest. That's a private company's interest. Going to war to give free money/property to a private company is the opposite of good
Up till 1958, Venezuela was under a military dictatorship established with the help of Usa. They gave the oil fields to American companies for peanuts. When this dictatorship fell, a democratic government nationalized the oil industry in 1974. Hugo Chavez, Maduro's predecessor significantly increased state control over Venezuela's oil industry, building on the initial nationalization in 1976 by renegotiating contracts in 2007 to mandate majority Venezuelan ownership in joint ventures, effectively seizing control from foreign companies like ExxonMobil and ConocoPhillips, and giving it to the state-owned Petróleos de Venezuela (PDVSA).
So none? I’m just trying to figure out Americas claim to foreign oil. From what you said, Venezuela renegotiated the contracts under their laws, and the government that made the deals was overthrown in the 50s. So this is going to be Iraq 2.0, a desperate war for oil, that will either be a load of war crimes or cost American soldiers their lives. I hope congress decides to actually exercise its constitutionally mandated control of war powers.
This Trump admin views the nationalisation process as theft and they want to take back their colonial assets. I don't think though there will be a full scale invasion. Venezuela is not Panama, is not Vietnam and certainly it's not Iraq. It's well armed, it's not diplomatically isolated, its society is polarised but not on the verge of collapse and its terrain presents strategic difficulties for aspiring invaders. I believe the plan is to put enormous pressure on their government so that they get the concessions and contracts they want.
None of this matter. It’s all an excuse for trump to do what he wants. If not this thin claim, it would be something else
Human life with drugs and human trafficking? Their government is objectively a shiity regime but I do find it difficult to justify the actions that are being taken now.
“The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.”
who are the good men in this analogy?
It’s subjective. You could argue the military for stopping the drugs runners. You could argue the people fighting to stop the killing of drug runners. You could even argue the drug runners themselves. It all depends on what you value and how you see the world.
So you think America should stop and kill drug runners whose drugs are going to Europe?
Are we Europeans?
Those boats they’re running aren’t actually gonna make it across the Atlantic Ocean. They go to commercial ships in international waters that are shipping stuff legally and hide the drugs on board. You have no clue where those drugs are going.
Disregarding all that though let’s assume the drugs aren’t bound for America should we turn a blind eye to suffering in other countries? Or should we stop aiding other countries entirely? America first?
You people are hilarious in your ignorance holy shit.
Youre arguing that we deserve the oil in Venezuela because you believe the lies about drug boats? There has been no evidence that a single boat destroyed had drugs on it.
And, if stopping drugs was important to trump, why did he pardon a convicted drug smuggler?
When did I say we deserve anything from that country?
Do you really think those boats are just families on a pleasure cruise or out fishing. They literally watch the boats being loaded with drugs by know drug cartels. The boats and crew then proceed to run full throttle into the ocean with no fishing equipment just cargo and fuel pulling wild maneuvers to thwart surveillance and interception. Venezuela exports in drugs account for about the same economic value as their highest legal export, crude oil.
Literally both political side agree the boats have drugs. They disagree on how they are being stopped and exactly what drugs are onboard.
Our companies owned the oil before Maduro took power. Get a history lesson.
Every time we try a regime change we end up killing millions and failing to stabilize the area or even oust the original regime.
Vietnam, Iraq and Afghanistan sure worked out for everyone
Yeah but wall street gets the oil, and that's all that matters
When did Wall Street get the oil from Vietnam, Iraq or Afghanistan again?
To add to your line of questioning;
“After the 2003 Iraq War, major Western oil companies like BP, ExxonMobil, and Shell gained significant access to Iraq's vast oil fields through large development contracts, while Chinese firms (like CNPC) eventually became dominant developers of fields like West Qurna.”
So out of the main oil companies that actually got anything from the Iraq War…75% of them weren’t even US companies.
Such was the case at a meeting of prominent businessmen in Grand Rapids, Michigan last Friday, where the featured speaker was a prominent Washington and Wall Street insider.
A US war against Iraq is “probably the most bullish thing I can think of,” William Seidman, a senior economic adviser under four US presidents, told his audience at the posh Peninsula Club.
