Va. Senator Mark Warner-statement on Venezuela

[underpants]

From Facebook- no link.

Virginia Sen. Mark Warner, Vice Chairman of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, issued the following statement after Maduro's arrest:

“Our Constitution places the gravest decisions about the use of military force in the hands of Congress for a reason. Using military force to enact regime change demands the closest scrutiny, precisely because the consequences do not end with the initial strike.

“If the United States asserts the right to use military force to invade and capture foreign leaders it accuses of criminal conduct, what prevents China from claiming the same authority over Taiwan’s leadership? What stops Vladimir Putin from asserting similar justification to abduct Ukraine’s president? Once this line is crossed, the rules that restrain global chaos begin to collapse, and authoritarian regimes will be the first to exploit it.

“None of this absolves Maduro. He is a corrupt authoritarian who has repressed his people, stolen elections, imprisoned political opponents, and presided over a humanitarian catastrophe that has forced millions of Venezuelans to flee. The Venezuelan people deserve democratic leadership, and the United States and the international community should have done far more, years ago, to press for a peaceful transition after Maduro lost a vote of his own citizens. But recognizing Maduro’s crimes does not give any president the authority to ignore the Constitution."

[MustLoveBeagles]

1. K&R

[3825-87867]

2. Uh...

Change Maduro to trump and
Change Venezuelans to Americans and then it'll be correct

He is a corrupt authoritarian who has repressed his people, stolen elections, imprisoned political opponents, and presided over a humanitarian catastrophe that has forced millions of Venezuelans to flee.

[Festivito]

3. He'll suddenly have more respect for china.Depending on what fox news tells him.

[BurnDoubt]

4. Move fast and break things.

Embroidered on his pillow.

[Bayard]

5. Very well said

The ramifications of this action are going to allow other criminal regimes to very publicly take out their enemies. Putin may try this stunt, but Ukraine has done a pretty good job so far of denying his dreams.

[moniss]

6. Warner is wrong as far as the election of Maduro from a

legal standpoint. His election was challenged and then went to the Venezuela Supreme Court in 2024 where his election was upheld. It does not matter from a legal perspective if people want to argue about that decision. By their laws that was the end of it and it doesn't matter who doesn't like it. He was legally holding office and we kidnapped not only him but also his wife.

If we felt we needed him for prosecution then there are established legal routes to request that but instead a crook much larger than Maduro chose military invasion and destruction.

[malthaussen]

18. Yeah, nobody seems to care that Mr Maduro was not the only one kidnapped.

Whatever bullshit rationalization one wants to come up with to try to legitimize the kidnapping of Mr Maduro, it won't hold up for the kidnapping of other members of his family.

-- Mal

[SayItLoud]

7. Yeah yeah yeah...

Prepare for Putin to be more aggressive in the coming weeks, Xi the same. KJU harassing Japan. And, Iran stirring the pot. General Bone Spurs may soon have fires all around his big ugly orange ass and the international community is going to say "you got yourself into it get yourself out of it". He'll then put "tariffs" on everyone.

[Martin68]

8. Exactly.

[Lonestarblue]

9. The US military has now followed illegal orders to attack a sovereign nation and kidnap its leader.

If anyone questioned whether the military would refuse to commit illegal acts for Trump, that question has now been answered. Yes, they will do whatever he tells them because the leadership ranks have been filled with those loyal to Trump. Of course, we already knew that some of them were committing illegal acts with the attacks on boats from Venezuela and the murders of their occupants—people who were obviously being tracked and could have been legally intercepted by the Coast Guard and searched for drugs.

NATO leaders need to be anticipating a US attack on Greenland and decide whether they will abide by their own rules and come to Greenland’s defense or do what they’ve been doing and try to placate Trump while he rampages through the Americas. What an effing mess.

[Scalded Nun]

10. I figure the Chinese must be seriously thinking about a move on Taiwan.

[thought crime]

20. They're always thinking about it.

So far deterrence is still working but from the Chinese perspective, the US looks like an empire in decline. China is out-growing our military, and is increasing their nuclear capability very quickly. A move on Taiwan would risk "Cooking the Golden Goose" of the chip manufacturing facilities.

[thought crime]

11. Sen. Mark Warner said it best.

"Once this line is crossed, the rules that restrain global chaos begin to collapse, and authoritarian regimes will be the first to exploit it."

The UN Charter, International Law, the rules based world order are the things that prevent a return to the medieval, “might makes right”, power-based chaos that leads to world wars and massive suffering. Today we've stepped closer to that chaos, under the leadership of Captain Chaos himself, who holds no regard for laws or rules of any kind.

[JustAnotherGen]

12. Well done - I do

Wish he had stated clearly - We've lost our Democracy and any Republicans in the Senate who blindly follow Krasnov are capitulating to fear of retaliation by Krasnov doing to them what he did to Maduro.

I'm up at this ungodly hour because I truly believe that in the wee small hours of the morning yesterday we lost our Democracy. What our Senate and House do in the next few days determines how we get it back.

[Clouds Passing]

13. The us has been secretly involved in global regime change for a long time...

They are just doing it out in the open now.

[kwolf68]

14. Im trying hard not to see

How Trump is a lot like Maduro. He didn’t have success overturning the 2020 election, but he sure tried to subvert democracy. He has also talked of not only jailing political opponents but killing them. He’s also destroying things that help real people in our nation. He is really not much different than maduro

[mdbl]

15. Maduro was corrupt but.....

If the United States asserts the right to use military force to invade and capture foreign leaders it accuses of criminal conduct, what prevents China from claiming the same authority over Taiwan’s leadership?

What about the law breaking criminal running the US?

[JJJ123]

16. After a Discussion

Still remains true that 47 is a tool of powerful political and financial forces. As long as he is of benefit to them he will remain in office, when he is not then he will be removed and a more "reasonable" tool will be installed.

[malthaussen]

17. Hey, Mark, it was an "authoritarian regime" that just exploited it.

Get your head out of your ass.

-- Mal

[yaesu]

19. Very, very well said and to the point. nt