XPost: talk.politics.misc, alt.fan.rush-limbaugh   
   From: bks@panix.com   
      
    | ...   
    | John Mearsheimer: Well, I think what the administration is   
    | trying to do here is figure out a way to get out of the   
    | corner that they've boxed themselves into in this Venezuela   
    | situation. I mean, we decided early on that we were going   
    | to get tough with Venezuela that it was this great threat   
    | to the United States and that we would be able to deal with   
    | it rather easily. But that's not proved to be the case at all.   
    |   
    | And what you see the Trump administration doing is fishing   
    | around for a way to deal with this problem. And that   
    | basically means getting rid of the Maduro government and   
    | taking this huge problem that we've created off the table.   
    |   
    | And you remember at first Trump was talking about the fact   
    | that the CIA was operating inside Venezuela. And then he   
    | escalated further and we started destroying those boats and   
    | killing innocent people on board those boats. Then he   
    | started talking about a land invasion or hinting at a land   
    | invasion. Then he said that the airspace over Venezuela was   
    | closed they're seizing tankers and they're talking about   
    | putting some form of blockade on Venezuela.   
    |   
    | All these different approaches are due to the fact that the   
    | Trump administration is unable to figure out how to deal   
    | with the Maduro government in a way that they can save   
    | face. They are in a real pickle. The administration is in a   
    | real pickle. And that's what explains what's going on with   
    | the seizing of this particular ship and the blockade that's   
    | now been announced by Trump.   
    | ...   
      
      
       --bks   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)