Denmark’s Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen called on US President Donald Trump and his allies to stop making threats to seize control of Greenland as tensions flared between the Nato allies following America’s intervention in Venezuela. www.ft.com/content/daae...

Chavismo has always been virulently anti semitic

"Respecting the will of the Venezuelan people remains the only way for Venezuela to restore democracy and resolve the current crisis" Statement from the European Union (again without Hungary) www.eeas.europa.eu/eeas/venezue...

It took awhile but the PTPA is finally over

There is something wrong with men who are upset because the Refs wear gloves. Next time I hope he does slip on the tights too.

@almagroschool.bsky.social don’t you think now Delcy Rodriguez worked Diosdaro and the gave Maduro up? And of course she was in Moscow with good friend Putin so all this has been arranged niftily? Maduro gone, money flows, US troops controlling gangs. US pays for righting the country?

It’s going to be a General

The idea that Trump plans to now run Venezuela should strike fear in the hearts of all Americans. The American people have seen this before and paid the devastating price.

🤦🏽‍♀️ Rubio must be thinking it’s all worth it…

If you want to make a lot of dirty money quick get on a plane to Caracas now. They’ll be handing out suitcases full of cash tomorrow

Who’s actually going to be in charge of Venezuela, now that we’re “running” it? “A group.”

*takes drag on cigarette* *flips off Mearsheimer* *starts pitch email* Vibes-Based Occupation: The New Realism

But the US destroyed the entire “nation building” infrastructure. There is no USAID. There are few area experts in the government. INL & every State dept agency dedicated to development is gone. So who is going to run things the military? The last time this was tried in AFG & Iraq it was a disaster.

Trump: “We’re going to run the country until such time as we can have a safe, proper, transition…so we are going to run the country until we can have a safe…judicious transition.” So Trump, for the time being, is effectively saying for now he’s also President of Venezuela.

Republican leaders were briefed. Democratic leaders were not. This is the Trump approach.

How Oil, Drugs and Immigration Fueled Trump’s Venezuela Campaign www.nytimes.com/2025/12/27/u... this is another really good backgrounder on the Trump admin & Venezuela that again predicted what would happen today.

This is a really excellent piece on what could happen in Venezuela now. I would urge anyone who really wants to know the background to the crisis & what the options are going forward to read it.

Remember that there is a legitimately elected president of Venezuela: Edmundo Gonzalez. He won the election in 2024.

This. Justification is not an issue. This is the Noriega textbook. Plus Maduro is an illegitimate president not recognized by anyone. But here are the real problems: 1. Who controls who comes next? How do you establish the next govt? 2. We’ve been through years of nation building…

Maduro and his regime are antisemitic to the core but I think the Jewish and Israeli people celebrating the events of recent hours are being extremely shortsighted. Jewish people, indeed all people, need a normal US not a batshit one

This. It’s always the aftercare that’s the problem and now they have no one who has been through AFG, Iraq & Kosovo who can even work on rebuilding institutions. Never mind that most of the area experts are also probably gone.

The problem here again is the precedent: in the case of Noriega, Grenada & others. Plus the loopholes of “executing a warrant”. Maduro himself is an illegitimate president. He stole the elex. Kallas noted that in her statement. So this fantasy that there are options is just that a fantasy.

Not quite the case. The Supreme Court ruled that the President can’t be convicted in most of his actions bc it wld ultimately let loose pernicious lawsuits after & during the presidency. But it doesn’t mean all. In Maduro’s case there is an arrest warrant out for him for drug trafficking.

Today is the precise 36th anniversary of the last time the United States used force to remove a Latin American head of state, in case you’re keeping score.

Sen Mike Lee with the first account I’ve seen of the Admin’s legal theory for the strikes. On the domestic law side — something like: Art II law enforcement power to capture Maduro (by invading his own country) combined with Art II power to protect those personnel executing the warrant.

