The Duran Podcast - Venezuela regime change

Episode Date: January 3, 2026

Venezuela regime change

Okay, we are live with Alexander McCurris in London. Alexander, happy new year. This is our first live stream of the new year, and happy new year to everyone that is watching us. And this is our first live stream for the new year, but it's a live stream that we put together the last 10, 15 minutes to talk about the breaking news in Venezuela. So, Alexander, your thoughts on Venezuela,

but a happy new year to everyone that is watching us. Indeed. Indeed, a very happy new year to everybody who is watching us, and it's great to be here and to do a live stream today. Now, let's go straight into Venezuela, because, as you know, I have time constraints today. Well, firstly, we've had this enormous build-up to this event, which took place this morning.

As far as I can see, there has been, no organized resistance to these American attacks. My overwhelming impression is that the Americans came in. They captured Maduro. Trump is saying it. The Venezuelans are not denying it. So I am assuming that that is true. They came in. They captured Maduro. They left. And the reports are that no Americans were killed. Now, if this is correct, then it seems to me, that there has clearly been some kind of a deal done. In other words, that some people within the Venezuelan political military system have agreed to do a deal with the Americans,

whereby they ditch their leader, who is Maduro. Maduro is taken by the United States. He's brought to the United States, and everything else in Venezuela remains under the control of the current Venezuelan authorities. So that looks to me the deal that has probably been done and that is my initial assumption about the situation. So a lot of theatre, a lot of attacks on bases, a lot of performative acts by helicopters flying over Caracas.

But no fighting to speak of, no pictures of actual fighting, no sign of air defence missiles being launched to resist the Americans. And I'm going to suggest that this probably explains the long weeks of the United States building up its forces, but taking no apparent action apart from attacking a couple of speedboats and seizing a number of tankers. Probably over that time, some kind of very complex negotiation was underway. So that is probably, that is my first guess about this.

A deal or a bribery, a payoff? A bribery, a bribery, a bribery. Like in Syria. Like in Syria. In fact, I'm glad you brought up Syria because it looks to be identical. In other words, people have been bribed and brought over. Enough of them have. There is still some kind of political authority function in Venezuela.

We've had statements from the foreign minister and we've had statements from the defense minister, but it doesn't seem to me as if there's any kind of sustained resistance at all. Right. The defense minister so far has seemed very defiant. His rhetoric is defiant towards the United States. It seems like he's going to take the line of Maduro, but of course he can also be brought to the side of the U.S., I imagine, with the right pressure and the right offer. They can and get the defense minister to step aside. The US is going to put their own people in charge. Ultimately, of course.

As I understand it, there's the vice president is still in Venezuela. He will presumably step in and he will now be the new vice president. And while Maduro is arrested in the United States. But one can see the scenario. He will call elections. Elections will be held and that will result in the transfer of power to the people that the United States wants. That's probably the most likely outcome to this. A successful covert operation? Yes. I mean, that's how it looks to me. Yeah. Yeah, a regime change, a successful covert operation. According to Mike Lee, he's spoken to Secretary Rubio. Rubio said that

Maduro is going to stay on trial. He's under arrest and he's going to stand trial. So I mean, they're going to make an example of Maduro. Maduro was betrayed and that's the way it looks at the moment. Yes. Yes. Yeah, he was betrayed. He was betrayed. So this explains the, you know, all the signs were there that this was going to happen. The New York Times had the article about about the CIA operating in Venezuela. Trump even said, this was a couple of months ago that the CIA was operating in Venezuela covertly in Venezuela, well, not so covert because Trump was announcing it. We had Pam Bondi talking about the 50 million bounty on Maduro's head. And I think the last piece of the puzzle that they were waiting for was getting the right military officials to stand down, to betray Maduro, but also to stand down as far as air defense goes.

There was no air defense. There was no air defense. There's been no sign of fighting anywhere in Venezuela. The security forces are still there. They're still operating on the ground. But as I said, there's clearly been a deal done, a bribery deal done. And it's again, it's exactly like what we saw in Syria in 2024. A short-term victory for Trump?

Yes. Medium, long-term. This is a regime change. U.S. regime change operations never turn out well. Ever, ever, ever turn out well. They always turn into disasters. Will this be the exception, or is this going to lead to a power vacuum and to chaos? I mean, Guaido.

okay, he's not going to be the guy, but Machado. I'm sure she's going to be one of the lead candidates to install in Venezuela's president. She's unpopular. No one likes her either. How do you see this playing out? Well, this is for the long term, and I suspect for the long term, this isn't going to go at all well, and it's not going to be popular with many people in Latin America either, and it's probably not going to be popular with some people in Venezuela.

Today, there is probably shock across Venezuela, across Latin America, but over time, the resistance will grow. And this will not look good in the world in general. We see that even people like Erdogan now are coming out and are condemning this. And I suspect that in time, as I said, we will see that the problems in Venezuela from this point on for the United States will only begin. This is the way near-Con operations, this is a near-con operation, by the way. This is the way near-con operations always go. They start strong.

They start with, you know, lots of bangs and flashes, the helicopter is flying in, the missiles being launched, the dramatic act, the capture of the president, the overturning of these statues. You remember that happened in Baghdad. And then from that moment on, it starts to go downhill. And I suspect that's exactly what's going to happen in Venezuela. It's going to take time. It's going to probably be a prolonged affair. I would have thought that Machado quits clearly being designated as the person who will take over, that she will go into Venezuela.

