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How the fuck did Fidel survive so long

A somewhat optimistic summary, as I see it:

Trump thinks he has his “prize” in Maduro and pulls back on further military aggression. The Bolivarian Revolution is largely left intact and now has even greater support from the people. Maduro becomes the martyr but if his capture helps preserve the Revolution, then I think that’s a trade he would make. The work of the Revolution continues. Unfortunately, even in the most optimistic scenario I don’t see the US totally walking away. Likely a blockade on the oil will remain until Venezuela hands it over; which they won’t do so the people will end up suffering. I suppose this aspect could be mitigated if international condemnation becomes too great that the US can’t reasonably maintain it all, but this seems overly optimistic.

Now a bit more pessimistic scenario:

Right-wing elements inside VZ are emboldened and start taking action, creating a very messy if not fully destabilized situation. The US puts VZ on a Cuba-style blockade that causes immense suffering, which only further destabilizes things. I can’t see any scenario where the people of Venezuela give up their oil, even in the face of a blockade. But the conditions inside the country become so much worse.

Either way, it’s morning where I’m at and I know I’ll be spending today arguing with people IRL and online about all this. Time to brush up on my Maduro talking points.

A meeting of Venezuela's national security council is underway, chaired by VP Delcy Rodriguez, who Western propagandists say has fled to Russia. They don't even know how to lie.

• Twitter

I don't know if anyone here's been following Ed Zitron's coverage of the AI bubble as it's been ongoing, but you should be. It's the best work on the subject out there, his predictions are consistently correct, and he really digs into the details of just how fake this entire industry is. Here's his end of year piece:

How the AI bubble bursts in 2026/

It's paywalled, but he's doing this all as an independent journalist. It's worth throwing him a few bucks to keep this work up.

Next year is meant to be the year that everything changes. It was meant to be the year that OpenAI had a gigawatt of data centers built with Broadcom and AMD, and when Stargate Abilene's 8 buildings were fully built and energized. 2026 is meant to be the year that OpenAI opened Stargate UAE, too.

Here in reality, absolutely none of this is happening, and I believe that 2026 is the year when everything begins to collapse.

In today's piece, I'm going to line up the sharp objects sitting right next to an increasingly-wobbling AI bubble, and why everything hinges on a looming cash crunch for OpenAI, AI data centers, those funding AI data centers, and venture capital itself.

From this moment forward, I believe I don't live in the same continent I used to live yesterday. With all that's going on, which includes the bombing of Caracas, South America has changed to me, forever.

Anyone else also got the impression that major events now mostly only happen from the evening of Friday to saturday? Possibly to avoid major fluctuations in stock or even bank runs.

It's the circadian rhythm of Capital

Maduro is the “only president of Venezuela,” says Vice President Delcy Rodríguez The country's interim president has called for Maduro to be released immediately.

"[Machado]'s a very nice woman,but she doesn't have any respect." - Trump

Lol never take this man's Nobel

I think the US made a major fuck up with this operation in:

1. ONLY taking out Maduro (If it is the case). They have elevated a martyr to the Venezuelan people and left the rest of the revolutionary government in place.
2. The Bolivarian revolution did take giant steps to guard themselves against this. Arming the population is the biggest action they took. I trust that the revolution will maintain itself.
3. They rushed the attack. They could have more success in trying to put right wing presidents in Colombia and Brazil. Now, it's likely the right wing won't have as much support, since they are US supporters.

I think the ONLY thing that could fuck up the revolution at this point is if it somehow is the case that Maduro negotiated an exit instead of being captured forcefully. Which I think is VERY unlikely but can't really be ruled out.

Only thing now is to wait and see. Time is on the side of the Venezuelan people.

I think the best way to convince Europeans liberals to oppose the USA, is to imprint on them that they are not safe, and that the USA is certainly going to coup them as well eventually.

All those social safety nets? Those cherished regulations on corporations? It's all gonna disappear if you don't do shit.

