Right, and that's what the Allies did in Germany in 1945. I don't think it's helpful to paint everything with such a broad brush.

Russia is trying to annex Ukraine. They took part of it in 2014, then came back for more, and then organized sham annexation referendums in the regions they did control. Whatever the US is trying to achieve in Venezuela, it's probably not that. All war is deplorable, but some lead to good outcomes and some to bad ones.

> Russia is trying to annex Ukraine

And to start with they were trying to achieve this through regime change via a "surgical" (by their standards) strike on the government and capital.

That failed.

America is doing this explicitly to take control of Venezuela's resources. It's no different.

> Whatever the US is trying to achieve in Venezuela, it's probably not that

Presumably we're only trying to annex their oil reserves

Going to change your tune now that Trump has said that the US will run Venezuela? They’re not even pretending. This is far far more similar than it is different.

No, what Russia has tried to do to Ukraine is annex it as part of Russia. Not nearly the same, even if both are reprehensible.

The critical reaction is from the people on the Venezuelan street tomorrow.

I'm old enough to remember people in Iraq cheering for the fall of Saddam. Didn't make it great.

I’m naively hopeful that they will band together without more bloodshed. I worry though

Either the Venezuelan people demand new elections or a Maduro faction member succeeds him with the support of the military.

Some regimes deserved to be changed (and of course there are second order consequences)

I know some sheltered academics on Epstein's list disagree with that but that's a hill I will die on

Chomsky's argument was never that "no regime deserves to be changed", so maybe academic skills come in useful when comprehending arguments, books, and hills.