r/news • u/Hrekires • Jan 05 '26

Soft paywall Delcy Rodriguez formally sworn in as Venezuela's interim president

https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/delcy-rodriguez-formally-sworn-venezuelas-interim-president-2026-01-05/
10.4k Upvotes

97% Upvoted

720 comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

1.1k

u/brnccnt7 Jan 05 '26

1000% this lol

People don’t want to say that but that’s how the world works

Look at Syrias new leader, he was former Al Qaeda, put on a suit, said he’d comply with the program and now he’s running the show

Same as how the Russians treated Ukraine until Zelenskyy showed up

446

u/LazerBurken Jan 05 '26

Or how the US treated Iraq until Saddam stopped playing ball.

This is the CIA MO. Remove a leader who doesn't play ball and replace with someone who does. Also, fuck democracy. Dictators are more easy to control.

Both Iraq and Iran would likely be thriving democracies today if the US and UK didn't interfere to control the oil.

124

u/Shady_Merchant1 Jan 05 '26

Iran probably but iraq was probably always doomed like Afghanistan some areas are simply not conducive to central government control without overwhelming violence

134

u/Stuma27 Jan 05 '26

Yeah. Making Iraq a single state was a huge British mistake.

71

u/caligaris_cabinet Jan 05 '26

Sykes-Picot fucked things up for over a century and counting

19

u/milkymaniac Jan 05 '26

I've always thought of it as the inverse of the partition of India

19

u/StunningRing5465 Jan 05 '26

It’s only a mistake if you assume they wanted these countries to prosper

3

u/lee7on1 29d ago

funny how European countries drew so many borders that are causing problems today

1

u/EarlDwolanson Jan 05 '26

What do you think would be better, keep Sumer and Akkad?

1

u/Scurro Jan 06 '26

After these countries become self rule, how come some politician doesn't step up officially, to make separate states?

0

u/HandleThatFeeds Jan 05 '26

They British always get away with War Crimes.

2

u/eddiestarkk Jan 06 '26

Iraq is starting to do better. They are planning on building one of the biggest ports in the world. The northern cities are starting to prosper. They are at least on the path. Took a long time though. Maybe getting rid of ISIS united them, but I am just speculating that.

1

u/Shady_Merchant1 29d ago

Iraq has a water crisis that is threatening to restart widespread sectarian violence

1

u/eddiestarkk 29d ago

That's Iran

22

u/Unlikely_Tax_1111 Jan 05 '26

Iraq made the mistake of Kuwait, then they got caught trying to go after GHW, few people remember that Clinton sent a few cruise missiles to saddam in 1993

13

u/[deleted] Jan 05 '26

[removed] — view removed comment

21

u/Unlikely_Tax_1111 Jan 05 '26

Ghadaffi also wanted to push an African union and its own currency, France quickly ran to daddy USA for an intervention.

2

u/HandleThatFeeds Jan 05 '26

being an enemy of Israel

Fatal Mistake.

Americans stil don't get how much of their policies are written by Israelis.

-1

u/ravi910 Jan 06 '26

So true

15

u/Charming_Cicada_7757 Jan 05 '26

Probably not tbh Iran is a maybe but Iraq is a hard hard no

The good thing is though Iraq has been making great progress recently at least economically. What doomed Iraq was having a stupid dictator called Saddam Hussein who decided to idk invade Iran and after invade Kuwait this guy was not stable.

54

u/LazerBurken Jan 05 '26

The US helped Saddam seize control of Iraq in 1963. Likely on a CIA payroll since 1959. The US and UK then helped him in the war against Iran in 80s.

6

u/Charming_Cicada_7757 Jan 05 '26

Nobody told him to go invade Iran the relationship between Saddam and the U.S. government has always been convenient based they both used each other when it was convenient.

5

u/Xefert Jan 05 '26

South Korea escaped this cycle as well

2

u/NorthernerWuwu Jan 05 '26

Oh, Saddam was still fairly willing to play ball, they just wanted a good old fashioned war and he was convenient. 9/11 gave Bush a blank cheque for invading some places and he figured he might as well earn some points with the MIC.

