The Russia - Ukraine Conflict
- Thread starter newarkhiphop
- Start date
This dude fukkin Biden breh
U.S. Officials Travel to Venezuela, a Russia Ally, as the West Isolates Putin
U.S. Officials Travel to Venezuela, a Russia Ally, as the West Isolates Putin
The trip is the highest-level visit by American officials to Caracas in years, driven by a desire to separate Russia from its remaining Latin American allies.
March 5, 2022, 4:57 p.m. ET
President Nicolás Maduro of Venezuela, right, with Yuri Borisov, the deputy prime minister of Russia, in Caracas, Venezuela, in mid-February.Rayner Pena R/EPA, via Shutterstock
Sign up for the Russia-Ukraine War Briefing. Every evening, we'll send you a summary of the day's biggest news.
Senior U.S. officials are traveling to Venezuela on Saturday to meet with the government of President Nicolás Maduro, according to people familiar with the matter, as the Biden administration steps up efforts to separate Russia from its remaining international allies amid a widening standoff over Ukraine.
The trip is the highest-level visit by Washington officials to Caracas, Venezuela’s capital, in years. The United States broke off diplomatic relations with Mr. Maduro and closed its embassy in Caracas in 2019, after accusing the authoritarian leader of electoral fraud. The Trump administration then tried to topple Mr. Maduro’s government by sanctioning Venezuelan oil exports and the country’s senior officials, and by recognizing the opposition leader, Juan Guaidó, as Venezuela’s lawful president.
Mr. Maduro responded to the sanctions by seeking economic and diplomatic help from Russia, as well as from Iran and China. Russian energy companies and banks have been instrumental in allowing Venezuela to continue exporting oil, the country’s biggest source of foreign currency, despite the sanctions, according to U.S. officials, Venezuelan officials and businessmen.
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has prompted the United States to pay closer attention to President Vladimir V. Putin’s allies in Latin America, which Washington believes could become security threats if the standoff with Russia deepens, according to current and former U.S. officials who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive policy matters.
As Russia’s economy craters, the U.S. is seizing on an opportunity to advance its agenda among Latin American autocracies that might start seeing Mr. Putin as an increasingly weak ally.
When the U.S. and its allies began considering sanctions on Russian oil and gas exports this month to punish the country for devastation wrought in Ukraine, prominent voices affiliated with both major American political parties pointed to Venezuela as a potential substitute.
The Amuay oil refinery complex in Punto Fijo, Venezuela, in 2016.Carlos Garcia Rawlins/Reuters
Well-connected Republicans have been involved in talks about restarting the oil trade, including Scott Taylor, a former Republican congressman from Virginia who is working with Robert Stryk, a Washington lobbyist who briefly registered to represent Mr. Maduro’s regime in 2020 and remains in contact with people around it.
Mr. Taylor said he spoke on Friday night to a Venezuelan businessman who signaled that Mr. Maduro’s team was eager to re-engage with the United States.
“We should take this opportunity to achieve a diplomatic win and a wedge between Russia and Venezuela,” he said in a statement.
Trish Regan, a former Fox News host and conservative media personality, called for an alliance with Venezuela to displace Russian oil from the U.S. market.
“Venezuela has THE largest source of oil reserves yet, we’re handing that to the Chinese and Russians?” she wrote on Twitter on Friday.
Shortly before the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Yuri Borisov, Russia’s deputy prime minister, traveled to Caracas to meet with Mr. Maduro’s officials. Mr. Maduro has spoken to Mr. Putin by telephone at least twice in the past month, according to statements from both governments.
It is unclear how long the U.S. delegation, which includes senior officials from the State Department and the White House, will remain in Caracas or with whom the group will meet. Spokespeople for Mr. Maduro and for the State Department and the National Security Council in Washington did not respond to requests for comment.
Before the U.S. imposed sanctions, Venezuela sent most of its oil to the U.S. Gulf Coast, whose refineries were built specifically to process Venezuela’s heavy grades of crude.
If the United States curtails the imports of Russian oil, Venezuela would be able to replace some of the lost supplies, said Francisco Monaldi, an expert on Venezuelan energy at Rice University in Houston.
Mr. Maduro appeared open to discussing oil deals with the United States.
“Here lies the oil of Venezuela, which is available for whomever wants to produce and buy it, be it an investor from Asia, Europe or the United States,” he said in a public speech on Thursday.
Mr. Maduro and other Russian allies in Latin America have begun to distance themselves from the war in Ukraine. Venezuela, Nicaragua and Cuba abstained or did not vote on the two resolutions proposed at the United Nations this week to condemn Russian aggression, and the leaders of Venezuela and Cuba have called for a diplomatic solution to the crisis.
Sheyla Urdaneta contributed reporting from Maracaibo, Venezuela.
Wouldnt’t have happened if.. nvm
I decided to go down the pro Russia rabbit hole.
People straight up denying Putin's assinations of political opponents.
Bruh 
Russia being flatout humiliated lol
This is arrogant as fukk, he worries about his people in the same way a freely publicly elected institution worries, once peoples kids starve you have a problem. Thats transcendent in politics.
I need to talk to some helicopter pilot brehs about this cause I legit have no clue how they survive crashes. Just saw two military copters slammed into a mountain in some sort of training shyt in the USA and apparently everyone aboard survived.
Putin took a major L.
No matter what happens, Russia will be unstable and unsettled.
If America can get rid of Putin and install their own leader, they basically checkmate the world.
No matter what happens, Russia will be unstable and unsettled.
If America can get rid of Putin and install their own leader, they basically checkmate the world.
Breh, you gotta read more theology. God literally gave the Israelites up to their enemies on numerous occasions because they were violent, ungrateful, and disobedient. A modern secular nation that calls itself "Israel" but refuses to listen to Him doesn't have anything to do with the people of God and isn't going to receive any special protection in 2022 any more than they did at any other point in history since A.D. 70.