I wouldn't trust the current US Fraudministration with a popgun, much less missiles. They will "allege" just about anything, to rationalize their lust for aggressive conduct in this hemisphere. Also, this was a cynical ploy to get speculation on Trump's declining health out of the news cycle.
The United States is following the "Wag the Dog" principle . WTD includes using military resources to distract the public and set the stage for escalation. Fifty years ago it was the Tonkin Gulf incident that prompted U.S. military involvement in Viet Nam. We are still trying to unravel hat event however, we know the results. Here we go again. Venezuela. This distracts us from other events in the world and gives the stage back to President Trump to feast on the incident. All the WTD elements are present. Gang? Eleven people? Drugs on vessel? The narrative becomes fact. The U.S. public is now more familiar with the situation in Venezuela. The next step of action will be supported because of the first. Whether it actually occurred or not.
I think you are right and they have war-gamed a lot of this out - they could be looking for a Venezuelan response in order to escalate. Still, I think the U.S. military would prefer to blockade Venezuela by sea, fire missiles and get Venezuelans inside to do the fighting. Let's see.
Excellent reporting as always, Ioan! It could also be illegal under US & International law as I explain elsewhere on substack @ https://tinyurl.com/5tpnvujd
And boats suspected of illegal activity will be interdicted, boarded, and searched? That's yesterday's tedious rule and just so WOKE. Just drop some bombs. We still got some after Yemen and Iran, plus the defense stocks need a boost.
You forgot to mention that Maduro stole the last presidential election, according to vote tallies independently verified. He also ramped up repression in the country.
Thanks María and fair point. In this video I focused more on the attack than on the Venezuelan political situation but will get more into that in upcoming stories.
Venezuela committed the worst sin imaginable in the view of the US Govt: it took over the property of US corporations just like Cuba did. Kill over 50k US troops? No big deal…trade and tourism can be return to normal. Nationalize something from a US corporation? The regime must die by all means necessary!
The wonders of the modern world. One can get an AK-47 made in Romania, sold in Texas, and used to murder in Mexico, while taking meth from precursors from China, and made in Mexico, while the guy who sold the precursors is losing his profits in Las Vegas!
Fair enough; I did Say that there are many exiles fed up with the problems and conditions. I have written more deeply about the Maduro government in other places, like a Time magazine cover story, but You are right, and I forget some people arent aware of these issues. Thanks and appreciated.
Fascinating review of what should be a much more reported event. I can't remember publicly announcing a military strike on narco-terrorists. There's been covert ops for years. But this is a new chapter. Thanks Ioan for helping break it down.
How do you think the Maduro narco warrant will eventually play out?
You said you didn't remember [Trump] "publicly announcing a military strike on narco-terrorists" and I replied that he announced it during the press briefing on moving Space Command from Colorado to Alabama. Rewatch it and, this time, focus on JD Vance. Both you and smoky eye seem to think that the king needs to let the people know BEFORE military action is taken. Details, details.
No, we all saw that announcement. It was literally what Ioan's post was about. I meant we've never previously had announcements about anti-narco-trafficking interdictions involving military strikes. It was all done in the shadows and we only learned about them much later (and they were still rare). My point was that we are now holding press conferences highlighting the strikes, which is a completely new path we've taken. Hence the intrigue to see how this new course of action plays out.
Thanks much there EPoch. It's hard to predict but I see scenarios for a coup to invasion to just pressure for Maduro to give concessions. He has to be very worried now.
Well, we arrested Noriega. We didn't drop a Hellfire on him. Big difference. I was more referring to the military strike. Noriega and Maduro will likely play out the same. I'm *pretty* sure Trump won't bomb Maduro but I can't categorically rule it out.
Here we have the video with a mysterious ship with an unknown cargo, bombed at an unknown destination in international waters and it is proclaimed that the ship was carrying "a really lot of drugs" and we are supposed to assume this is a vessel directed by Maduro. The United States had every means available including helicopters to board the vessel, interrogate the crew and catalog the shipment which would have been very helpful in documenting the so-called illegal drug activity by Venezuela. No, the United States decides to intercept the boat with a missile that was definitely more expensive then the cargo on board the boat. Now another fairy tale to believe like Operation Warp Speed, the greatest thing since sliced bread, never knew the man, Julian Assange, Epstein files is a political hoax, abolishing NATO, the FBI and CIA, the Syrian use of sarin gas, pardon for Edward Snowden, the president for peace just like his mentor in Israel, Benjamin Netanyahu and deportations and what happened to the Wall?
