The United States of Venezuela

[myboynoah]

Kidnapping and $12 Billion Battle Hang Over Conoco Return to Venezuela - WSJ

This is no secret and I'm not claiming a SUish on this, but I'd be shocked, generally shocked, if Conoco touched Venezueal at all in the next decade unless they get absolute guarantees from the US government that their investments will be protected of backed. I actually have zero doubt they'll spend a dime in Venezuela while Trump is president since they wouldn't trust any contract signed by his administration given how he treats creditors and others that go into business with him.

It's a weird dance these oil execs play, saying enough to make it appear they are on board with Trump, but never making any real commitments. But that works for Trump because all he wants is to publicize the meeting with the oil execs and the vague expectations of future awesomeness. Chevron stepped out of line and Trump nixed them out of the deal, to which I'm sure they all pooped the champagne back at HQ.

The same is obvious in all those trade and investment deals Trump negotiated. Hundreds of billions of dollars in investment by Japan, Korea, UAE, etc, sure, they'll jump on board to make those projections knowing that no one is ever going to come back and try to collect.

[Moliere]

It's a weird dance these oil execs play, saying enough to make it appear they are on board with Trump, but never making any real commitments. But that works for Trump because all he wants is to publicize the meeting with the oil execs and the vague expectations of future awesomeness. Chevron stepped out of line and Trump nixed them out of the deal, to which I'm sure they all pooped the champagne back at HQ.

The same is obvious in all those trade and investment deals Trump negotiated. Hundreds of billions of dollars in investment by Japan, Korea, UAE, etc, sure, they'll jump on board to make those projections knowing that no one is ever going to come back and try to collect.

I believe it was Exxon that was apparently out of line by stating the obvious and Trump said they’d probably not be involved with Venezuela. You could probably hear the relief from Darren Woods (Exxon ceo) after being told he wouldn’t have to deal with both Trump and Venezuela given that Exxon has plenty of other profitable projects around the globe.

Chevron will likely be the winner here since they stayed in the country. But winner is subjective in that they’ll be taking on tremendous risk if they increase their operations down there.

Conoco will likely stay out u til they get the $12billion owed to the by Venezuela.

[myboynoah]

Ha, Exxon, not Chevron. You da man!

[Pelado]

Chevron stepped out of line and Trump nixed them out of the deal, to which I'm sure they all pooped the champagne back at HQ.

I never considered doing that with champagne.

[dabrockster]

JL: We do not have a thread for Cuba so maybe we should just combine this one since they were linked as Venezuela helped prop up Cuba and now cannot. There seems to be movement around Cuba and finding a way for the country to remove the current President.

In meetings with Cuban exiles and civic groups in Miami and Washington, administration officials have focused on identifying somebody inside the current government who will see the writing on the wall and want to cut a deal, one U.S. official said.

The Jan. 3 raid to capture Maduro was helped by an asset within the Venezuelan leader’s inner circle, administration officials have said. The U.S. military operation in Venezuela’s capital, Caracas, killed 32 Cuban soldiers and intelligence operatives in Maduro’s security detail.

While the U.S. hasn’t publicly threatened to use military force in Cuba, Trump officials privately say the brazen raid that extracted Maduro should serve as an implicit threat to Havana.

U.S. intelligence assessments have painted a grim picture of the island’s economy, plagued by chronic shortages of basic goods, medicines and frequent blackouts, according to people familiar with the analysis.

Cuba’s fate has long been entwined with Venezuela: Subsidized Venezuelan oil has been a mainstay of its economy since shortly after Hugo Chávez took power in Venezuela in 1999. Washington intends to weaken the regime by choking off that oil, which has kept Cuba’s lights on, senior U.S. officials said. Cuba could run out of oil within weeks, bringing the economy to a grinding halt, according to economists.

https://www.wsj.com/world/americas/t...-year-1d0f178a

[Jeff Lebowski]

JL: We do not have a thread for Cub so maybe we should just combine this one since they were linked as Venezuela helped prop up Cuba and now cannot. There seems to be movement around Cuba and finding a way for the country to remove the current President.



https://www.wsj.com/world/americas/t...-year-1d0f178a

Anybody can make a thread.

[chrisrenrut]

JL: We do not have a thread for Cub so maybe we should just combine this one since they were linked as Venezuela helped prop up Cuba and now cannot. There seems to be movement around Cuba and finding a way for the country to remove the current President.



https://www.wsj.com/world/americas/t...-year-1d0f178a

Maybe Trump can recruit a Hyman Roth III to build a casino and resort down there. But he should be careful, and keep a close eye on him. Closer than even his own friends.

[Copelius]

Maybe Trump can recruit a Hyman Roth III to build a casino and resort down there. But he should be careful, and keep a close eye on him. Closer than even his own friends.

That is an insult to the Corleones.

[dabrockster]

Anybody can make a thread.

I'll wait till it gets more legs.. Now, it is all news-fodder..

[YOhio]

Embedded Tweet

This made me laugh. Of all the dumb shit put out on official government accounts they take down the one of an earnest sailor wearing a hilarious morale patch. Sad!