Seidman, a commentator for CNBC, was an adviser to presidents Nixon, Ford, Reagan and Bush senior. He is the former chairman of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation and also headed the Resolution Trust Company, the federal agency created to bail out the scandal-ridden savings and loans industry in the 1980s. He served as a consultant on the junior Bush’s transition team, and maintains close ties with top administration officials.
According to the Grand Rapids Press, Seidman told the meeting that he had just come from a State Department briefing in which US plans for a military occupation of Iraq were outlined.
Removing the Iraqi government and installing a US military regime that would control the country’s oil fields is “at least as important as eliminating weapons of mass destruction,” he said. “Getting control of that oil will make a vast difference in all sorts of things, but particularly the price of oil.”
Was that written by AI, because that’s a long-winded way of not answering the question. When did we get oil from Iraq?
No.
And who is we?
We meaning the US and/or Wall Street.
Lol you identify with Washington and Wall Street, that's funny
And you still have no answer.
Asked and answered. But you're a dupe so you'll deny reality.
Wall Street benefited from the Iraq War through massive defense spending, increased oil prices creating energy stock windfalls, and lucrative reconstruction contracts awarded to firms with political ties, while the overall market initially rallied as uncertainty faded, leading to major gains for defense contractors like Lockheed Martin and service providers like KBR, fueled by a steady stream of government funding and private equity involvement in military supply chains.
Wall Street benefited from the Afghan War primarily through defense contractors (Lockheed Martin, Boeing, etc.) whose stocks soared due to massive Pentagon spending, private equity/investment firms capitalizing on war-related contracts (like Veritas Capital), and the broader market for military-industrial complex-linked companies, all fueled by huge government budgets and a post-9/11 political climate that increased defense demand and made profits more predictable. Financial instruments like options also saw profits as investors bet on defense stocks rising.
Washington lost in Vietnam. But companies like Bell Helicopter (Huey), McDonnell Douglas (F-4 Phantom), Raytheon, Lockheed Martin saw huge spikes in demand and revenue as they supplied weapons, aircraft, and munitions for jungle warfare and rapid technological development.
Wars create massive government debt, which banks finance, generating interest and fees; this occurred during Vietnam as well, funding the war effort.
Such a low IQ response. No one but Chyna wants shitty oil from Venezuela
The entire southern coast of the US is full of refineries specifically designed to process Venezuelas oil, which is heavy.
How ignorant are you? Holy shit, the president is straight up saying "give us oil!"
😂😂😂
Under 4% of oil refined in the US comes from Venezuela ya fuggin potato
Yah no shit, Venezuela is under sanctions. From 1990 to 2010 oil companies invested hundreds of billions in refineries capable is processing Venezuelan heavy crude you clown.
What's it like being so ignorant and so confident wrong about everything? rofl.
.... so you're aware that was the case 15+ years ago, and those refineries have since converted to other styles, and are ALSO aware the cost to convert them back to Venezuelan oil--- what exactly are you doing here other than making my point?
Yeah, I'm the ignorant one....... rOfL
You think they just destroyed those refineries? Are you serious? They sit idle or completely underutilized.
Why do you think the US wants the oil? You are dim as shit rofl
You've gotta be a bad bot or a 6th grader. Because your comments are pure stupidity....
Even if what you said was true, which it's not, you don't think there would be some environmental updates or infrastructure problems with oil refineries that have just been sitting empty for over a decade? Just gonna walk in and flip on the lights?! rOfL... Reality is it's cheaper to convert an existing refinery with its prior infrastructure than build from new so that is what was done with 8/10 of them.
It would cost tens of billions and decades to get back to high volume sour crude refining..
Venezuela was a huge supplier, sending the U.S. 1.5 to 2 million barrels of oil daily, making it one of America's largest sources. It only fell under 10% after Chavez's nationalizations.
"United States Homeland Security Advisor and close Trump aide Stephen Miller suggested on Wednesday that Venezuela’s oil “belongs to Washington”."
"Venezuela continued to be a major oil exporter to the US for some years, supplying 1.5 – 2 million barrels per day (bpd) in the late 1990s and early 2000s. But after Hugo Chavez took office in 1998, he nationalised all oil assets, seized foreign-owned assets, restructured PDVSA and prioritised political goals over exports"
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2025/12/18/does-the-us-have-any-real-claim-on-venezuelan-oil-as-stephen-miller-says
Before Hugo Chavez took power in 1998, the U.S. received significant oil from Venezuela, with exports reaching 1.5 to 2 million barrels per day (bpd), making Venezuela one of America's top suppliers.
