Biden-Harris Foreign Policy Blunders Pile Up, Get Closer to Home
The appeasement of Venezuela's Nicolas Maduro backfired, as expected
Have you ever lifted sanctions on a rogue nation only to watch them unleash a bloodbath afterwards? Have you ever reversed the policies of your predecessor and seen the situation blow up in your face?
If this sounds familiar, you’re not alone; these scenarios are about to replay — again — for President Joe Biden as Venezuela teeters on the brink of chaos — and potential civil war — following an election widely regarded by the international community as rigged by dictator Nicolás Maduro.
In October 2023, following 18 months of intense negotiations, the Biden-Harris administration announced the lifting of sanctions on Venezuelan gold and oil exports for six months, as well as on secondary trading of government bonds.
Ostensibly, this was in exchange for the Maduro regime’s release of five political prisoners and its commitment to free and fair elections.
However, these concessions, which rolled back Trump-era sanctions, were primarily made to facilitate the purchase of Venezuelan oil in an attempt to lower gas prices and salvage the ‘Bidenomics’ trainwreck.
Unfortunately, in their haste, the Biden-Harris Administration forgot to impose any international monitoring, legal frameworks, or transparency measures on Venezuelan elections — offering just a wink and a nod to get the oil flowing.
A former senior U.S. official described the concessions as “almost breathtaking in their generosity,” according to the Financial Times.
At the time, the Venezuelan opposition warned that the U.S. officials were naive to believe Maduro intended to hold competitive elections and that easing sanctions would only boost a “criminal bonanza.”
The Biden-Harris State Department quickly dismissed those concerns, insisting an agreement with a "new incentive structure" was in place, under which the Maduro Regime no longer needed to sell its energy products on the black market, purportedly making operations more lucrative and aligning interests.
A weak assurance, as even an anonymous congressional source admitted to the Financial Times that “We’re really just trying to draw a line in the sand, so you don’t see further authoritarian drift” — a strategy that presumably follows the diplomatic tradition of Obama’s red line in Syria.
This is becoming a time-honored tradition indeed… [Continue reading]
I’m not so sure about a Venezuelan civil war. One side has all the arms and the other gave them up to Chavez. What I see is a potential blood bath with Cuba, Russia, China and Hezbollah joining in on the killing. It will make Tiananmen Square look like a slow weekend in Chicago.