Man, Lukashenko wasn't kidding when he said China needs to survive and endure for the good of the world.

Expect the fuckshit to continue until Chinese reunification.

Long Twitter post by Ben Norton on the US's plan of consolidating control over Latin America:
https://xcancel.com/BenjaminNorton/status/2007665390420406419

Trump already forced Panama to pressure the Hong Kong company that owned ports surrounding the Panama Canal to sell them to Wall Street giant BlackRock.

It is likely that the US will also target Peru's Port of Chancay, one of the most important ports in the region, which was built by China. Washington could even blackmail Latin American governments to force them to impose restrictions on Chinese investment in the region.

Likewise, Trump blatantly meddled in Honduras' election in 2025 and backed an electoral coup d'etat. Honduras' new right-wing US puppet regime will likely formally break diplomatic ties with the People's Republic of China.

The US also wants to use Honduras as a base of operations for attacks on the Sandinista government in neighboring Nicaragua.

After bombing and occupying Venezuela, Trump and Marco Rubio want to carry out similar imperialist regime-change wars on Nicaragua and Cuba. Rubio has dedicated his entire career to overthrowing their socialist revolutions. It is a political crusade for him.

Two important elections are coming up in 2026 in countries with left-wing governments: Brazil (in October) and Colombia (in May). It is guaranteed that the Trump administration is going to meddle in those elections to try to put in power obedient right-wing US puppets (like Javier Milei in Argentina).

Trump is also threatening to bomb Mexico, which has a very popular left-wing, independent government. Mexico has strongly opposed these US threats, saying they would be an attack on Mexico's sovereignty. But the US empire doesn't care a bit about sovereignty.

How long until the bots on twitter and reddit, and the pedos in chief that controls the US realise that the Venezuelan goverment is still there in 100% control of the country.

Russia, China, Iran, Cuba, and Colombia have all condemned Washington's criminal aggression against Venezuela:

https://www.presstv.ir/Detail/2026/01/03/761780/Condemnations-pour-in-after-US-bombing-of-Venezuela,-%E2%80%98capture%E2%80%99-of-Maduro

Perused Reuters' front page for the first time in awhile and god damn is it bad.

Facing Alawite backlash, Syria’s new leaders take controversial steps to win loyalty

Focuses on being mad at Assad and anyone connected to Assad who's in the current government and not why Alawites might be mad at the government.

US strikes drug boat loading facility in Venezuela, Trump says

Doesn't push back at all on it.

China fires rockets towards Taiwan in war games simulating blockade

"Reuters was not immediately able to verify whether China also launched rockets in the other zones it had demarcated for the exercises. . . Lyle Goldstein, Asia programme director at U.S.-based think tank Defense Priorities . . . "

So, towards Taiwan, as in, into the water at least 24 nautical miles off the coast of Taiwan with no verification and it's not even clear what their source for the claim is because no one is named making this actual claim, though at the very end it mentioned a pentagon report, which is what I assume is actually the basis of most of this article.

US economy to ride tax cut tailwind but faces risks

The upshot: a better outlook for businesses stuck for much of this past year in a "low-hire, low-fire" mode.

Pretty sure companies were in high-fire mode, hence unemployment skyrocketing considering 5 days ago you literally published an article saying unemployment checks went up.

Supreme Court of Venezuela orders Delcy Rodriguez become interim president of the country

What are the chances that Trump declares by taking Maduro and does nothing about the rest of the PSUV?

Hospitals in Caracas are reporting more than 90 injured military personnel and “several” deaths - Internal hospital report shows

not sure if this twitter source is known or credible, i happened to come across this browsing one of those live osint maps

https://xcancel.com/osbornforne/status/2007530225832255569

WSJ - Officials from top Wall Street firms will be traveling to Venezuela to investigate “investment prospects” of the country. “The trip will feature about 20 officials from the finance, energy and defense sectors.”