“Every time we kill millions”? My guy I understand and sympathize with your point and sentiment but that’s a tad bit of embellishment, wouldn’t you say?
3.8 million died in Vietnam and the vast majority were Vietnamese. Iraq they estimate as many as 400,000 people killed. Afghanistan approximately 240,000.
Is it really that much of an embellishment?
That's ignoring like all of Europe post WW2, Iraq now is actually in a pretty good spot.
Idk man the last time it worked was like 80 years ago lol it hasn't worked well in a while
Again Iraq is doing fairly well and outperforming several of it's neighbors (Jordan, Iran, Egypt). Afghans simply weren't ready for western ideals like gender equality and wanted extreme religious fundamentalism so no degree of government intervention could have saved them.
On the other hand Venezuela has none of those traits of Afghanistan, they were an extremely rich modernized nation before Chavez ruined everything that was never fundamentally incompatible with western ways of living.
The whole region isnt doing well. Iraq doing better than its neighbors is good and Saddam needed to go, but I think its highly debatable that our continued intervention beyond that was helpful at all.
Venezuela may be different and the outcome will probably be different, but I personally dont want my tax dollars being spent on violent prolonged foreign wars while we are in massive amounts of growing debt. Its not a good enough risk vs reward
Oil. Lots of it and cheap.
Thats a whole other conversation. Gas going down 30 cents isnt worth our cost of living skyrocketing and social safety nets being dismantled.
Fix the damn country and stop fucking around in others
Inflation has been somewhat under control with the exception of the shutdown years where it was decided to trade inflation for avoiding a complete economic collapse (in my opinion only those with vulnerabilities should have stayed inside, like immunocompromised, elderly and obese so this wasn't an issue now)
Social security will need increased taxes until the birth curve matches the elderly curve (baby boomers die out or young people have more kids)
Not sure if you've been reading the latest reports but job growth has been negative more than positive and inflation is rising again. Its still over 3%
Social security does not need increased taxes because we have trillions of dollars to play with. Maybe instead of using an extra several hundred billion on an already costly over priced military the money could have gone to those things instead.
People seem to forget we are the richest country in the history of the world. We have the money to do all of this stuff. So much more than countries that are already doing it
The job growth loss is due to government cuts (~300K cut positions) or else all of these months would have been positive. Europe can afford a social net because it doesn't have a military like we do, if the US had the same military spending as the EU it could absolutely afford an all inclusive system, oh and they also have much higher tax burdens even on lower income individuals.
But the EU can only have spending that way because they can rely on the US government, or at least could. In the coming years they are likely to reform this.
Inflation slowed to 2.7% in Nov.
That's not true, Germany and Japan are shining examples of successful American regime change
You think we have the follow through for that? Well burn it to the ground and kill millions of people, sure. But rebuilding it afterwards?
Germanies West German Government was filled with Nazi politicians especially in the early years, and Japan was allowed to keep the very same monarch that ordered Japans rampage across Asia. There was no real regime change.
Yeah, circumstances were different though. Japan attacked the US and then Germany declared war. This Venezuela venture non sense has no legitimacy. No matter how far down the rabbit hole this administration goes. This will be just another continuation of endless wars of aggression and bullying. Mark my words, if we get committed to this, it does not end well in the long run.
I was simply responding to the person that said that every time America attempts a regime change it ends in failure. Wasn't commenting on projections for Venezuela, was simply pointing out that it is incorrect to say that when two of the strongest democracies in the world are the result of successful American regime change.
This is why America has immigration issues from South America. A war with Venezuela will destabilize the region and create a void that will be filled by extremist groups. Same thing happened in Iraq.
Oh boy! Here we go destabilizing our own backyard again! Surly the world will love us after this one!
That's the point. They want a regime change that will cause another refugee crisis for cheap labor again that will be used as political theater.
Well said, I agree. Hey, where was most of Venezuela's oil going? Asia I bet, some European countries. I wonder who'll be most upset by this (besides the obvious), who misses the oil? Africa, or maybe further south in South America?
Venuzuela is already a failed state. Maduro didn’t need any help destabilizing his country.
But you’re not wrong in other cases.