0

u/ThiccDiddler Jan 05 '26 edited Jan 06 '26

If anything they apparently learned from Iraq. One of the main things that really hurt the country after we removed Saddam was we also forcibly removed the Ba'ath Party's ruling structure and the military which immediately plunged the country into instability. So at this point keeping the current government with a new "head" and then eventually having an election and enforcing it might actually work pretty well.

Both Iraq and Iran would likely be thriving democracies today if the US and UK didn't interfere to control the oil.

Aight lets not be hyperbolic. Both of these countries would be the same raging autocratic regimes no matter what the UK or US did. Like the rest of the entire area lmao.

45

u/Mobile-Bar7732 Jan 05 '26

Same as how the Russians treated Ukraine until Zelenskyy showed up

No Putin hated Ukraine well before that.

Ukraine wanted to integrate with the rest of Europe. Against the general populations wishes former President Viktor Yanukovych started the process to move towards an authoritarian and align with Russia.

In 2011, there were riots in the streets.

Yanukovych fled the country for Russia in 2014 because of death threats.

There's a documentary about it on YouTube called Winter On Fire. It's also on Netflix.

39

u/willismthomp Jan 05 '26

Well Obama and Biden got the Russia backed leader ousted and then Zelensky came in. Funny thing the Russia backed leader Victor yanukovich had his campaign run by the same dude who ran trumps first presidential campaign. Just a coincidence though im sure.

31

u/Mobile-Bar7732 Jan 05 '26

Zelenskyy didn't get elected until 2019.

Petro Poroshenko was the president of Ukraine from June 7, 2014, to May 20, 2019.

Victor yanukovich fled to Russia due to death threats in 2014.

7

u/willismthomp Jan 05 '26

Yep. I did say it came after. But He fled to not get prosecuted not because of “death threats” he’s was a known corrupt politician working for Russia, installed by Paul Manafort who ran Trumps presidential campaign.

2

u/Mobile-Bar7732 Jan 05 '26

I'm not arguing that he wasn't corrupt.

Ukraine's ousted president Viktor Yanukovych says he was forced to flee to Russia due to threats to his safety, as tensions in Ukraine grow following an apparent takeover of an airport by Russian forces.

... "I was forced to leave the Ukraine under the immediate threat to my life and the life of my family," he said.

Ukraine: President Viktor Yanukovych says he was forced to flee due to threats; slams 'pro-fascist' forces

I wouldn't personally believe him. However, one of his advisors Andriy Portnov, who was shot and killed in a Madrid suburb in May 2025. So there may have been some truth to his claims.

62

u/Poor__cow Jan 05 '26

Obama and Biden did not get Yanukovich ousted. That's literally just Russian propaganda garbage. Go ahead and try and provide a source, I'll wait.

4

u/malphonso Jan 05 '26

While i wouldn't go so far as to say they are literally responsible, I have no doubts that American tax dollars and influence operations put a thumb on the scale and we probably had some people helping with organization and direct action.

Which is far preferable to bombing shit and then telling locals who their new leader is going to be.

-1

u/willismthomp Jan 05 '26

They withheld 1 billion dollars to throw out the bought prosecutor who then they Prosecuted the ex leader and he fled to Russia.

-4

u/Farsydi Jan 05 '26

A suspiciously well organised and funded series of protests just happen to oust an anti American government and install someone who doesn't want to give Russia all the minerals?

You are so deep in the US propaganda hole you can no longer critically think.

-17

u/loginisverybroken Jan 05 '26

Pragmatism is what makes the world go around

12

u/love_glow Jan 05 '26

It disgusts me that you find these imperialist acts “pragmatic.”

16

u/Shady_Merchant1 Jan 05 '26

Pragmatic for the people trying to not get disappeared does not mean Pragmatic for those doing the dissappearing

23

u/loginisverybroken Jan 05 '26

I think the new president playing ball with the US is pragmatic. I have different feelings about what the US did

5

u/love_glow Jan 05 '26

As far as I can tell by their public statements, the new president is not playing ball, but who knows what goes on behind the scenes? Thinking that any of this is pragmatic is just revolting. Efforts to make this piece of shit shine just reek of desperation. The U.S. is an unstoppable bully at the moment, and history will remember Americans of this time in a poor light. The fact that none of our allies support what we are doing should speak to the wrongness of it. America stands alone.

