No Evidence U.S. Is Planning Venezuela Military Intervention

3/19/19
A PROMINENT MEMBER OF the Senate Armed Services Committee said Monday that he has seen no sign the Trump administration is preparing a military intervention in Venezuela as it continues applying pressure to the regime of President Nicolas Maduro. "I have seen no evidence that the U.S. is preparing for military plans," Sen. Tim Kaine told reporters. The Virginia Democrat returned this weekend from a trip to the Colombia-Venezuela border, where he observed what he has described as a "humanitarian crisis" driven by civil unrest and widespread power and communications outages. "You do that as a last resort," Kaine added. "There is no plan that I have seen as a member of the Armed Services Committee." "A U.S. military intervention is not the right strategy," Kaine said. Kaine has been among the most vocal critics of Presidents Barack Obama and Trump's deploying troops to foreign conflicts without the explicit approval of Congress – a responsibility technically reserved for the legislature.

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3/19/19
Supporters of Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido have taken control of three diplomatic buildings in the United States, the State Department said Monday night. Spokesman Robert Palladino told reporters that Guaido's supporters were in possession of two military attache installations in Washington D.C. and the Venezuelan consulate in New York. Palladino added that the Trump administration was "pleased to support these requests." In another diplomatic coup for the opposition, Panama also accepted a Guaido loyalist as Venezuela's ambassador Monday.

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OrphanSlug said:

Military intervention... I sure hope our leaders are not so stupid as to get involved with Venezuela that way, but I fear we will anyway.

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Rogue Valley said:

I think Trump is already [semi]committed. Trump borrows Maduro to beat on progressive programs (socialism). He'd love the symbolism of metaphorically slaying this bogeyman.

IMHO if Venezuela descends into civil war, then US material assistance would be upgraded correspondingly. Something would also have to be done to neuter Maduro's air superiority.

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beerftw said:

On the bolded, granted venezuala has some badass jets from american f-16's to russians high end su-30 jets which are a direct competitor to the f-15 and f-22 class, I doubt they have a bold and integrated enough radar system to back them nor the training to handle the jets well.

The su-30 for example is extremely agile, so much so more wrecks have been caused by the flanker class from crazy maneuvers than anything else, if those venezualan pilots have little flight time, they likely know little about the limitations of those jets, and how pushing them too hard is the difference between out turning your enemy and crashing into the ground. The radar thing is essential because aircraft have terrible radar vs ground systems or awacs, ground systems supply them with warning to be reqady ahead of timr, but a lackluster system means sabotage or jamming is easy game, leaving the country unable to get their jets into combat until it is too late.

Their big threat is not air superiority, it is area denial, they have large numbers of sams from the s-300 the s-125 and buk m2, as well as a massive supply of the igla s manpad, this just covers air and does not even go into jungle warfare and guerilla tactics.

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Evilroddy said:

To all:

Senator Kaine is talking about a US regular forces with boots on the ground type of intervention which would be a worst-case scenario for US and allied policy makers. If a military intervention comes it will more likely be carried out by Latin American military and paramilitary proxies supported by mercenaries, US Special Forces working to support Venezuelan military mutineers, right-wing paramilitaries and militant opposition members.

Cheers.
Evilroddy.

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Jack Hays said:

Just more :bs:bs:bs:bs:bs

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Evilroddy said:

Jack Hays:

Time will tell and I am patient as well as immune to your emoji messaging.

Cheers.
Evilroddy.

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Evilroddy said:

To all:

Senator Kaine is talking about a US regular forces with boots on the ground type of intervention which would be a worst-case scenario for US and allied policy makers. If a military intervention comes it will more likely be carried out by Latin American military and paramilitary proxies supported by mercenaries, US Special Forces working to support Venezuelan military mutineers, right-wing paramilitaries and militant opposition members.

Cheers.
Evilroddy.

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Rogue Valley said:

USAF nationwide air superiority includes A2/D2 concerns.

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beerftw said:

I would hope they would include a2/ad in their assesment, otherwise they would be flying into a slaughter. Venezuala is not pwerful enough by any means to combat the us, but they hold just enough to make it hurt badly like vietnam, and hopefully the us command is vigilant in identifying those threats and assessing the risk rather than charging in with full hubris.

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