I’m trying not to be impatient and I want the rejuvenated GANNET2 to be put together properly but for now I’m feeling a little stifled without wheels and no place to go. Rusty enjoys his routine.
I was out walking Rusty on the lakefront in the dark at four in the morning, a bit earlier than routine this Saturday morning but Rusty was insistent. When I opened my phone I saw the United States had bombed Caracas. The effect on me personally, 3200 miles away is nothing at all. One can hope the effect on Venezuela ends up beneficial though there’s lots that can go wrong.
The effect on US foreign policy isn’t my concern any more than it is yours, we’re just spectators, little people as Florida Senator Rick Scott terms us. My first thought was perhaps Venezuela can turn its economy around with a new government, if a new government is installed as seems to be the aim.
I have no doubt reaction will fall into two camps, support for change and outrage but I’m guessing economics will win out in the end. If Venezuela with its vast oil wealth can provide jobs for its people South America as a whole will breathe a vast, if private, sigh of relief after the outrage has run its course.
Everywhere we go locals in Spanish speaking countries tell us how fed up they are with Venezuelan refugees clogging up their communities. They blame drug trafficking and rising crime on them and if illegally kidnapping the president of Venezuela leads to them all going home to lead productive lives I don’t think people in these countries will mind. I dare say the refugees themselves would be glad to go home to a functioning economy.
I hope it works out that way. I assume the United States will grab Venezuela’s oil but I believe from my own observations that historically US imperialism is better overall than the Chinese or Russian variety. I’d prefer to live in a world with no power grabs of any kind but as we know power corrupts and absolute power has corrupted ex-President Maduro. And to President Trump’s benefit the noxious Epstein files are forgotten. We are observers at the chess game of power between Very Important People. Some of us get bombed in the process but most of us don’t.
A reader sent me a rather interesting article about the supremacy of BYD Chinese cars even as the US bans Chinese drone imports thus ending civilian drone use in the US. Russia is officially outraged by US actions in Venezuela but China is watching silently. And China has an ever larger stake in South America taking trade opportunities from the US with no difficulty at all now that trade barriers are a fact of life in the US.
I hope life gets better for ordinary people in Venezuela and Layne summed it up pretty well when she pointed out we may get to visit Venezuela after all so there is that. Peaceful regime change in Bolivia means we have active plans to visit that country in 2026 and first reports indicate fuel shortages in Bolivia may be over. I just hope good comes from the violence in Caracas 3200 hundred miles from where I am brewing my first cup of tea of the day and Rusty is snoring. Life as usual. I trust it is for you too while strong men in power play with our futures.
In that spirit here are some photos of nothing very much at all in the constricted circuit of Rusty’s daily walks.
There are a couple of cats that hang out around our block. Someone puts out food and water for them and on early morning walks I see them curled up in the armchairs when no humans are around. We aren’t telling anyone we’ve seen them snuggling in comfort.
