On a less humorous note: These are serious times. What are they thinking ? #BBC

lovely little logic loop here. the left have accurately described reality, but i still think they're wrong, so what if it was somehow in fact the left's describing of reality that perverted history to make them right. quantum politics. no fair, you changed the outcome by measuring it!

Reminder: The US has refused to join the International Criminal Court because it argues extraterritorial justice is incompatible with national sovereignty and citizen's rights.

Here is J.D. Vance's rationale for seizing Maduro. He says Trump "was very clear throughout this process: the drug trafficking must stop, and the stolen oil must be returned to the United States." Very interesting, since the indictment says nothing whatever about oil, stolen or otherwise. /1

In the Maduro capture operation, the Trump administration relies on Bill Barr’s (discredited) 1989 memo claiming a President can disregard the UN Charter (CNN report). That is a loaded gun. The legal analysis is utterly flawed. My assessment just published: www.justsecurity.org/127962/madur...

Trump is trying to force US oil companies to rebuild Venezuelan oil fields that are too expensive to invest in at current crude prices while a full blown energy revolution is happening with cheap solar and electrification growing exponentially. This is a dying empire shit.

*freeze frame* *record scratch* Yep, that's me. You're probably wondering how I got here...

KAMALA WILL SEND YOUR SONS TO WAR

Yeah and there is as yet no credible mechanism to secure any investments into increasing Venezuelan supply. Canadian leverage is intact for now. New regime seems to be opposed to US taking over its oil. So US is going to have to do it by force, which will cost more than it will be worth.

A lot of people have screamed "twitter isn't real life" at us for over a decade but the admin is currently being run by content creators seeking the approval of twitter users to the extent that their "situation room" had twitter feeds up on the projectors

Friendly reminder that W's Iraq invasion had 65% bipartisan approval when it started, even with debate about whether or not Saddam Hussein actually had WMDs. So the fact that this can't even crack 60% within the GOP is telling. 60% own-party support would typically kill a policy immediately.

For my enemies, straight-talking realpolitik about the consolidation of power, control of the judiciary, and rampant corruption. For my friends, a complex host of extraordinary legal issues at the intersection of international law and the presidency.

It’s kind of amazing how much Trump has deteriorated in the last couple years, like, we all know there’s approximately zero chance of him talking like this today bsky.app/profile/thef...

OK, crash course in oil. Oil has two main gradings, viscosity (light or heavy) and sulfur (sweet or sour). A light (low viscosity) and sweet (low sulfur) oil is easier to process into gasoline and other products than a heavy and sour one, so the light & sweet oil commands a premium price.

The fact of the raid leaking – and Trump repeatedly saying in his press conference earlier that the Venezuelans “knew we were coming” – further undermines any serious argument as to not formally notifying Congress about the attack, of course.

Venezuela’s Supreme Court has ordered that Vice President Delcy Rodriguez assume and exercise all powers and duties inherent to the position of President in order to guarantee the continuity of government and defence of the nation.

I was going to say that people working at X must be relieved the attention is off their automated sexual harassment generator but then I realized they work at X so they didn’t give a fuck about that to begin with

A post shared by the US Defence Secretary

The Australian opposition has also missed the point that Trump has no interest in the results of Venezuelan elections

the administration wants to frame this (bizarrely) as law enforcement. but if law enforcement conducted a raid for a suspect and killed 40 people, including an unknown number of unarmed civilians, it would be treated as a clear disaster like Waco.

“Trump declared ‘Donroe Doctrine,’ another moment that will stand for ages as an embarrassment to the U.S. and raises the question yet again of whether the commander in chief is cognitively stable enough to be ordering the invasion of other nations” {gift link} www.theatlantic.com/internationa...

Donald Trump is now reposting videos on Truth Social suggesting that Minnesota Governor Tim Walz had Melissa Hortman assassinated. This is objectively evil, and calling it out should not be political.

The right’s new hero posts a video of Miami and says it’s Venezuela— then leaves it up

But another risk for Europe is Putin invading (say) the Baltic states, and Trump pressuring them as he's pressuring Ukraine, to give up territory for "peace" plus business deals for his cronies etc

To be clear, I'm not saying Trump has some innate respect for Europe's boundaries (plus, as someone rightly said, Greenland is in north America)

Wrote up this thread for @goodauth.bsky.social (thanks as always to the amazing editorial team!). goodauthority.org/news/what-ha...

some thoughts on all of this madness from earlier in the morning youtu.be/-yUi-0vNlDA

Their messaging is so fucking incoherent. Maduro was an illegitimate leader who lost in 2024, which is why we're replacing him with his VP instead of the person who won in 2024. We did this to stop fentanyl, which is why he's indicted for cocaine. We're also occupying Venezuela via Zoom call.

NYT: At least 40 people were killed in the US attack on Venezuela, including military personnel and civilians.

Australia. Echoes the watery EU and UK.

Canada needs to take see the invasion of Venezuela for what it is - a deliberate attack on the international rules based order. We have a bandit nation on our border and we need to be ready for whatever comes next. charlieangus.substack.com/p/venezuela-...

For nonlawyers, it’s worth noting that statements like this have—as a formal matter—important legal effects as a matter of international law. If such statements are *not* made, and in volume, future arguments that Trump’s invasion sets a legal precedent will stand on much firmer legal ground.

👇👇This, has anyone else picked up on this?

Last time I checked the Falkland Islands are located in the westerns hemisphere. I can only assume Farage and Brexit supporters would be more than happy to hand over British sovereignty of the islands into the capable hands of the orange God-King.

The EU institutions (and the UK) seem to be focusing on Maduro's election theft, ignoring both a) the illegality of the means of his removal and b) (crucial to this argument on its own terms) the obvious point that Trump doesn't give a fuck about the election result there either.

Or Canada. And while there is much evidence to assert that Maduro actually stole the previous Venezuelan election, we all know that Trump is prone to wholly false claims about stolen elections too. Not that he seems to care about Venezuelan democracy anyway.

Trump has just announced he is going to RUN another country (with or without boots on the ground) to ensure oil flows for US companies. Yes, there’s still people - including in Latin America - pretending this is about Maduro winning elections or not. How is a Trump occupation any more legitimate?

Norway’s Foreign Minister Espen Barth Eide: "International law is universal and binding for all states. The American intervention in Venezuela is not in accordance with international law."

Ozzy celebrates the return of his staff with a light mauling

Alright here is the NFL STARTER PACK Subscribe and your timeline will immediately be full of football talk and takes Share widely, on other platforms, etc etc go.bsky.app/8RH6KbH

Clinton appointee Judge Alvin Hellerstein has Maduro’s case. Last spring, he barred the Trump admin from removing Venezuelans from the US under the Alien Enemies Act, which he said had been applied unlawfully “These people are being thrown out of the country because of tattoos”

Been watching the BBC coverage for 15 mins and there's no mention yet of the illegality of US intervention under US law [let alone international law]. Can't help think that Trump's lawsuit is causing them to feel unable to report what is happening properly.

Susan Collins quote:

What if none of these things is a distraction from the other things and instead they're all just horrible things