Maduro's Cartel of the Suns is a myth except to the United States. There is no reference to it in the 2025 United Nations report on drugs. In May, 2025, the US Intelligence Council asserted that there is no evidence of Maduro directly controlling Tren de Aragua gang contradicting US claims that Maduro and the military and intelligence agencies control Tren de Aragua. Actual case is that Venezuela is in the minor leagues of international drug dealing compared to other countries, including their neighbor Colombia. The UN Drug Report states that only 5% of Colombia's drug production travels through Venezuela to the Caribbean. The report also states that Venezuela has not cultivating cocoa or drug processing in the past 15 years. Here is a quote from the Executive Director of the UN Office on Drugs and Crime, Pino Arlacchi-
"The UNODC’s 2025 report is crystal clear, which should embarrass those who have built the rhetoric demonising Venezuela. The report makes only a cursory mention of Venezuela, stating that a marginal fraction of Colombian drug production passes through the country on its way to the United States and Europe. Venezuela, according to the UN, has consolidated its position as a territory free from the cultivation of coca leaf, marijuana, and similar products, as well as from the presence of international criminal cartels.
The document merely confirms the 30 previous annual reports, which fail to mention Venezuelan drug trafficking because it doesn’t exist. Only 5% of Colombian drugs transit through Venezuela. To put this figure into perspective: in 2018, while 210 tons of cocaine passed through Venezuela, a full 2,370 tons—ten times more—were produced or traded by Colombia, and 1,400 tons by Guatemala.
Yes, you read that right: Guatemala is a drug corridor seven times more important than the fearsome Bolivarian “narco-state” supposedly is. But no one talks about it because Guatemala has historically been short—it produces 0.01% of the global total—of the only unnatural drug Trump is interested in: oil."
So what is the lesson that can be understood from this Venezuelan drug fairy tale. Trump wants the oil and the rare earth resources that every major industrialized country in the world needs. Trump has never been shy about expressing his desire to resurrecting the old economic and political imperialism of the Monroe Doctrine. US military officials in the past month were expressing what the real intentions of the US is controlling Venezuelan resources. Chevron oil on July 26, 2025 was cleared to restart oil production and exports in Venezuela, the country being castigated as the "satanic instrument" in poisoning our youth with drugs.
I’m reading comments here, twitter, and YouTube, and I’m blown away how people can be so upset over this strike. I mean after all bad people were killed, drugs were lost, but I know why they are and it’s all because of Trump was behind, meanwhile you didn’t see the same people screaming when Biden, and the Mexican government made the cartels billions during the past four years. Of course the knew drugs were on this boat, this was not a bunch of innocent fishermen out looking for fish.
It's far from the first time that the US military has attacked and killed designated terrorists. As you point out, now that cartels are listed, it's open hunting season. Though it seems dichotomous that people that say nothing when the military kills middle east terrorists get upset over cartel members. What seems really important is Rubio's visit to scheinbaum. He was involved in the previous attempted coup on Venezuela, so I gotta think this is about sending a message to Mexico.
I wouldn't trust the current US Fraudministration with a popgun, much less missiles. They will "allege" just about anything, to rationalize their lust for aggressive conduct in this hemisphere. Also, this was a cynical ploy to get speculation on Trump's declining health out of the news cycle.
Great opening sentence there Shaggy. Hope all is well friend
So you trusted the former administration more? An administration who made billions for the cartels…
Lol
The United States is following the "Wag the Dog" principle . WTD includes using military resources to distract the public and set the stage for escalation. Fifty years ago it was the Tonkin Gulf incident that prompted U.S. military involvement in Viet Nam. We are still trying to unravel hat event however, we know the results. Here we go again. Venezuela. This distracts us from other events in the world and gives the stage back to President Trump to feast on the incident. All the WTD elements are present. Gang? Eleven people? Drugs on vessel? The narrative becomes fact. The U.S. public is now more familiar with the situation in Venezuela. The next step of action will be supported because of the first. Whether it actually occurred or not.
I think you are right and they have war-gamed a lot of this out - they could be looking for a Venezuelan response in order to escalate. Still, I think the U.S. military would prefer to blockade Venezuela by sea, fire missiles and get Venezuelans inside to do the fighting. Let's see.
Solid and balanced reporting mate. Nice to have your eyes on this. Good job.
Thanks much there feller. Hope all is well with you my friend!
loan, did you see this.
Trump is just getting started.
Also notice the mention of Maritime Law.
https://www.breitbart.com/border/2025/09/03/pirro-strikes-blow-to-narco-trafficking-historic-seizure-of-precursor-chemicals-exposes-china-cartel-drug-route/
Very interesting. Now that looks like some good drug enforcement work
Trump is going after shall we say “less dangerous targets”. Trying to browbeat the big boys isn’t working out.
You mean easier targets than the Big boys like Putin? Yeah, the Américas are certainly hotting up.