Russian communists issued a statement regarding Washington's criminal aggression against Venezuela:

"We call on progressive forces across the globe to unite to resist the invasion of Venezuela. All opponents of imperialism, workers, communists, and patriots are called upon to form a united front against this new wave of US militaristic actions. We appeal to left-wing parties and movements, trade unions, public organizations, and all honest people across the globe to launch a broad campaign of international solidarity with the Venezuelan people.

The essence of what's happening is clear. Behind it are the interests of US finance capital and the military-industrial complex. They are eager to establish control over Latin America's rich natural resources. We are dealing with a capitalist class that, despite all its internal disagreements, is united in its fundamental desire to maintain global dominance and suppress any hint of independence."

https://kprf.ru/party-live/cknews/240275.html (in Russian)

"Multiple images seems to show a big screen where they've searched "venezuela" on X."

https://x.com/evanhill/status/2007540917365080220

I went to bed thinking war with Venezuela was starting, only to wake up and discover it's so much weirder than that.

The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine: We condemn in the strongest terms the brutal US imperialist aggression that Venezuela is being subjected to

The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine: We express our full and unlimited support for Venezuela and its leader, the struggling President Nicolas Maduro

Lol. Danish state TV is calling the Nobel Peace Prize winner "a true democrat", is claiming that she "has huge popular support" and are already talking about her like it is given that she will be installed as leader of Venezuela.

If I have to hear "stop paying attention to the news, don't catastrophize" from family one more time I am going to scream. The fact that the onus is on me to just stop caring about people. I hate this country, its people are irredeemable

This might not count as news, but having talked to various friends and relatives over the holidays, I've managed to collect some purely anecdotal economic data, and the obvious conclusion is that the inevitable collapse of Europe is grinding slowly onwards.

Workers and whole teams at companies in multiple industries are being made redundant - including important technical roles that have my friends confused as to how the company is even going to run now. Projects are being put on hold or shuttered. Tradesmen are competing for fewer jobs. A multi-year, multi-million dollar contract between an automaker and an advertizing firm just evaporated. There are fewer clients, smaller cohorts coming through training programs, less money in budgets for the kind of elevated make-work that the European middle class subsists on.

Of course, no one I talked to, even discussing a few of these things in the same conversation, can link these events together, let alone conceptualize this as a tingling in the extremities, the warning signs of the entire continental economy's impending death by gradual, trickling blood loss from the killing blow of Nordstream. They all think it's just a bad year, rather than the best year anyone's going to have ever again. Not 'ever again', I must correct myself, in a mere 97 more years Europe will have completed its century of humiliation.

Story that I don't think was covered here: the sinking of russian cargo ship Ursa Major, which is now a year later being alleged by a spanish newspaper to have been carrying nuclear reactors to DPRK for their nuclear submarine program (which I didn't know was a thing tbh), and report from inspecting the wreckage indicating it was sunk by "external explosions" (they are claiming the holes in the ship were consistent with supercavitating torpedos)

Original spanish source: https://archive.is/haUA4

english-language summary: https://archive.is/JVP4Q

BREAKING NEWS Diosdado Cabello: This is an attack against the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela. He asks people to trust the leadership, the Political and Military Command of the Revolution, and not to make things easy for the invading enemy.

He points out that bombs fell on areas inhabited by civilians and wonders whether international organizations will be complicit in this. He indicates that the country is completely calm.

“Venezuela knows it has been attacked, our people know what they have to do.” He indicates that there have been 28 weeks of siege and a vile and cowardly attack against a sleeping people. He calls for vigilance and urges people not to fall prey to provocations or despair.

“At the end of this battle, the people of Venezuela will be victorious and we will win!”

• Twitter

lmao of course canada's foreign minister calls for "both sides" to respect international law after the illegal bombing of Venezuela and the abduction of their president by amerikkka. Most cucked country on the face of the planet, a year ago it was all "elbows up fuck america" but they're back to their bootlicking ways (not that they ever stopped)

from BBC:

Supporters of US intervention have argued it would pave the way for the Venezuelan opposition to take over, led by Nobel Peace Prize winner Maria Corina Machado or the opposition candidate from 2024, Edmundo Gonzalez.

