9 Comments
User's avatar
Neural Foundry's avatar

The juxtaposition of domestic economic indicators with the Venezuela statement really underscores the absurdity here. When healthcare premiums are spiking due to ACA credit expirations and 43 million people live in poverty, the optics of announcing plans to "run" another country are just wild. The energy affordability crisis alone should be a wake-up call - Americans paying $124 more monthly on utilities while talking about seizing foreign oil assets feels like satire writing itself. I remember when political leaders atleast tried to maintain some rhetorical consistency between domestic priorities and foreign policy. The disconnect betwween what the polling data shows Americans want (end to military adventurism) and what actually happens is getting harder to ignore.

Rosalba Cofer's avatar

Run Venezuela means to harvest the country of all is resources and leave when they're done a la Romney.

Richard (RJ) Eskow's avatar

Exactly—and like the aliens wanted to do in Independence Day.

Gary Eskow's avatar

Very sad. Given the Dems acquiescence, to the Obama administration specifically (remember HRC's lovely comment about what was going to happen to Qadaffi when we got through with him?), their opposition seems feeble.

John Hoctor's avatar

Mixture of Iraqi freedom and Panama Freedom all Bush crime family smears and lies mixed with their biggie 9. 11 FU Orange

Polat Guney's avatar

So much for the "US military does not have to carry out illegal orders" gambit, eh?

Richard (RJ) Eskow's avatar

They don't HAVE to carry them out, but you don't get medals or promotions by sitting out a battle—even an illegal one.

Polat Guney's avatar

True--incentives and esprit de corps does appear to easily overwhelm professional ethics. So, by extension, appealing to ethics must serve some purpose other than influencing behavior.

Can anyone point me to documented instances where the reverse has held? (Where ethics held against incentives and organizational culture.) The military, law enforcement and finance seem unlikely sources. Medicine maybe? Sciences?