America is 3% of the world population and we consume 60 % of the world GDP.
India and China will give in.
Russia will dry up while sinking in oil.
EU has no money, no weapons, and no soldiers.
The Ukraine war will be over in 6 months and Russia will keep 95% of what it took.
Is that the brow beating you're talking about ?
Or is it the Mexicans who keep breaking their own constitution sending drug lords to the US.
Or, Brazilian officials who can't send their trophy wives to Fl for shopping.
Or Panama who told China to take a hike.
Or the Prime Minister of S Korea being embarrassed by Trump on the world stage.
Or was it something else?
I could go on.
🤣
Excellent reporting as always, Ioan! It could also be illegal under US & International law as I explain elsewhere on substack @ https://tinyurl.com/5tpnvujd
Thanks there Jack, I'll check that post out. We are in for some interesting coverage.
I fully expect a human interest story is coming soon.
Those poor guys were being forced by the cartel to run that boat, and for a kicker, there was an American on board.
The headline
Trump is no better than Obama.
It will be interesting at least to see if they are identified and who they are!
You got connections, ask.
I will belive you.
No one else.
Trump said he wanted the death sentence for drug traffickers.
Listen to him.
They tell you what they are going to do so we should listen. The rules of engagement have just been changed and we are in a new scenario now...
Trump just closed the sea lanes.
South America only gets 12 miles of Ocean before it's international waters, which subject to maritime laws.
I guarantee Trump has a legal argument based on those.
Future drug boats are going to sink on their own, sunk with bricks.
The runners will be shitting them.
Maduro will be arrested, just like Noriega. Everyone should calm down.
That is looking pretty likely now! It could be clean, and it could be messy...
I don't think there will be another.
You could offer to go on a run, for a documentary.
If it kicks off I want to get as close as I can!
And boats suspected of illegal activity will be interdicted, boarded, and searched? That's yesterday's tedious rule and just so WOKE. Just drop some bombs. We still got some after Yemen and Iran, plus the defense stocks need a boost.
The drug runners just got a message.
Stay on land.
What drug runners? Don't get snippy -- I'm fishing for truth.
Well I trout that.
You forgot to mention that Maduro stole the last presidential election, according to vote tallies independently verified. He also ramped up repression in the country.
And so the United States president can just start killing people, 11 at a time? To what? Avenge Venezuela's domestic politics? F-.
Thanks María and fair point. In this video I focused more on the attack than on the Venezuelan political situation but will get more into that in upcoming stories.
I think just a phrase could have been enough to provide a fair context, other than 'the US doesn't like Maduro's socialist policies'
Venezuela committed the worst sin imaginable in the view of the US Govt: it took over the property of US corporations just like Cuba did. Kill over 50k US troops? No big deal…trade and tourism can be return to normal. Nationalize something from a US corporation? The regime must die by all means necessary!
The 50K US troops, you mean Vietnam. Yeah, now you can do a Vietnam war tour in the (former) Saigon!
One can go on a river cruise while listening to CrashOut podcasts on Vietnamese made Apple AirPods, Watch, and iPad.
The wonders of the modern world. One can get an AK-47 made in Romania, sold in Texas, and used to murder in Mexico, while taking meth from precursors from China, and made in Mexico, while the guy who sold the precursors is losing his profits in Las Vegas!
Fair enough; I did Say that there are many exiles fed up with the problems and conditions. I have written more deeply about the Maduro government in other places, like a Time magazine cover story, but You are right, and I forget some people arent aware of these issues. Thanks and appreciated.
Fascinating review of what should be a much more reported event. I can't remember publicly announcing a military strike on narco-terrorists. There's been covert ops for years. But this is a new chapter. Thanks Ioan for helping break it down.
How do you think the Maduro narco warrant will eventually play out?
He “announced” the strike during his whacked Huntsville blowjob in the Oval yesterday. Trump's Department of War is alive and kicking.
That provided nothing productive to my post or question.
You said you didn't remember [Trump] "publicly announcing a military strike on narco-terrorists" and I replied that he announced it during the press briefing on moving Space Command from Colorado to Alabama. Rewatch it and, this time, focus on JD Vance. Both you and smoky eye seem to think that the king needs to let the people know BEFORE military action is taken. Details, details.
No, we all saw that announcement. It was literally what Ioan's post was about. I meant we've never previously had announcements about anti-narco-trafficking interdictions involving military strikes. It was all done in the shadows and we only learned about them much later (and they were still rare). My point was that we are now holding press conferences highlighting the strikes, which is a completely new path we've taken. Hence the intrigue to see how this new course of action plays out.
