"For the last two months, US forces have amassed outside Venezuela and carried out a series of lethal strikes on civilian boats. The Trump White House has ordered these actions in the name of fighting narco-terrorists a label apparently applicable to anyone suspected of participating in drug trafficking near Latin American coastlines. More than 80 people have already been killed in these pre-emptive strikes, and war hawks are calling for expanded military action to depose the Venezuelan president, Nicolas Maduro."
"While on the surface Trump's second term has been characterized by a disorienting barrage of executive orders and culture war polemics, the administration has in fact been running a cohesive authoritarian playbook aimed at conferring near limitless powers to the presidency. These concerted efforts have played out in numerous policy arenas from immigration, to higher education, to economics, to even determining who is a citizen. Consistent with this pattern, Trump is asserting the same unchecked authority over the violent capacities of the US military."
"The Trump White House is similarly asserting the unencumbered right to define terrorist, along with the corresponding right to take deadly action with virtually no outside oversight. In public statements, Trump has defended treating drug smugglers as terrorists by citing the harm done by drug overdoses, in effect suggesting that drug traffickers are directly killing US citizens. Ignoring the fact that Venezuela doesn't produce fentanyl, the main driver of overdoses in the US,"
US forces have amassed outside Venezuela and have conducted lethal strikes on civilian boats labeled as targeting 'narco-terrorists', a label applied broadly to suspected drug traffickers near Latin American coastlines. More than eighty people have died in these pre-emptive strikes, and hawks are urging expanded military efforts to remove Venezuelan president Nicolás Maduro. The administration is employing an authoritarian playbook to concentrate extensive powers in the presidency across immigration, education, economic policy, and citizenship determination. The White House is asserting the authority to define terrorists and to authorize deadly military actions with minimal oversight. Officials have offered no public evidence that the attacked boats carried drugs.
Read at www.theguardian.com
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