If the U.S. goes into and attempts regime change, it will destabilize it further and we will be responsible and most likely create a vacuum of power that will be filled with bad actors like in Iraq and Afghanistan. This will cause an even bigger refugee crisis. Imperialism is never the answer, it creates more problems in the long run.
Oh don’t worry they already have their pro-Israel candidate lined up ready to take the reins.
Nobel peace recipient who has massive amounts of disapproval from Venezuelans and is actively encouraging the bombing of her own country and its citizens, and who loves cuddling up to anti-Muslim pro-business fascists.
Yes, that gem of an individual
to overthrow regime you would need to put boots on the ground and DT is too much of a pussy to do it.
Apperently Venezuela is still strong enough to steal American assets?
Venezuela is very much a functional state with a central army and police force keeping Maduro in control. A failed state is what happens when eg. Saddam Hussein is toppled with no plans for filling the power vacuum. It's much, much worse.
It’s already destabilized. Thousands of Venezuelans are coming already. Stop trying to blame Trump for Venezuela’s problems when their wannabe dictator is ignoring elections, defying democracy, and turning Venezuela into a petro/nsrcostate.
I didn't blame trump for immigration, I blame US policy. Learn to read and comprehend before trying to confirm or argue your own biases.
The ironic thing is that you are describing trump and maduro with your description of maduro. That being said, where is it in the US charter that says we need to go and fix Venezuela's broken government? What is America First about a wanna be dictator trying to declare war on Venezuela without congressional approval?
Isn't trump acting like a dictator by trying to make a unilateral decision for our country to aggress another without getting the approval of our elected representatives.
Americans, especially republicans, have no moral ground to stand on and pontificate about dictators in other countries while defending and empowering an aspiring one in America.
Oh look, a other US instigated war..surprise surprise
Corporate piracy, paid for by American tax dollars.
Donald the Dove started a war with Venezuela.
Venezuela stole land from the US? He really just throws words against a wall.
Epstein
Epstein
Epstein
Epstein
Epstein
Our history with attempted regime changes is — not good. And now we have a cadre of uniquely incompetent buffoons at the helm.
Fool me once shame on you, fool someone 726 times and they are in a cult
Wow kinda shocked at these comments. How fucking stupid can everyone be? Dumb ass sub. It’s because of OIL you clods.
He is completely insane
Never mind that he said that "they (Venezuela) return all of the oil, land, and other assets that they previously stole from us." Did we all of sudden get claims on a sovereign nation?
I feel that people are missing the point of this subreddit
That all the western countries just watch and don’t do anything shows the hypocrisy of NATO an Europe. Trump needs to be stoped
Why nato will fo shit, Venezuela is not a member usa is and of the story, oh and nato won't help us too because nato is a defensive alliance first
US is acting like a rogue state.
First time?
the seperated states of america are now pirates stealing oil
Why were sanctioned tankers allowed to operate in the first place?
Lol reddit is definitely lost in the sauce
I hope Reddit doesn't ban me for wishing dead on donie, but man the guy doesn't make it easy for me to wish him well...
I'm Venezuelan, I hate the current government but this is horrendous, so many innocent people will die so he can keep the presidency and can distract everyone from the Epstein files.
It’s a terrorist organization! Let’s release and pardon the king of it all though before we start the invasion!
This guy is such a clown lmao
OH NOOOOOOO. ORANGE MAN BAD. SAVE US FROM ORANGE MAN SOMEONE. HE ACTUAL DICTATOR. HIDE YO KIDS, HIDE YO WIVES. CHECK UNDER YOUR BED AT NIGHT. AINT NOBODY SAFE FROM THE ORANGE MAN!!!
Stop spreading lies pls, Vlad is 100% safe.
He's coming for you tomorrow. Say your good-bye hasta la vista amigo
Full credit to Trump on this.
To bring democracy to Venezuela is something we should all get behind.
🫡🇺🇸❤️
Oh please, this shit is bipartisan
This is like a repeat of 2003. Manufacturing consent to throw America into another forever war that destabilizes the region while wall street profits.
American government is foreign terrorist organization
Mister "No new wars!" is starting a whole new war with absolutely nothing backing it. The Republicans are going to lose so much support lol
It's not a war. Just plain good old American style war crimes. Like normal war crimes, but with ssuper freedom.
