[somewhereoutth]

As far as I can ascertain, there is no invasion. Just a special ops kidnapping.

It is unclear what will happen next, but likely the regime or large elements of it will survive. Perhaps a more moderate faction will take control? That would be the best case scenario.

[dpark]

> there is no invasion. Just a special ops kidnapping

When one nation’s military illegally enters another nation’s sovereign territory to carry out military actions, that’s usually called an invasion.

[somewhereoutth]

Not really - an invasion implies holding ground, which isn't the case here.

[dpark]

Ah, the time-honored tradition on the Internet of making up one’s own definition and confidently asserting that everyone who disagrees is wrong.

Of course everyone knows it’s trivial for police to apprehend home invaders because invasion implies that they stay after they break in.

[ethbr1]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Invasion

>> In geopolitics, an invasion typically refers to a military offensive in which a polity sends combatants, usually in large numbers, to forcefully enter the territory of another polity,[1] with either side possibly being supported by one or more allies. While strategic goals for an invasion can be numerous and complex in nature, the foremost tactical objective normally involves militarily occupying part or all of the invaded polity's territory. Today, if a polity conducts an invasion without having been attacked by their opponent beforehand, it is widely considered to constitute an international crime and condemned as an act of aggression.

[dpark]

That definition includes what happened here. Drop all the optional conditions (“usually large numbers”, “possibly being supported”) and the core statement becomes:

“an invasion typically refers to a military offensive in which a polity sends combatants to forcefully enter the territory of another polity”

[ethbr1]

Can you at least appreciate the irony of someone using their own definition that disagrees with yours, you arguing against their using their own definition, and then there being another widely-cited definition that disagrees with your own, which you also argue against?

[somewhereoutth]

Probably we can distinguish between military invasion, and the use (arguably miss use) of the word colloquially in the US for home intruders.

Per the Cambridge Dictionary: "an occasion when an army or country uses force to enter and take control of another country"

In our case no 'taking control' has occurred, so this is not an invasion.

[jacquesm]

I'm sure that whoever follows up Maduro will be completely confident in the fact that they will be able to set policy free of foreign influence.

[somewhereoutth]

Well, absent further interventions - possibly even a real invasion! - there is no reason for the current regime in Venezuela to change its policy very much (aside from beefing up its air defense maybe)

[markdown]

Ukraine will be happy to hear that they haven't been invaded.

[dpark]

“We are going to run the country” - Trump

Clearly the US administration believes they have taken control.

[chasil]

This is also the man who said that he could solve all of the problems in Ukraine in a one hour phone call.

We cannot discount an assertion that this administration is expressing faith based upon falsehoods, as they have done before.

[8note]

lets see how well they stay on control, and keep US oil companies out, and maintain their friendships with russia and china.

[Hikikomori]

Trump just said US will run Venezuela.

[jacquesm]

"or else"...

[chasil]

I would not agree. Intelligence operatives are often in place for long durations in hostile sovereign territory, and some were likely used in this event. Their presence is not an invasion.

Air operations also are not seen as invasions, and the recent stealth strikes by the U.S. in Iran are not seen this way.

It appears to me that armed troops in place that are taking and holding territory for a prolonged duration are the definition.

The dictionary definition below is "the incursion of an army for conquest or plunder."

https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/invasion

Is Maduro and his wife "plunder?" That would stretch this meaning, I think.

[dpark]

> Is Maduro and his wife "plunder?" That would stretch this meaning, I think.

Sure. But “We are going to run the country” sounds an awful lot like “conquest”.

[chasil]

When a standing army is involved, then we will all agree that it is an invasion.

If it comes by financial aid to the elected president and oil deals to rehabilitate PDVSA, then it is not.

[dpark]

Okay but you chose to point to the Mirriam-Webster definition that doesn’t say anything about a standing army or holding territory.

"the incursion of an army for conquest or plunder."

We sent in an army for conquest but now you don’t like that definition anymore.

[chasil]

What exactly was the object of conquest?

"something conquered, especially : territory appropriated in war"

https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/conquest

Is this Maduro and his wife?

The object of conquest remains to be seen, and if a standing army is used to achieve it.

[UncleMeat]

Trump is on fucking television saying "this is going to make us a lot of money."

[bluecalm]

Surely the best case scenario is the regime collapsing, all collaborators of Maduro ending up dead or in jail and then the guy who actually won the election or a women who would have won it ending up in power?

[somewhereoutth]

Of course that would be great, but pretty unlikely with just a decapitation strike. Like most dictators, Maduro was not holding the country in a superhuman iron grip, but instead the representative of various elites and factions that kept him in power for their own interests. However given how easy this operation has been, there is a suspicion that one or more factions colluded with the US, and may now be consolidating control - and then maybe a peaceful transition back to democracy? We shall see.

[FireBeyond]

No - Trump has just announced that he intends for the US to "run" Venezuela for the time being and that that will include ... shock horror... American oil companies taking a significant role in the country's oil infrastructure.

[ethbr1]

> shock horror... American oil companies taking a significant role in the country's oil infrastructure.

And to think that Dick Cheney just barely didn't live to see this. (Died November 2025)

[jacquesm]

I never saw that coming. /s