the remaining differences are mostly about aesthetics and not about the use of violence to maintain hegemony
this post was submitted on 05 Jan 2026
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Problem is, Maduro is a figurehead. He's not a mastermind. The regime will carry on without him. Nothing has been achieved by this kidnapping except a threat to Venezuela, and a message to China and Russia that this is how the world works now.
Edit: Also a lot of innocent or mostly innocent people have been murdered. Trump is a literal murderer.
It's not now though, it's how the US always did things regardless of the party currently in charge.
Indeed. But the general direction of world order has been moving against that sort of thing, and increasingly, many serving US politicians and citizens. Trump is undermining both US and global progress away from the worst traits of human hegemonic History and putting them back on full display.
What makes you think so?
Institutions like NATO and the ICC, global trade agreements, security guarantees, economic interdependencies, multiculturalism, air travel, the infrastructure of the internet. The fact a bridge collapse or building fire might make international headlines. Movies and culture from around the world being mainstream.
What makes you not think so?
Because in practice none of these things in any way deterred countries from using their military and covered assets to practice imperialism.
In a way some of the things you mentioned were essential for this modern imperialism like NATO(just as one example of many it was NATO equipment, intel and training that allowed Azerbaijan invade Armenia), economic dependencies(invasion of Venezuela started with economic sanctions), movies, culture and the Internet(more specifically corporate owned social media) used for propaganda and controlling public narrative.
I do agree though that there are anti-war and anti-imperialism trends in Asia(we recently got to see China and India leaders shake hands, that's very new and exciting), Africa and South America.
Wow. I see the first four or five things you mentioned as the primary enablers of "this sort of thing," if by that you mean the theft of resources and destabilization of governance in the global south.
As if the entire western world wasn't already backing mass genocide in Palestine.
Yeah, it's shit. But if we let bad be the enemy of better, we'll never get anywhere.
Do you think a world without the institutions o mentioned would do any better for Palestinians?
As t least there's still widespread support and sentiment among the populations of the western world, and Israel is very much a pariah state in many nations' eyes. It's just not within most nations' power to intervene.
Even then intervention is tricky. We don't people to do what Trump did in Venezuela, because history has shown it doesn't lead to better long term outcomes.
There is no world where mass genocide is "better" and I have nothing but contempt for people who think it is.
And you can fuck off with your bullshit pretending that the West opposes Isreal but is just oh so reluctant about intervening. That is self absolving nonsense from a genocide apologist.
That is the most disingenuous interpretation of my comment I can imagine.
You're finding enemies in your own trenches my friend. The genocide in Gaza is absolutely horrific, and I am not making any excuses for it.
I'm just saying we live in a better world now as a whole than years past, recent years notwithstanding. Think mid-Obama as maybe the most hopeful time in recent memory as far as advancement toward the Global Goals was concerned, and yeah I know Obama was still bombing foreign countries in the name of anti-terror and killing innocents to get at Obama Bin Laden.
Do you find any optimism in the world or are you pure nihilism?
You are absolutely makeing excuses, and outright misrepresenting reality, for the West's participation in the Gaza genocide. You are absolutely not in the same trenches as me, because I am opposed to the genocidal West, and you make excuses for them.
Pure vibes based air with literally nothing concrete to back it up. This is the hight of privileged solipsism to think the years after the GFC were some golden age. I don't care how "hopeful" your privileged ass was, what you actually mean is that you preferred it when the war criminal in charge of the US Empire was well spoken.
I find optimism in seeing the clear signs that the American empire is nearing its end.
And what do you think will take its place, and how?
At this point it looks like a more multipolar world, with China being one of the larger poles
Inshallah!
Maduro being a figurehead isn't a problem, it's a good thing. The alternative would be the destabilization of Venezuela and the coup by a Milei-like libertarian who would give every inch of Venezuelan soil to US corpos and destroy worker rights.
If anything, it clearly shows he isn't the dictator US claims he is, so maybe it's time for the clueless to doubt rest of that mountain of bullshit spewed against him and Venezuela.
Sure, it's better than the alternative. But it still makes this move functionally meaningless aside from the reasons I mentioned.
Lemmy.world really has some of the most uneducated reactionaries.
There's blue maga people, or at least person, who keeps saying Maduro was just extracted by Trump because they are friends... While completing ignoring the death and destruction if it let's them get one on trump
It's possible he's just making a deal with Maduro, who he'll send back to Venezuela as his pawn. I guess we'll see.
Maduro is a former bus driver, union organizer, and firm supporter of the Bolivarian revolution. It's very unlikely that he'd be made a comprador, and even less likely that the supporters of the Bolivarian revolution would let it slide.
iirc Maduro was already in negotiations to surrender himself to Trump as a part of some deal that would lift the sanctions. But the negotiations took too long for Trump.
Trump threatens Jorge Rodriguez with more blatant terrorism unless he privatizes the world's largest oil supply. If the new admin capitulates, Trump calls that a win. He gets the oil and the spectacle without losing a single american troop. The US will lose respect from its allies - again - but they never do shit about it. iTs AmErICa FiRsT. america
Rubio and the Cuba lobby are furious though. They are serious about regime change. The option that gets the most people killed.
It isn't a threat, it's a gift