Ships with the Ronald Reagan Carrier Strike Group and John C. Stennis Carrier Strike Group transit the Philippine Sea on November 16, 2018. Petty Officer 3rd Class Connor Loessin
David Axe, National Interest: Why America Has No Aircraft Carrier's Standing By To Take on Venezuela
History explains why.
A failed coup attempt targeting Venezuelan president Nicolas Maduro on April 30 ended in confusion and failure. Russian and Cuban advisors and a strong core of the Venezuelan military continues to support Maduro amid economic collapse and widespread protests.
U.S. president Donald Trump in 2018 threatened military action against Maduro but didn’t make good on the threat. Washington instead imposed sanctions in order to pressure Maduro to step down.
But at least one lawmaker wants to escalate Washington’s involvement in the Venezuelan tragedy. “Cuba, Russia send troops to prop Maduro up in Venezuela … while we talk/sanction,” Sen. Lindsey Graham, a South Carolina Republican, on May 3, 2019 tweeted. “Where is our aircraft carrier?”
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WNU Editor: I do not expect any major U.S. military presence near Venezuela for the foreseeable future .... aircraft carriers included. Venezuela is a hopeless mess, and there is little if any public support or political will in the U.S. and elsewhere to intervene militarily followed by spending tens of billions to clean it up.
9 comments:
Trump once again shows strong leadership. Not
Anon said: "Trump once again shows strong leadership. Not"
So Anon you're in favor of overthrowing Maduro?
Why bother with Maduro? I'm sure China and Russia thought they would poke us in the eye with their "engagement" with The Great Financial Tar Baby of the Caribbean. Looks like their financial Mae West they cast out to Maduro in a socialist & anti-Trump, anti-Yanqui solidarity maneuver has a leak they must keep re-airing. Just to enliven things I hope they're relying on an imported Chinese air compressor.
And lm sure you'd support his decision if he did?
Not
I am old school: let the citizens of a nation decide what they want without Big Bad Neighbor telling them who should be their leader
Oh. Right Russia and China somehow there? Ok. Tell them about Monroe Doctrine
So Anon @ 7:43,
If you don't support the overthrow of Maduro, what is Trump supposed to do?
...
Well, we have enough in our plate with China, Middle East and Eastern Europe.
Meanwhile Gaido still lives. When this started I had said this looks like most any other half baked ill conceived foreign policy initiatives we've gotten ourselves into wnd is doomed to failure and disaster for anyone who signed on to it. At this point, the prediction is unchanged.
With that said Gaido still lives nor is he in prison yet. Frankly I never would have expected this uprising to make it as far as it has. There is now a nascent opposition to the Maduro government that has never been there before!!
Why isn't there an aircraft carrier there? I'd suggest one of several possibilities. 1.)Russian and Chinese forces are heavily involved in the region. An aircraft carrier is a nice juicy target for them. Someone might get "trigger happy" and sink it. It makes little sense to risk the aircraft carrier and its crew in this instance especially when the area is going to be well defended by Russian air defenses rendering American air power ineffective even if the carrier could withstand a Russian and/or Chinese attack. If thus is the analysis and I believe it to be a sound one, there's huge diwnside risks to such a deployment along with the lack of a corresponding upside benefit.
2.)The US was manipulated into this action by Mr. Gaido or perhaps others in the region and is unwilling to risk war with Russia and/or China over this. The deployment of an aircraft carrier here would be very provocative raising the risk of war as well as providing Russia and China with a very juicy target.
3.)If this is going to succeed American involvement will need ti be kept to a minimum and behind the scenes in a support role only for the drivers of this. If we are seen leading or directing this, it's over. We aren't trusted in the region and we're generally despised. I wish it were otherwise. As such, for us to be in a lead role would only drive the people into the arms of Maduro or another anti-American successor. Essentially, if this analysis is at work, deploying an aircraft carrier at this time would be a certain recipe to bring to an end the nascent opposition. Assuming people have worked hard on this and I do deploying an aircraft carrier undercuts all this hard work and careful diplomacy.
4.)The possibility of a negotiated end to this situation is being held out whereby a replacement for Maduro is found that is acceptable to us, Russia, and China.
I suspect elements of 1, 3, and 4 are at work here but would not rule out 2. We've been manipulated before. I will reiterate the opposition has done much better and gotten much farther than I ever would have expected.
I hope they succeed. At least I think I do!! It seems we know very little about Gaido or this opposition.
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