This is like the least war crime thing they've done around Venezuela. Blocking sanctioned oil tankers from moving oil is pretty cut and dry from a legal perspective. It's just coming after all that 'murder on the high seas' business.
I think the war crime reference would be double tapping dudes clinging to a wreckage, dudes that provided no threat to the homeland or her soldiers.
FIFA is proud.
Tough Guy DJT starting a foreign war just like he promised he wouldn’t do. His economic plan failing miserably so he needs the distraction.
Trump does a lot of bad shit, but stopping sanctioned vessels probably isn't up there. These are shipping networks that support Russia, Hezbollah, Iran.
Not to mention, Maduro himself is probably worse than Trump, even if he is the Tankie man of the hour. Even Bernie Sanders calls the man a dictator - because he is!
There are more drugs coming in from china. But you don’t see hair of the dog kegsbreath lining up our military off the coast of China popping fishing boats.
It's like iraq. There's no argument that the dictator is a good guy. The argument is that we can't topple every dictator. I don't object to a blockade, assuming they stop doing warcrimes. I just worry he's gonna invade. Fuck that. Countries should toppel their own dictators. We can give material aid to the rebellion.
We’ve got no business being there period.
I agree with this. We should not be the police of the world. That is not what our young men and women signed up for. That is an abuse and betrayal of their trust.
The theories of isolationist policies went out like 40 years ago.
Well the world isn’t black or white either, if the people did revolt there is not guarantee the next regime will be like “power to the people not me”. I don’t know, I don’t think it’s as cut and dry as people want it to be, nor Trump wants it to be.
It doesn't matter whether the next government is better or worse. We don't have the right to decide an independent nation's political future. In that sense, it's very, very cut and dry.
The country chose its future, but the dictator stole it.
Then the country must take it back again. That's how that works.
Well, the regime has extrajudiciously killed 20,000 people already, and the people that actually won the election have asked for help.
Is your position that as long as a dictator can sufficiently brutalize and repress his people, they'll just have to endure?
My position is that we have no business forcing regime change in another country.
Venezuelans will eventually be in a position to make that change on their own.
It's not really forcing in the historical sense. It's helping the legitimate regime stop a coup.
How many of them will be left by then? About 8 million have already fled the country.
The American regime is brutalizing its population as well. Eventually the inhumane and brutal tactics used in Venezuela will be used on the American people. The tactics used in Iraq and Afghanistan by U.S. troops are already being employed against U.S. citizens by ICE.
In the historical sense, it's exactly the same as any other forceful regime change. If you're in favor of meddling in other countries, then you should stand by it and defend that point. There are real arguments to make one way or the other, but this is just pussyfooting
So why aren't we doing the same with Israel?
Because Israel isn't a dictatorship and also your country kind of sucks.
Though one could argue that Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank being dictated by the Israeli govt, and how long has Bibi been the prime? So again, why aren't we doing the same thing to Israel?
He just classified Fent as a WMD….
Bush had a more believable story to sell to justify his war…
Venezuela ships oil to those countries because the US has forced them to via decades long sanctions for daring to nationalize their own oil reserves.
That's a lie.
Venezuela nationalised oil years before sanctions occurred under Obama. When he did it was because of Hugo Chavez violating the human rights of protestors, who were ironically protesting price controls and shortages through poor economic policy.
Are you telling me with a straight face that you sincerely believe the US government is invested in guaranteeing the rights of protesters?
lol
It's not about the sanctioning itself, it's the seizing and escalation of conflict that no one needs or wants.
Whether Maduro or Trump is worse is highly debatable, but even if you were correct it does NOT make war with Venezuela good policy.
trump committing international terrorism.
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Yes, no one is safe, certainly not those in an OPEC country that is so corrupt that it has a lower GDP per capita than every other member by a large margin. Those people are certainly thriving right now and only stand to lose with anyone in the international community getting involved.
Yeah, the ones who where fleeing maduro are certainly maduro supporters…
America wants to spread some democracy and will only cost you protection fees of 50%, Kinda like the mafia but they only took 20%.
That country hasn’t been stable in years.
What’s the point of sanctions if they’re not going to be enforced? Many of the oil tankers under sanctions have been on the U.S. sanctions list since at least 2019, when sanctions were first imposed on Venezuela's oil industry. For example, the tanker "Skipper" was sanctioned in 2022 for its involvement in an oil-smuggling network.
