XPost: talk.politics.misc, alt.fan.rush-limbaugh   
   From: NoBody@nowhere.com   
      
   On Tue, 6 Jan 2026 11:41:24 -0000 (UTC), bks@panix.com (Bradley K.   
   Sherman) wrote:   
      
   >>>> | U.S. plan to 'run' Venezuela clouded in confusion   
   >   
   >> | But we cannot lose sight of what has brought us here -- to   
   >> | the surreal and yet somehow entirely foreseeable situation   
   >> | in which the Trump administration has illegally abducted   
   >> | the leader of Venezuela, a country that has engaged in no   
   >> | hostilities with the United States, without even the   
   >> | appearance of an effort to enlist the support of the   
   >> | American public or their elected representatives in   
   >> | Congress, and without even the semblance of a stated plan   
   >> | for how the country will be governed.   
   >   
   > | ...   
   > | The bottom line is, unlike the boat strikes the U.S.   
   > | military has carried out to date that have occurred in   
   > | international waters against stateless vessels, this   
   > | operation, striking Venezuela and abducting its president,   
   > | is clearly a violation of the prohibition on the use of   
   > | force in Article 2(4) of the UN Charter. That prohibition   
   > | is the bedrock rule of the international system that   
   > | separates the rule of law from anarchy, safeguards small   
   > | States from their more powerful neighbors, and protects   
   > | civilians from the devastation of war. The consequences of   
   > | flouting this rule so brazenly are likely to extend well   
   > | beyond the case of Maduro's forcible ouster. Likewise, the   
   > | initiation of an armed conflict - triggering the   
   > | application of the law of armed conflict, including all   
   > | four Geneva Conventions - has meaningful consequences,   
   > | ranging from the protections now owed to Venezuelan   
   > | nationals in the United States, to the application of rules   
   > | governing treatment of Maduro and his wife while in U.S.   
   > | custody, to accountability for any war crimes committed in   
   > | the course of the conflict.   
   > | ...   
   >   
   >   
   >    --bks   
      
   Laughter!   
      
   Keep up yer whining.   
      
   Oh and your boat strike story died a peaceful death.   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)