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Every nation has the right to protect its citizens at sea from piracy or acts of war.
If a Ukrainian cargo ship was attacked by the Russian navy then Ukraine could protect it and no one would question those actions.
Surely every U.S. Navy admiral and ship captains would know that if they got an order to attack Venezuelan Navy vessels.
Surely every U.S. Navy admiral and ship captains would know that if they got an order to attack Venezuelan Navy vessels.
Now is the time we are going to see if US military personnel are too cowardly to refuse illegal orders or not. I suspect there is a good chance the answer will be disappointing but resistance is still possible.
More likely I think the US military is going to lose a major asset like a ship from topdown orders to do utterly braindead shit during a strike and conforming to them even though the orders are horribly stupid and ill-advised tactically. This is nearly an inveitable eventuality if this escalation continues as people like Pete Hegseth are literally incapable of looking at a fancy military map with ships on it and not needing to pointlessly order them around to feel powerful when surrounded by actual military brass who know how to do their job, even if it will obviously kill US military personnel for no good reason, the brain of Pete Hegseth has been conditioned and rotted out from playing the part of a powerful fascist and is physically incapable of listening in that type of situation.
Think about it, imagine a situation where Navy brass are telling Pete Hegseth his idea is an extremely stupid thing to do with a guided missile destroyer and will get it blown up resulting in the deaths of all the crew members and replay it 1000 times with the Navy brass bringing up the point in a 1000 different ways and find one where you can credibly argue Pete Hegseth would listen. You can't, it is a futile exercise, this is categorically an impossible eventuality in the real world.
Unfortunately I think if the Trump administration has truly decided on war with Venezuela the only thing that can stop it is a tidal wave of shear embarrassment and humiliation that shatters the resolve of US bigots by underlining how their fascism makes them completely unfit to lead a military rationally, which is really the only place Centrists will actually break with Conservatives on military foreign policy despite the superficial claims Centrists make about caring about what is right and wrong.
Exhibit A see the Palestinian Genocide and complete lack of giving a shit by the leadership of the political center of the US and how it nearly perfectly aligns with the brutal cruelty of Conservative world views.
[EDIT: did some research]
illegal orders
You're 100% right:
Congress has not issued an Authorization for Use of Military Force (AUMF) or a formal declaration of war. Consequently, since November 4, 2025, all U.S. kinetic operations within the Venezuelan theater have occurred in a state of statutory unauthorized hostilities
Even though these are finally military ships, the Trump administration has managed to make attacking them a violation of US law.
The fascists in power will not be happy with only attacking military targets, for evidence of that see literally every step that has been taken until now by them.
On the other hand, if the US can seize Venezuelan vessels on the high seas, why can't Europe stop Russia's shadow fleet?
So when the US "neutralized a Venezuelan tanker", that wasn't an escalation, but now when Maduro takes measures to prevent this happening again, now it's a "significant escalation"??
I'm sure that, since a blockade is an act of war and it's not within the president's power to declare war, Congress will act any second now to stop this problem from escalating. Right? RIGHT?!
Like the vote that failed yesterday, where Republicans just bent over and let him do what he wants?
Haven't heard of any vote, got a link?
So full order of events. US companies invest in Venezuelan oil, they begin pumping and selling oil, Venezuelan government shoos them out to make more money, equipment fails and Venezuela makes less money per year despite owning 100% of the profits, things are fine-ish for decades between the two nations, oil talks begin again, little comes of them, US begins bombing boats that they state without verification are drug boats, trump personally chooses to begin stealing oil from a country decades removed from US involvement in their oil industry. Did I miss anything?
China.
How the U.S. is Handing Over Venezuela’s Oil Sector to China
https://oilprice.com/Energy/Energy-General/How-the-US-is-Handing-Over-Venezuelas-Oil-Sector-to-China.html
So, where does all the oil go? In past years, Caracas was able to strike agreements with Rosneft or with Indian buyers. But as the U.S. introduced secondary sanctions, and now secondary tariffs, there was only one buyer left, the only one that does not fear Washington’s threats: China.
You forgot the bombing of civilian boats to escalate the conflict while claiming without evidence that they were transporting WMD drugs
Added
The US has been meddling in Venezuela's affairs for decades.
Alright, toss the severely condensed events at me, along with their space on the timeline, and I’ll edit them in. “Generic animosity at some point” doesn’t make for an easy add
Trump administration: "YESSSS!!!! We can force them to defend themselves and when they do we can cry about being attacked and say we have no choice but to go to war now!!"
If anyone here has been with a narcissist, this is very familiar behavior.
Maybe China can send their tankers to get their oil.