this post was submitted on 10 Dec 2025
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Two U.S. F-18 fighter jets flying in tandem entered Venezuelan airspace around noon Tuesday, circling over the Gulf of Venezuela in the latest show of force against the regime of Nicolás Maduro.

The flyover — carried out despite the Venezuelan regime’s possession of a number of Russian-made anti-aircraft batteries — took place less than 100 miles northeast of Maracaibo, Venezuela’s second-largest city. Thousands of Venezuelans tracked the aircraft online through specialized tracking websites, watching as the jets traced a bow-tie-shaped pattern over the gulf.

The fighters remained inside Venezuelan airspace for at least 40 minutes at an altitude of roughly 25,000 feet before heading north and leaving the area.

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[–] theuniqueone@lemmy.dbzer0.com 76 points 1 month ago

Blatant provocation by imperialist warmongers.

[–] Ziggurat@jlai.lu 46 points 1 month ago (2 children)

I am curious what was in the pilot's mind at this moment? I Know, militaires have to follow order, but here they're flying illegally over a foreign country, which has (cold War era but still) air-defence, in a non stealth plane while keeping transponder/ADS-B active.

Looks like not only illegal but also betting that Venezuela will stay calm enough to do anything about them

[–] ethnss@ttrpg.network 15 points 1 month ago (1 children)

A lot of US military pilots are genuine pieces of racist shit.

They all reinforce their conservative views in flight school.

[–] zqps@sh.itjust.works 9 points 1 month ago

And those that aren't openly and knowingly racist are still nationalist and authoritarian, of the "might makes right" variety in particular. You don't thrive in that environment otherwise.

[–] Renohren@lemmy.today 7 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

Militaries don't "have to" follow orders. They accept full responsibility for these orders. They can refuse orders and will have to accept responsibility for not following them.

Evaluation of the legality of the order happens in court, both entail respect of the constitution AND international treaties the country has signed, both use judges, lawyers and prosecutors. Are formalised to the extreme.

Following orders of such an unpopular government is the biggest long term threat on any soldier. Most understand this, I hope.

[–] khepri@lemmy.world 34 points 1 month ago (3 children)

Trump is trying to get an F-18 shot down, just the same as he was praying a nat'l guard member would get shot down, so he can justify doing whatever the fuck he wants.

[–] phutatorius@lemmy.zip 8 points 1 month ago

He'll do whatever the fuck he wants, regardless. And it doesn't require much effort for him to lie.

[–] AnUnusualRelic@lemmy.world 3 points 1 month ago

Can't he just have one thrown overboard instead? I hear it's a traditional way of dealing with them.

[–] Renohren@lemmy.today 2 points 1 month ago

This is all correct. It's insulting to the intelligence of foreign governments though.

[–] infinitesunrise@slrpnk.net 23 points 1 month ago (1 children)

The "I'm not touching you" harassment in the hopes of getting the fight you want without the blame for starting it. I remember this coward's tactic from bullies in grade school.

[–] zbyte64@awful.systems 6 points 1 month ago

We just took one of their toys: an oil tanker.

[–] titanicx@lemmy.zip 22 points 1 month ago

The trump regime trying to start a war with the people of venezuela, illegally entered their airspace for 40 minutes to continue to threaten and harass after murdering several of their citizens on the high seas.

[–] DarkFuture@lemmy.world 20 points 1 month ago (3 children)

Our own nation is collapsing and Americans can't afford to live, but we can terrorize other nations no problem?

The orange pedophile REALLY wants to distract from his failures. Namely child rape.

[–] Duamerthrax@lemmy.world 6 points 1 month ago

They want to use a war as an excuse to keep Trump is power.

[–] lka1988@sh.itjust.works 5 points 1 month ago

Trump will launch nukes before ever admitting to fucking kids.

[–] Sunflier@lemmy.world 5 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

He doesn't see the child rape as his failure. It was getting caught.

[–] vga@sopuli.xyz 19 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

Russia has been doing that on eastern and northern europe countries several times per year, even against "friendly" countries like pre-NATO Finland. And before that, they did it as Soviet Union.

But of course the current US administration holds those scumbags as role models.

[–] phutatorius@lemmy.zip 17 points 1 month ago

Your defiant flyover is my illegal violation of sovereignty.

[–] rayyy@piefed.social 7 points 1 month ago (2 children)

China may decide to step up and ally with South America as the US military is headed by a old deranged moron and the military is now under the command of an udder clown.
China doesn't need to directly confront the US but may provide critical information to defenders of Venezuela.

[–] CannonFodder@lemmy.world 6 points 1 month ago

I really like the mental image of an udder clown.

[–] Sunflier@lemmy.world 1 points 1 month ago

Do with Venezuela/South America what the US has done with Taiwan for the last decade?

[–] Socialism_Everyday@reddthat.com 6 points 1 month ago

Disgusting US imperialism. The EU needs to get as far from the US as possible ASAP, leaving NATO is an imperative at this point.

