How should west respond to potential (likely) U.S. invasion of Venezuela?

[Don2 (Don1 Revised)]

More information about the oil tanker seizure:

Satellite images suggest seized tanker 'deliberately' manipulated location data

An ABC News analysis of satellite imagery and tracking data shows the oil tanker seized by the United States off the coast of Venezuela on Wednesday may have manipulated its location data -- an apparent attempt, experts said, to circumvent restrictions imposed by sanctions.

The crude oil tanker, named the "The Skipper," according to four people familiar with the operation, was sanctioned by the U.S. in 2022.

Digital broadcast signals emitted from the vessel’s transponder and tracked by analytics company Kpler placed the Skipper near Guyana’s offshore between November and December. However, more than a dozen satellite images verified by ABC News confirmed Skipper was in fact operating in waters off the coast of Barcelona, Venezuela, around 550 miles away during this same period.

Is that supposed to mean it was okay to pirate an oil tanker?

If I felt my ship was threatened by a hostile military force, I too would give serious consideration to "spoofing" my position as a defensive measure.

It turned out not to work, but I can't fault the captain for trying.

Just because The Felon is being a bad guy doesn't make the tanker a good guy. Note it was sanctioned in 2022.

And spoofing your position won't do much against the US military. It's a tactic you use against cops, it's not of much use against a modern military with airborne radar.

Both sides are wrong here.

Engaging in restricted commerce isn't necessarily immoral. It might be. Consider that this is necessarily commerce and part of that is resources going to a population that needs it. It might be corrupted or there might be weapons or drugs or Chinese or Iranians involved, but we haven't really seen any substantiated evidence. The jury is still out. Consider also that the embargo is now on ALL oil tankers. Would you wager that every single one was a bad actor?

 

[Elixir]

the embargo is now on ALL oil tankers

"All your oil are belong to us."
I cannot befuckinglieve ANYONE can mistake this charade for anything but supersized grand theft oil.