Timeline of how long it takes for color revolution elements to commandeer legit protests. Notice how students join the protests after color revolution elements have already taken over the protests. To their credit, the students are pro-Iran:
https://xcancel.com/AryJeay/status/2006540062599565732

• Day 1: Shopkeepers protest against inflation - Iran’s enemies silent, just realised

• Day 2: Peaceful protests limited to only shopkeepers - Iran’s enemies are waking up and advertise calls to flood the streets for their own agenda but no protest so far: creating AI videos & fake audio dubbed over video

• Day 3: Shopkeepers’s rightful protest largely overshadowed by anti-Iran propaganda || minimal protest among shopkeepers || students join protests; mainly pro-Iran protests against corrupted officials — Iran’s enemies trying really hard to activate their riot leading agents to steer up peer pressure and get people to riot.

• Day 3, evening: Minimal concentrated protests/riots in small counties. Organized masked groups with clear instructions. Consist of 10-50 people || vandalism, organised armed attacks, deliberate attacking of law enforcement by trained individuals. — AI used to enhance videos.

It seems like theres a huge confusion with the American goverment and media on who they even support anymore, the journalist asked if Machado is now going to be the new president of Venezuela, and Rubio had to explain to them who Edmundo Gonzalez was and that he was elected, and Machado wasn't even on the ballot.

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nuclear non prolifiration is an evil ideology that only serves imperialism. Every single sovereign nation should have nuclear bombs

First actual evidence of US land strikes on Venezuela (CIA drone strikes according to CNN). Remains of an AGM-114 Hellfire or AGM-179 JAGM found in Alta Guajira, Venezuela.

Video

Thread on xcancel by Trevor Ball

So land strikes have taken place, at Alta Guajira and suspected near Maracaibo. Likely by MQ-9 Reaper drones against "cartels", but not against the Venezuelan military itself.

Israel to block dozens of aid groups working in war-battered Gaza

Israel says it will suspend more than three dozen humanitarian organisations, including Doctors Without Borders, for failing to meet its new rules for aid groups working in the war-ravaged Gaza Strip.

Organisations facing bans starting on Thursday didn’t meet new requirements for sharing information on their staffs, funding and operations, Israeli authorities said.

You will not criticize my genocide.

[...] Israel’s move comes as at least 10 countries expressed “serious concerns” about a “renewed deterioration of the humanitarian situation” in Gaza, describing it as “catastrophic”.

“As winter draws in civilians in Gaza are facing appalling conditions with heavy rainfall and temperatures dropping,” Britain, Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Iceland, Japan, Norway, Sweden and Switzerland said in a joint statement.

And how gravely concerned would you say you are?

[...] The countries urged Israel to ensure international NGOs can operate in Gaza in a “sustained and predictable” way and called for the opening of land crossings to boost the flow of humanitarian aid.

These censored are going to wait until they come to Europe for a violence and censured vacation to let the far right take over and handle it.

I will post more on this tomorrow, but the hyperreal kayfabe kidnapping of a sovereign really has laid bare this bizarre tension between nothing ever happening and a massive geopolitical shift. Like, will all this blow over and everything continues on the same? Maybe. Cause the rest of Latin America to freak the fuck out and start taking defense seriously? Maybe. The first results of the secret treaty/divvying up of the world into American, Chinese, and Russian spheres? Maybe. The last gasps of a dying empire desparate for military wins but incapable of getting them? Maybe. A genius stroke where you can use the image of war without actual war to force your demands? Maybe. It can be all of these outcomes and more. Truly unbelievable times.

Besides Maduro no other high ranking VZ leader have been killed or captured. They literally left radical chavistas like Diosdado Cabello alone.

Delcy Rodriguez is designed as interim president under article 234 of the Venezuelan constitution, which reads:

Meaning that the country has at least 3 months, or at most 6 months before they declare the president absent.