Here’s the thing abt illegality: in the US there is already a precedent set to override congress & bomb & use troops. So yes you can’t declare war w/o an act of congress but you can - depending on what happens here- make a move like this. Also congress is Republican controlled so no oversight

One thing abt Panama the US already had Marines in Panama to protect the Canal then brought more to take over Panama City. Then deposed Noriega. He surrendered to US troops

There’s much that we don’t know and is unpredictable. There may also be some background deal between Washington and the Kremlin, with Maduro ending up in Moscow, like Syria’s dictator Assad.

History often rhymes as the year turns. Romanian dictator Ceaușescu was executed on Christmas Day 1989 just as Panamian dictator Noriega fled following the US invasion. The intervention in Venezuela may shift Washington’s attention from Ukraine but shld also remind 🇺🇸 that Russia is Maduro’s enabler

Refugees have been flooding out of Venezuela for years. It already has had an effect across the region in Colombia, Peru & Chile especially.

I think ppl have forgotten about Noriega of Panama who was deposed in 1989 & taken to the US where he was convicted of drug trafficking & died in jail I believe. www.voanews.com/a/noriega-su... btw I said before the last US military intervention was Grenada but no it was Panama

America has always seen C. & S. America as part of its world. It’s not just commodities but also the way that colonialism ended & migration patterns. The US shares close cultural ties w/the Americas - always has. However what is happening in Venezuela is ahistorical…

ft.com/content/7ab68e… follow up from @FT on the KS elex quoting Damnjanovic “Kurti will keep up his campaign of pressuring Kosovo Serbs, with the unspoken goal of getting them to leave.”

When thinking about Mitchell I can't help but to remember that Japanese poem "Nobunaga piled the rice, Hideyoshi kneaded the dough and Tokugawa ate the cake"

Every single one of the men's 2003 squad received some form of honour afterwards.

First I want to complain about the lack of a Mo Hunt here as well as the rest of the team. That’s v. much not right. Lucy Packer deserves a gong a lot more than Marlie for this tournament especially. Mitchell walked into a setup all he had to do was not fuck shit up.

WRU uniting all levels of the game. I’m guessing loathing wasn’t what they were looking for however. www.walesonline.co.uk/sport/rugby/...

Serbia will hold early parliamentary elections in 2026, Vucic confirmed. This was one of the main demands of the protesters

Less than half turned out to vote. Ethnic Serbs turned out in higher numbers overall than ethnic Albs. It’ll be interesting to see if Kurti keeps his promises to boost the economy (he didn’t keep his promise last time to reform health or schools) or if he goes after Serbs again…

Latest results from this morning on #Kosovo elections. It will be a VV govt

With the updated results Vetevendosje will likely be able to form the next government

Early results from #Kosovo elections. Less than 50% turnout. Seems there will be another dragged out deadlock

As of 15h 28,88 % of voters have turned out across Kosovo. Higher in Serbian areas.

⚫ Brigitte Bardot, actrice française légendaire, icône féminine des années 1960 et fervente protectrice des animaux, est décédée à l'âge de 91 ans, a annoncé ce dimanche la Fondation Brigitte Bardot.

Today is Election Day in Kosovo and here’s my preview for @euractiv.com www.euractiv.com/news/kosovo-...

Jared Kushner's withdrawal from Serbia will hurt investment, official says reut.rs/49qluzV

Still need to donate something before the end of the year. Consider us! And help women and girls across Kosovo play rugby.

The full spiked 60 Minutes CECOT package, clean & subtitled. 1/5

Something not talked abt in mis & disinformation discourse is a govt refusing to talk to the media. This often happens in KS particularly w/Serbian lang media where the govt refuses to use Serbian & last week the acting PM demanded that Serbian reporters use Albanian. Serbian is an official lang.

“Our story was screened five times and cleared by both CBS attorneys and Standards and Practices..."“It is factually correct. In my view, pulling it now, after every rigorous internal check has been met, is not an editorial decision, it is a political one.” www.nytimes.com/2025/12/21/b...