Dealing With Venezuela, Clumsily

MIKE POMPEO, Secretary of State, is as clueless as anyone in the Trump administration, and that is quite an accomplishment, considering the historically high coefficient of cluelessness within this administration. Cluelessness in the formulation of foreign policy can have disastrous consequences. They can include the weakening of nuclear arms control treaties by withdrawing from them, weakening resistance to climate change on a global scale by withdrawing from international climate change agreements, and making matters worse in troubled countries by meddling in their foreign affairs. Also included is the alienation of traditional allies by threatening to withdraw from crucial alliances. The Trump administration state department is guilty of all the above. It is also guilty of failing to adequately staff the department of state; the Washington D.C. State Department building is, even after two years of Trump, in large measure empty of necessary support staff, and appointments of ambassadors to many countries have not been made. This does not inspire confidence in the administration's ability to respond effectively to international crises. The currently most severe crisis is in Venezuela, where a disputed election resulted in two politicians claiming to be president. There are now about two dozen countries, including the United States, which refuse to acknowledge the legitimacy of incumbent Venezuelan president Maduro, and they have good reason for taking that position. His ostensible election "victory" over several challengers was nearly too close to call, and came only after Maduro forbade the strongest challengers to remain in the race. According to the Venezuelan constitution, the president of the national legislature assumes temporary head of state duties under these circumstances, and Juan Guaido has been designated head of state pro tem by the legislature. In typical Latin American style, Maduro remains intransigent, refusing to abdicate. Maduro is not without his international support". Russia, China, Cuba, among others are in his corner; Russia went so far as to warn the Trump administration to keep a safe distance, which is probably good advice, but will probably fall on deaf ears, like most good advice given to Americans. Pompeo's potential to make matters worse was revealed by his recent comment that Venezuela's troubles are the result of "a failed socialist experiment". Actually, over reliance on the price of crude oil is the prime culprit, coupled with a healthy does of corruption. This portends poorly for the future; the United States has a long history of fomenting revolutions in Latin American, always for the purpose of replacing duly elected socialistic leaders with pro American pro corporate leaders installed by virtue of the CIA acting in concert with domestic terrorist groups. Its happened over and over. Guatemala, 1954, Chile, 1973, and on, and on. Pompeo's remark is exactly the sort of remark American administrations typically make before sending in the CIA, and billions of dollars worth of weapons, for use in a usurpation. As if capitalism is a successful "experiment". Neither socialism nor corporate capitalism is the latest thing; the former was invented by Plato, and probably by stone age humanity; corporate capitalism has been around since the mid eighteenth century, at the very least. Neither is an experiment; both have a long history of both success and failure, in the United States, and many other places. it all depends on how effectively an economic system, any economic system, is implemented. the devil, as we say, is in the details. If the notes on Trump adviser john Bolton's legal pad, seen when media members did a bit of camera eaves dropping, is a harbinger, we will soon see five thousand American troops deployed in Colombia. What comes next, as always, remains a mystery.