Except Putin and Russians
Putin is safe from him.
Your title even mentions that the blockade is for “sanctioned oil tankers”. This is a physical sanction. We’ve seen how useless financial sanctions are against countries like Russia and Iran…we’re going back to the bad old days of actually having to do things to make people change behavior.
Then where are the physical sanctions against Russia? Wouldn’t it save us more money to quickly end the war in Ukraine we’ve been funding?
Trump wants war in Venezuela. It’s really as cut & dry as that. Murdering people in boats didn’t provoke a response, so he’s instituting a blockade. If that doesn’t provoke a sufficient response, he will escalate.
I for one have been hoping for physical sanctions on Russia ever since the Battle of Khasham
But... my Lord! Is that leeeegal?
To be fair, it would hard for trump to handle this worse. He has done a good job of making the war seem completely indefensible on every front.
The only terrorist organization I see here is the USA
Alright fucknards, time to go fight for our freedom.
Donald "No new wars" Trump
So...you support sanctioned tankers being allowed to transport freely...?
Why?
Did they take our oil?
Military orders are not authorized to be given by tweet. Only Congress can authorize war
What fucking land????
No one but Americans are safe!
I’m 90% sure he didn’t write it (with his condition and all). But whoever did, needs to repeat 3rd grade grammar class.
Maduro needs to surrender and relinquish power fast. USA has choked the economy via sea and air, hopping a non-bloody internal revolt against Maduro will ensue. If the plan works USA may not have to fire one shot into Venezuela. Also, if successful China and Russia will lose a foothold in South America, and funding for terrorist (drug cartel and Islam via Iran) will cease to exist. USA will take back control of lost assets. This can be a win win situation for the USA and the Venezuelan people. I pray 🙏🏻 no shots fired into Venezuela. 🫡🇺🇸❤️
Isnt it wonderful that we have a president that is Making America Great AGAIN!
He is not a pussy like the obamma puppet that was in the white house last
“No new wars” lmfao
It is the right thing to do. A future sister in law who is Venezuelan with her mom still living there both agree as do many Venezuelan s that Maduro has to go.
Why would you need to fund kidnapping, human trafficking and drugs? Don't they make money on their own?
Chinese purchased oil escorted by Venezuelan ships is still getting through
Nope. No criminals are safe from our amazing President. God bless President Trump!
Do y worry when he takes the land he can tell MAGA it’s 400%-600% larger than before
Chevron is not “us”. It’s called the cost of doing business.
Better dead than red
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american putin then
What do despots do when they promise the people that they'll fix everything and their domestic policies fail to fix anything?
They go to war.
Yup. SOP. “Wag the dog.”
Not the first president to enact a blockade or enforce one. Why is this an issue? Ohhhh, right, because it's trump who did it and the left is so deranged by this man he could have a press briefing saying the sky is blue and the left would call him racist against the sky
name the last president to blockade another country
Kennedy blockaded Cuba and almost every president since enforced the blockade except Biden and Obama.
It seems you're confused about the difference between an embargo and a blockade.
Kennedy is the right answer.
The last blockade was more than 60 years ago and ended after 4 weeks.
Can you remind the class why Kennedy blockaded cuba for those 4 weeks?
I hope the US invades Venezuela, those commies need to fuck off soon
I hope to see you at the recruitment office then.
seems like you're gonna get your wish. Another long drawn out purposeless war.
Are you going to be on the from?
Good. That oil benefits bad actors all over.
Hope your sending your own kids for Exxon
It was a problem when they did it too. It’s been an issue since Chavez you gonna be on the frontlines?
Of a blockade? You might need to look that word up.
Are you going to be on the frontlines of the war?
What war?
The war we’re starting in Venezuela
When did the war start? Or are we making predictions like a cheap miss cleo impersonation?
We’ve been bombing boats of their coast for months. It’s already begun. It really began over a decade ago. Don’t you wan to play a part in stopping the oil from getting to “bad actors?” Or do you just cheer from the sidelines for wars you’ll never actually participate in?
Bombing drug traffickers, subhuman scum. Ima cheer for enforcing international law.
There’s zero intel on what they were carrying. You’re cool with the source being “trust me bro?”
Especially not south American drug peddlers killing our people
This has nothing to do with Fentanyl, as the entire world knows.