[–] Ilixtze@lemmy.ml 6 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

I wish someone would bomb strike all of these asshole american soldiers in the Caribbean

[–] xenomor@lemmy.world 1 points 1 month ago (5 children)

I hope one of the nations that we are bullying will defend themselves. I’d LOVE to see a US F18 go down. Shit, I’d like to see a carrier go down.

[–] Arkouda@lemmy.ca 28 points 1 month ago (2 children)

You hope to see the US enter full scale war after instigating another country into defending itself?

That is what will happen if anyone takes a shot at those planes, hence why they weren't shot down.

[–] xenomor@lemmy.world 6 points 1 month ago

I am fully aware of this, and no, I don’t want to see a smaller country get crushed by the US war machine. I just want to see the US take losses at some point. I’m hopeful that some smaller power will figure out a way to actually defend themselves and to actually hurt us.

[–] Insekticus@aussie.zone 3 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Then the U.S should stay the fuck out of other countries. World's biggest military ready to be taken over by the world's biggest fuckwit and his idiot cronies.

The U.S. needs to be brought down a few pegs to where they belong.

[–] foggenbooty@lemmy.world 8 points 1 month ago (1 children)

I don't think you really understand the situation. It's a bully taunting. They want you to take a swing. Your reaction plays right into their hand.

[–] Insekticus@aussie.zone 4 points 1 month ago (2 children)

I do. So what's your response? Lay down and let the bullying beat you until you're dead?

America has already broken their airspace and is randomly killing their civilians without any repercussions, and the world is just sitting idly by while it happens.

[–] frongt@lemmy.zip 3 points 1 month ago

For now, yes. They're trying to get OPEC to ally with them for defense.

[–] xenomor@lemmy.world -3 points 1 month ago (1 children)

I agree. At some point someone has to figure out a way to go after the US. I don’t know what that is.

[–] foggenbooty@lemmy.world 5 points 1 month ago

Going after the US and falling for one of their provocations are two totally different things. I'm not condoning this in any way, but look at Osama Bin Laden as a case study. With a handfull of people he sent the US spiraling down such that they still haven't recovered over 20+ years later. He would not have gotten anything like that through conventional means like shooting at planes. The US has become a shell of what it was in 2001, and while it was a horrible act which can't be condoned, it must have been an incredible success in his eyes, far more so than he had thought possible.

Rambling aside, all I'm saying is you don't win against the strongest military in the world in a fair fight. Asymmetric warfare means taking your time and thinking outside the box.

[–] Bristlecone@lemmy.world 25 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Escalation is exactly what they're looking for

[–] xenomor@lemmy.world 7 points 1 month ago (2 children)

I know. I just want some one to figure out a way to defend themselves against us.

[–] Bristlecone@lemmy.world 3 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

I also wish us (the US) bad things right now, my person. The piggish nature of America will only be seen by our ignorant civilians when they experience personal pain and suffering. We joke about how republikkkans only care when something affects them directly, but I'm starting to realize just how directly and how much of an impact it actually has to make for even that much to be true

[–] ethnss@ttrpg.network 2 points 1 month ago (2 children)

The Afghans did a pretty decent job.

Poor nations don't have to 'beat' the US. They just need to wear it down until it's no longer worth the resources to continue fighting.

[–] NoneOfUrBusiness@fedia.io 3 points 1 month ago

I mean, yes, but this "victory" came at the cost of two hundred thousand dead, God knows how many wounded, twenty years they could've used to develop their country and even tighter Taliban control than before the US invasion. Afghans managed to kick the US out, but they did not succeed at defending anything. If I was Venezuelan my lesson from this would be "absolutely don't get into war with the US," because such a war would leave their country in ruin just like Afghanistan.

[–] xenomor@lemmy.world 1 points 1 month ago

I guess. It’s frustrating that it takes so long and involves so much suffering.

Despite the deep pockets and general indifference to casualties, I think that the American populace will react to sudden large losses. Like, we collectively don’t seem to care if 3 thousand US troops are killed during a prolonged engagement lasting years. But if 3 thousand died in a single event, like a ship sinking, people would be fucking pissed. A lot of that anger would be channeled into a desire for retaliation. Some of it would also be directed at the leadership that put that ship in harms way.

[–] NoneOfUrBusiness@fedia.io 9 points 1 month ago

If they do that will you protect them from the wrath of the US war machine? Exactly.

[–] eldoom@lemmy.ml 7 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Isn't that like almost exactly how USA got involved in the Vietnam war? They parked a ship just in provocation range then bombed the ever living hell out of the general area when they tried to defend themselves?

[–] rimu@piefed.social 13 points 1 month ago (1 children)
[–] eldoom@lemmy.ml 3 points 1 month ago

Yeah that! I didn't realize that the false flag was confirmed though. Was trying to stay semi factual lol

[–] demonsword@lemmy.world 3 points 1 month ago (1 children)

I hope one of the nations that we are bullying will defend themselves.

your country is deliberately targetting countries that cannot do that

[–] xenomor@lemmy.world 2 points 1 month ago

I agree. We fucking suck. Maybe some kind of coalition of nations can build a meaningful opposition to us.