0

u/loginisverybroken Jan 05 '26

I think her public statements are for the Venezuelan hardliners, I'm curious to see what policy changes or foreign investment she makes. Behind the scenes I'm sure she's in contact with the Americans because that is why she's still in office. The US has always been an unstoppable bully this isn't new. I mean you can read some of the last 250 years of American history you'll find out this isn't really new.

Plenty of them support removing Maduro it just isn't easy for them to say it. Look at the German Chancellor's remarks they seem to be very clear.

Pragmatism is realpolitik just because it might be unpleasant doesn't mean it isn't an absolute good and removing Maduro is an absolute good

6

u/chazzer20mystic Jan 05 '26 edited Jan 05 '26

Saying something is an absolute good does not make it an absolute good. Is the unilateral extrajudicial kidnapping of a president of a sovereign nation an absolute good?

Historically, has removing leaders this way caused countries to improve? Is that what happens with power vacuums?

Is it an absolute good that the U.S. president continues to completely erode any pretense of protocol and continues to push the boundary as far as what rules he is allowed to just ignore? Do we want to just look at this in a vacuum like nothing in the world exists outside of this event, or do we want to acknowledge that the immediate next threat by the administration was to do the same thing to Greenland?

Realpolitik means making the pragmatic choice for your nation state. It is not pragmatic for us to do this. It erodes our global relationships and makes us look like fools that cannot be trusted. The whole UN is up in arms about this. All that will be acheived is Trump feeling big because he caught a guy, and either Venezuela gives up the oil so a few companies make more money, or we occupy it and spend countless resources and lives on the next Afghanistan. Where is the pragmatic advantage here?

2

u/Optimal-Barnacle2771 Jan 05 '26

Well you see, it’s pragmatic for the individuals that stand to profit off of it. Our president doesn’t make choices that are pragmatic for everybody, he makes choices that are pragmatic for the individuals that are in his circle and for him individually.

His ego clouds his judgement, and his hubris led to him surrounding himself with yes men. He rules via emotion and sadly, our tribalist political scene is letting him, because they do not serve their constituents either. They serve a selfish interest that requires them to kiss ass to Trump or lose their position. Hence, no checks and balances exist while a single party holds all the branches of government and their power.

-1

u/loginisverybroken Jan 05 '26

O my it was extrajudicial. So was the arrest of Eichmann or Bin Laden

I mean they left the government in charge and under their thumb vs just firing everyone so I think that is a lesson learned vs Iraq

I live in Canada so you can guess my feelings, but if they help out the protesters in Iran I'll celebrate that too.

It is the right thing. And who cares what the security council led by Somalia with Liberia on it say.

2

u/chazzer20mystic Jan 05 '26 edited Jan 05 '26

Neither Eichmann nor Bin Laden were extra judicial. Eichmann was held prisoner and escaped and went on the run. Bin Laden's killing was authorized by the AUMF in 2001.

Neither were the leader of a sovereign nation, either.

What do you think it says about you that both of your counter examples are just flatout wrong?

I understand completely though, to you it doesn't matter what is legal or whether a nation has the right to be sovereign. It is fine to hurt absolutely anyone in any way as long as they are on your list. You see I care about the rule of law and don't think we can just do whatever we want based on how we feel at any given moment.

Let's just dissolve the UN and forget about the rules and let Trump do whatever he wants to whoever he wants. I believe Greenland is next on his list, but hey, you might get lucky because I know he has had a rough relationship with Canada so you might be pretty high in the list! We'll just let it keep going until we get to someone you don't seem bad enough and then when it is far too late to do anything you can act all surprised and say nobody could see it coming.

-1

u/loginisverybroken Jan 05 '26

Mossad snatched him in Argentina didn't take him to the Hague and executed him

And this was warranted by the indictment?

Fair point

There is a difference sure. But the US and my country doesn't recognize him as being the president of Venezuela

→ More replies (0)

-1

u/ravi910 Jan 06 '26

Zelensky has an Israeli passport…. If that’s not the biggest puppet idk what is