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It's really not a crime against the US constitution. And "International Law" isn't really law, because there is no enforcer.

International politics is anarchy. Rules are enforced by the hegemon.


Article I of the Constitution, Section 8: only Congress has the power to declare war.

International law exists - it’s the very purpose of the International Court of Justice


War hasn't been declared.

> The War Powers Resolution of 1973 (often called the War Powers Act) is a U.S. law designed to limit the President's power to commit the U.S. to armed conflict without congressional approval, requiring presidential consultation with Congress before deploying forces and mandating reports within 48 hours, with a 60-day limit for troop deployment without a formal authorization, though presidents have often challenged or sidestepped its provisions.


My concern for Venezuelans is precisely what makes me believe "removing Maduro good" even though things are more nuanced and complex than those three words.


Destabilizing the country and/or installing a US puppet or just allowing the power vacuum to fill itself is likely not to the betterment of their people.


To be fair, I don’t think there’s any way for their lives to get even worse. So If I was Venezuelan, I’d be cautiously optimistic right now.


The US is really good at challenging such notions like "well it can't get worse". Don't worry, we find a way.


Uh, they could be murdered by the US army like the million Iraqi civilians the US murdered.


You lack imagination.


What’s worse than no toilet paper and nowhere to get it?


A wide majority of Venezolans are happy with having Maduro out.


Source?


Maduro lost elections. 8 millions of exilees can't love him. And I interact daily with exilees. There are already videos of people celebrating all around the world. You can disagree. It is hard to believe narco dictators have too much love from people anyway.


Ok, so you have no basis to claim that a majority of venezuelans think anything.

> It is hard to believe narco dictators have too much love from people anyway.

You must be confusing venezuela with a state that traffics in drugs.


Ask people from Venezuela, check the web, the news. They are the main players in all this.


im just asking for an actual source, like a news article from a reputable source. Is that not able to be provided?



Not a single one of these backs up your claim that a "wide majority" venezuelans are happy about this.


Check better.


I'm not the parent commenter, but here's one:

https://www.cnn.com/2024/08/09/americas/venezuela-election-r...

and you can google similar keywords from a variety of sources - many dispute the integrity of the 2024 elections


The most good we can do is allowing Venezuela to live without sanctions

https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/05775132.2019.16...

> This article analyzes the consequences of the economic sanctions imposed on Venezuela by the U.S. government since August of 2017. The authors find that most of the impact of these sanctions has not been on the government but on the civilian population. The sanctions reduced the public’s caloric intake, increased disease and mortality (for both adults and infants), and displaced millions of Venezuelans who fled the country as a result of the worsening economic depression and hyperinflation. They made it nearly impossible to stabilize Venezuela’s economic crisis. These impacts disproportionately harmed the poorest and most vulnerable Venezuelans.


Why would you believe anyone the US installs as a puppet will be any better?


Surely Maduro is bad, but that doesn't mean the next phase won't be worse. Trump has never shown any interest in spreading democracy or human rights. I would not be surprised if the mission involved a side deal with someone in Maduro's inner circle to let them become the new dictator who is willing sell oil leases to the US and who will be as bad or worse to the Venezuelan populace. We have absolutely no idea what happens next and Trump has not given any indication of strategy beyond wanting oil.


I'm not sure many people will believe you saying that


Fortunately, their disbelief does not make it not true.


and the corollary is of course that saying something doesn't make it true


You have the Internet at your disposal. You can see for yourself the opinions of Venezuelans. We'll wait.


Does anyone believe that the US regime, an entity that utterly ignores the needs of its masses in favor of a relative handful of lobbyists, is really going to install a representative government that exists to improve the lives of Venezuelans instead of enriching the same powers that it's beholden to?


Yes, he has to telegraph that to the world to try to minimize fears that the US _desires_ a prolonged intervention, regardless of what happens, and regardless of what he actually believes.

Statements made by politician need not be taken as truthful.


War powers act.

No more democracy.


Congress hasn't declared war so there's no way we can be at war.

Question is whether the Supreme Court will sell us out or not.


We should find a new name for wars that aren't wars. Maybe a some kind of special operation?


"Special Military Operation" (Специальная Военная Операция) is what the war against Ukraine is called in Russia


Pretty sure that's the joke...


Really? Wow, I never knew that. /s


They did not do this for Ukraine either, which seems quite a bit larger.


Thanks Vlad.


> Question is whether the Supreme Court will sell us out or not.

Trump just ended the National Guard deployment in LA, Chicago, and Portland after an overwhelming Supreme Country loss: https://www.politico.com/news/2025/12/31/donald-trump-nation...


Even this long-delayed (for a shadow docket case) limited ruling (can't send troops for now but left door open for a rehearing after lower court is finished) is an exception for history's most compliant SCotUS (unprecedented 90% favoring admin).


What about the war powers act are you talking about? It just limits situations (or purports to) where the president can use the military without a declaration of war. Even if we were suddenly actually attacked (not just Venezuelan forces fighting back) it wouldn't give any path to "no more democracy".


The President can now tell "his" DOJ to indict someone in another country (like its leader), and use that to 'legally' justify an attack on said country to grab the person.

Ironically, the current administration thinks that American courts can hold any president accountable for crimes, except the American president.


There is a path to no more democracy, and being at war makes that path a lot easier.

I'm not American, my 'war powers act' statement wasn't pointing at specific legislation, it was a hand wave to the past.

It rhymes.


That's empirically wrong. Also nearly every single Venezuelan who's left the country since Chavez is against Maduro


That might be why they left, no? The ones who stayed presumably tolerate him more.


The ones who stayed are mostly too poor and famished to leave.


any evidence of that?


Yeah, read any newspaper.


And why are they famished? Could it be because of US sanctions and embargoes?


You can't blame America for every single problem people suffer. Cuba was also embargoed and managed to pull off a medical system with a lower infant mortality rate than the USA, and as far as I know nobody starved there to the degree they did in Venezuela.

USA sanctions means Venezuela can't be a Petrostate, that's it. There's nothing stopping the government from organizing state industries in agriculture and mineral extraction as well as distribution to build a hyper localized economy. Hell, they're supposed to be communists, this is supposed to be the whole thing they're meant to be doing anyway.

The state of Venezuela is mostly the fault of Maduro's failed governance, and some of the responsibility lays also on the heads of Venezuelans. I personally believe to pretend it's all America's fault is to engage in a prejudice of low expectations.


approx 8 million, and we are not allowed to vote, which is against the constitution.


I think for most people, they just think _someone_ will win eventually and you can't win if you don't play, so why not part with some (hopefully) disposable income that could turn their entire life around.


https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2025/jun/17/can-you...

"Lottery-like" mechanisms for selling homes exist in the UK as "prize competitions" or "house raffles", which operate under specific legal rules to avoid being classified as illegal lotteries. This method gained significant news coverage, particularly a high-profile case in 2017, and has become a growing trend.


Smart quotes should work like ligatures rather than being special characters.


I'm not sure the Motherland is really all that strong these days, Dmitry.


careful, Brigadier they can introduce a foriegn substance into our precious bodily fluids without the knowledge of the individual, and certainly without any choice. That's the way your hard core commie works.


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