John Drake

If this is simply an "arrest" and an extraction of Maduro, it likely does fall within Trump's presidential authority. Much the same was used by GHW Bush to take Noriega. What it's going to unleash on the ground in the aftermath is what is important. There must be plan, right? If you just take Maduro and go home, Russia/China who are already there will establish control.

Wonder what the lady president of Mexico is thinking right now?

Trump bombed Hugo Chavez' mausoleum?

Hunger strikes for Maduro coming up next?

This seems too small to go against all the Russians, Hamas and Chinese that are supposed to be there.

Very much the necessary prime ingredient. Corruption gains access, and it's all downhill from there. There's no win-win with China. It's all about mercantile extraction from the targeted country/colony.

This is adventure tourism at its purist.

There are enough Venezuelan illegals of military age in the US to start a foreign legion for Trump to use against Maduro.

What did Thais think the Chinese were going to do? This is how they operate. It's like this everywhere they gain a beachhead.

How dependent are they on Chinese trade? More than Russian trade or energy, I would guess. They can easily replace the latter, but a trade embargo (and that's the only thing that would be effective, a total trade embargo) will sink them. Even as Chinese EVs (with tariffs) continue to decimate the German auto industry, the Germans want to expand China trade. Is it possible that this entire question boils down to whose population, the West or China, is willing to undergo economic hardship and severe financial disruption?

Will the Europeans enact sanctions? I for sure doubt that Brazil and any Latin American states, including Argentina, will do so.

He's just old. Combine that with a lifetime of an unhealthy lifestyle--terrible diet, no exercise except for being hauled around in a golf cart, and nothing to keep him mentally alert, such as reading or engaging with abstract thinking--and you have a walking health time bomb.

Philadelphia???

Sorry. But the victor in the AI competition (between China and the US and among US AI models) will be the AI with the fewest guardrails. AI cannot be "intelligent" if it is not free to ask questions and connect ideas and, even more importantly, give people answers they don't want to hear.

Well, as I constantly criticize Trump and his blanket tariffs and have defended things such as Biden CHIPs program, I think you're about as wrong as could be. You're just seeking argument.

Mexico is also the unexpected winner of the H1B catastrophe. It used to be that Americans wanted to kick out Mexican illegals. Now that they've got a taste of H1B Indians, the Mexicans look pretty good in comparison.

Their guards will become their abductors and kidnappers and ultimately their executioners.

Where is the gold right this minute? Who gets to keep it?

Wonder who is going to get the contract to build the fence?

The bigger problem, now, is that this craziness has come to be regarded as a normal expectation. Self-evident lies, exaggerations, and deceptions just don't matter, because they literally cover the White House floor to floor.

Homoerotica

Remember a few years ago, when Prawit complained that 37 baht to the dollar was too much and it shouldn't be more than 35? Literally within days, it was brought back to 35 and under. Clearly, they can control the exchange rate any time they want to do so.

Several people on this forum knew this was coming in the run-up to the election. This is what Trump wants, to make the dollar as weak as possible. I remember seeing the Thai baht around 29 to the dollar during his first term. He will erase the dollar as the reserve currency, because other countries will simply not put up with effectively subsidizing Trump's monetizing of the US debt.

There are Thai collard and mustard greens. Personally, I've missed the canned (Sunshine or Glory) collards and mustard greens since I got here.

Narcissistic Rage.