World News Done Right™
America’s enemies (and allies) have long assumed that, because we’re the lone Superpower, we were governed by evil geniuses. They are now realizing, in fact, we are government by idiots. While it’s nice to be loved it’s good to be feared. Nothing good comes from being deemed big and dumb…which China, Russia, Iran, and our other rivals now do, thanks to the horrible debacle in Afghanistan.
The ongoing American effort to destabilize the vile Maduro regime in Venezuela appeared to be a gallant attempt by Washington to hone its own shadow warfare capabilities. If that’s the case, then, the United States needs to go back to the drawing board because our rivals are better at this kind of warfare than we are. Should this situation persist, then, you can expect America’s rivals in Moscow and Beijing (and elsewhere) to continue challenging American power… and to keep achieving their objectives while America fails to accomplish its own goals. Over time, this will lead to a victory for autocracy in the ongoing competition between the world’s autocracies and democracies.
“The essential element in this scenario would be American leadership as opposed to direct American military intervention. While this method may take longer and, therefore, prolong human suffering in Venezuela, this is the only viable option. After all, freedom isn’t free, and the United States has had ample evidence over the last several decades that it cannot fight for other peoples’ independence.”
“The solution is to organize a massive regional response to the Venezuelan crisis. Countries like Colombia, Peru, and Brazil are all interested in mitigating Venezuela’s collapse. The Trump Administration must head a regional coalition that would aim to ameliorate the suffering of the Venezuelan people, while putting pressure on the regime in Caracas. Venezuela, more than Syria, is where a limited, American-led humanitarian intervention of regional powers should occur. The longer that the Trump Administration ignores the Venezuelan crisis, the more time America’s enemies have to harden their positions in our part of the world—which could directly threaten the United States.”
“Should Colombia be consumed by chaos, the region will become consumed by chaos. Since the United States is connected to this part of the world by geography and instability here ultimately impacts security in America, it would behoove the Trump Administration to handle this situation with a much lighter touch than they have thus far.”
Venezuela is imploding. Iran, Russia, and China have increased their holdings in the region. America has ignored Latin America for years. Meanwhile, the threat posed by Illegal Immigration to the U.S. increases as instability does. The U.S. cannot ignore Venezuela.
The Drug War has raged for over forty years. Yet, since 2006, the global War on Drugs has taken a turn for the truly awful. The Mexican Drug War has cost over 100,000 lives, it has destabilized not only Mexico, but also the entire Central American region (and, with Venezuela destabilizing on its own, the instability caused by drug cartels could spread there as things get more desperate). This piece assesses Mexico’s War on Drugs and how the U.S. can best respond to this instability.
In this 3-part series on the failing American War on Drugs, I address the question of fighting the war on the Supply Side and how that is the most important, near-term aspect of winning this wholly winnable conflict.
THE WEICHERT REPORT 