From: atropos@mac.com   
      
   On Jan 4, 2026 at 8:52:27 PM PST, "Rhino"    
   wrote:   
      
   > On 2026-01-04 6:47 p.m., Adam H. Kerman wrote:   
   >>  BTR1701  wrote:   
   >>   
   >>>  It is true that a lot of the Democrats who are now screeching about   
   >>> "violating   
   >>>  international law by kidnapping a head of state" are having to explain a   
   lot   
   >>>  of inconvenient tweets and statements that are barely a year old where   
   they   
   >>>  literally said things like, "Maduro is an illegitimate and brutal dictator   
   >>>  whole stole an election and should be removed". Now that Trump has done   
   >>>  exactly what they called for, he's suddenly a war criminal or something.   
   >>   
   >>  Fuck Trump for snatching defeat from the jaws of victory. No one, except   
   >>  Cuba, Russia, and China, recognizes Maduro as head of state. Biden   
   >>  twisted Maduro's arm till he called that election. Maduro then had Hugo   
   >>  Chavez's leading opponenent Maria Corina Machado barred from running.   
   >>  The unified opposition ran Edmundo Gonzalez, her ally, instead. Maduro   
   >>  lost. The entire world said so.   
   >>   
   >>  Trump must not say that the U.S. will run the country given that we   
   >>  aren't even occupying the place. He's got to recognize Gonzales and make   
   >>  it safe for Machado to come out of hiding. Give them every bit of   
   >>  support and help restore the economy.   
   >>   
   >>  No clue if grabbing Maduro violated international law, considering his   
   >>  illegitimacy, but if we run the place and Gonzales does not, that's   
   >>  clearly against international law.   
   >   
   > I would imagine American involvement in WWII violated all kinds of   
   > international law too   
      
   In reality, there's no such thing as "international law".   
      
   There is no worldwide government with a super-legislature that's passing laws   
   that bind all countries. There's no set of law books where I can go to read   
   the "international code".   
      
   What everyone calls "international law" is merely a set of treaties between   
   nations. Agreements whose legal force and effect lasts only so long as   
   everyone involved chooses to obey them. Any country can withdraw from any   
   treaty at any time if it thinks it's in its national interest to do so and the   
   only "legal" penalty is that the treaty dissolves and everyone moves on   
   without it.   
      
   >>  Macron congratulated Trump! No other European leader did.   
   >   
   > Our foreign minister made noises that acknowledged Maduro was an   
   > illegitimate leader but made no effort to thank or praise Trump.   
      
   The Russian Foreign Ministry condemned U.S. actions in Venezuela:   
      
   "It's an unacceptable violation of the sovereignty of an independent state,   
   respect for which is a key principle of international law."   
      
   I'm sorry, what did you say? I couldn't hear it over the detonation of my   
   irony meter.   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)