Thanks much there EPoch. It's hard to predict but I see scenarios for a coup to invasion to just pressure for Maduro to give concessions. He has to be very worried now.
No, he wants Maduro's head.
It will be a shot across the bow of every drug corrupted official in Mexico.
Noriega !
Well, we arrested Noriega. We didn't drop a Hellfire on him. Big difference. I was more referring to the military strike. Noriega and Maduro will likely play out the same. I'm *pretty* sure Trump won't bomb Maduro but I can't categorically rule it out.
No way they would have that many guys.This is the typical arrest : y Andie Adams • Published August 1, 2014 • Updated on August 1, 2014 at 6:02 pm
Log in or create a free profile to save articlesBOOKMARKER
The U.S. Coast Guard discovered six tons of marijuana and four suspected smugglers floating in two panga boats off San Diego this week.
Here we have the video with a mysterious ship with an unknown cargo, bombed at an unknown destination in international waters and it is proclaimed that the ship was carrying "a really lot of drugs" and we are supposed to assume this is a vessel directed by Maduro. The United States had every means available including helicopters to board the vessel, interrogate the crew and catalog the shipment which would have been very helpful in documenting the so-called illegal drug activity by Venezuela. No, the United States decides to intercept the boat with a missile that was definitely more expensive then the cargo on board the boat. Now another fairy tale to believe like Operation Warp Speed, the greatest thing since sliced bread, never knew the man, Julian Assange, Epstein files is a political hoax, abolishing NATO, the FBI and CIA, the Syrian use of sarin gas, pardon for Edward Snowden, the president for peace just like his mentor in Israel, Benjamin Netanyahu and deportations and what happened to the Wall?
Maduro's Cartel of the Suns is a myth except to the United States. There is no reference to it in the 2025 United Nations report on drugs. In May, 2025, the US Intelligence Council asserted that there is no evidence of Maduro directly controlling Tren de Aragua gang contradicting US claims that Maduro and the military and intelligence agencies control Tren de Aragua. Actual case is that Venezuela is in the minor leagues of international drug dealing compared to other countries, including their neighbor Colombia. The UN Drug Report states that only 5% of Colombia's drug production travels through Venezuela to the Caribbean. The report also states that Venezuela has not cultivating cocoa or drug processing in the past 15 years. Here is a quote from the Executive Director of the UN Office on Drugs and Crime, Pino Arlacchi-
"The UNODC’s 2025 report is crystal clear, which should embarrass those who have built the rhetoric demonising Venezuela. The report makes only a cursory mention of Venezuela, stating that a marginal fraction of Colombian drug production passes through the country on its way to the United States and Europe. Venezuela, according to the UN, has consolidated its position as a territory free from the cultivation of coca leaf, marijuana, and similar products, as well as from the presence of international criminal cartels.
The document merely confirms the 30 previous annual reports, which fail to mention Venezuelan drug trafficking because it doesn’t exist. Only 5% of Colombian drugs transit through Venezuela. To put this figure into perspective: in 2018, while 210 tons of cocaine passed through Venezuela, a full 2,370 tons—ten times more—were produced or traded by Colombia, and 1,400 tons by Guatemala.
Yes, you read that right: Guatemala is a drug corridor seven times more important than the fearsome Bolivarian “narco-state” supposedly is. But no one talks about it because Guatemala has historically been short—it produces 0.01% of the global total—of the only unnatural drug Trump is interested in: oil."
So what is the lesson that can be understood from this Venezuelan drug fairy tale. Trump wants the oil and the rare earth resources that every major industrialized country in the world needs. Trump has never been shy about expressing his desire to resurrecting the old economic and political imperialism of the Monroe Doctrine. US military officials in the past month were expressing what the real intentions of the US is controlling Venezuelan resources. Chevron oil on July 26, 2025 was cleared to restart oil production and exports in Venezuela, the country being castigated as the "satanic instrument" in poisoning our youth with drugs.
I’m reading comments here, twitter, and YouTube, and I’m blown away how people can be so upset over this strike. I mean after all bad people were killed, drugs were lost, but I know why they are and it’s all because of Trump was behind, meanwhile you didn’t see the same people screaming when Biden, and the Mexican government made the cartels billions during the past four years. Of course the knew drugs were on this boat, this was not a bunch of innocent fishermen out looking for fish.
It's far from the first time that the US military has attacked and killed designated terrorists. As you point out, now that cartels are listed, it's open hunting season. Though it seems dichotomous that people that say nothing when the military kills middle east terrorists get upset over cartel members. What seems really important is Rubio's visit to scheinbaum. He was involved in the previous attempted coup on Venezuela, so I gotta think this is about sending a message to Mexico.
De plane de plane.
It ain't Fantasy Island.