She will try to return things to where they were before Hugo Chavez, back in the 90s, emerged on the political scene in Venezuela. She will very quickly discover that there is enormous resistance inside Venezuela to returning to that period, the pre-C Chavez period. Chavez did carry out deep changes inside Venezuela, and Venezuelan society has changed as a result of them. So it will be like what was once said about the Bobins. They've returned, they've learned nothing, forgotten nothing. and eventually it all begins to go wrong. But it will probably take a time to work out in the short term.

Trump has got Maduro. Maduro will stand to trial, and the Americans have achieved for the time being their objective, which is to gain control of Venezuela, ultimately, of its oil, and, well, we'll see where there goes. Yeah, they get control of Venezuela's oil. They can now put the squeeze out. on Cuba as well, which is Rubio's main goal.

And this makes, actually, China was just there a couple of hours ago. This makes China look really bad. Yes. This makes Russia, bricks, Iran. They all come out of this looking completely clueless and lost. Yes, indeed. Well, I mean, I think if I may say this, people tend to focus a lot on Russia, but the big, important ally of Venezuela

was in fact China. China was the country that had... They were just there meeting with Maduro a couple of hours ago, they were the people who were buying Venezuela's oil. They were the people whose tankers were being seized. They were the people who were providing the economic assistance. So they come out looking very embarrassed from this affair. And, well, we'll see what they do.

But we've discussed it many times. For the time being, despite the fact that the power of the bricks continues to grow, they do not have the kind of power projection capabilities that the United States does. The United States still has a matchless capability to deploy forces everywhere around the world. It's got bases in every place. It's still got the world's biggest fleet. well, maybe not biggest fleet in terms of numbers, but biggest fleet in terms of aircraft carriers and power. And that gives the United States in these sort of operations an advantage.

China, Russia are very strong in their own neighborhoods, but they can't project power, military power, in Latin America, in this sort of way. Well, it's not only Latin America, China and Russia to a less than to a less, or extent Iran, but let's stay with China and Russia. They still believe that there's some sort of an international law or rules-based order. They still buy into this. They buy into the U.S. They buy into the Security Council.

Russia goes on and on and on about Trump, the neutral mediator, the negotiator. They still buy into all of this. And they haven't woken up to the fact that there is no international law. There is no international rules-based order. We are moving into a world. No, we are in a world of chaos. Yes. A world of piracy, a world where anything goes,

especially when you're a great power. Call it the bombing of pipelines. If you want to bomb pipelines, bomb the pipelines. If you want to seize tankers, seize the tankers. If you want to do decapitation strikes, if you want to bomb a country to protect the crystals. or the Muslims or whoever. If you want to go after scientists, there is no rule.

If you want to kidnap the leader of a sovereign country, and that's what this is. I mean, the way words are used, the capture of Maduro. It wasn't a capture. No. It's a kidnapping. Absolutely, yes. Kidnap the leader of a sovereign country. Yes, right?

That's what they did. Whether you like Maduro or not. I mean, I don't think that's the issue. I mean, you're a lawyer. You understand these things. Oh, absolutely. I'm sure this goes against all kinds of international law. To put it mildly. This is the world we're moving into. This is the world that we're in, actually.

The Security Strategy Review basically said it. I mean, this is a game, this is a game now played between great powers. It's purely, this is the United States has given up. This is what the security strategy review said. The United States has given up its quest for wealthy gaminy. It understands it no longer has the power to do that. It's also given up on the rules-based international order, such as it was. You remember all that? They've given up on that. They've given up on international law as such.

They're talking purely about great powers and spheres of influence. We talked about that back early in January. Was it January, February? spheres of influence. It's now the accepted thing. And when you say this, predatory great powers, predatory against their own allies too.

Greenland as well. We talked as well. I mean, at some point, if the United States can do this in Venezuela, they'll do this in Greenland too. I mean, they'll simply move in and they'll take over and Denmark won't be happy, but that's what they will eventually do. Because

the Americans understand that controlling the world is no longer possible. The other side is too strong. There's too many players, too many powerful players to do that. But you use increasingly ruthless actions to maintain control of what you consider of core importance to yourself. So that's what's that's the world that we're going to see. And I'm going to make a prediction, by the way, if Trump is defeated in 2028,

whatever Democrat takes over, if it is a Democrat, when I say Trump, the Republic is losing 2028. The Democrats will continue along the same course. It is an adaption to the power realities of the world today. Foreign policy based on trickery. I've been saying this for a good year now. Duplicity and all of that and all of that duplicity and a high degree of violence as well. Well, allegedly going after, allegedly going after Putin's residence with the drones.

Allegedly, the CIA tells us otherwise. And I tend to believe everything that the CIA is saying. But anyway, I mean, as Russia is negotiating with the pragmatic rational Trump, right? I mean, there is, there is, I mean, without the great powers, the, the, the, the, US does prefer some degree of diplomatic contact because even, let's put it like this. I mean, if they'd killed Putin, it wouldn't have made any fundamental difference to the power realities. It would have made in fact been a very dangerous situation. The same with China.

We've seen that China has the power to push back against the United States. They did so. So they have to work to some extent to try to maintain some kind of stability. with the other great powers but in their own neighborhood they are prepared to act ruthlessly and rules really don't apply true true but but even outside their neighborhood they've given two huge weapons packages to taiwan yeah nowhere near their their neighborhood we have all kinds of chaos breaking out in in china's neighborhood right so cambodia tylland for example miyamar so there's all kinds of chaos and of course you have

Project Ukraine and the U.S. is the U.S. is the force behind the proxy war. And once again, the New York Times has admitted that it is the U.S. and the CIA that is driving the attack on tankers and refineries. This is not me saying this. No, indeed. Now, on the time and the CIA. So, I mean, the U.S. has no problem going into the neighborhoods of the other great powers as well. If they have to, they'll do it. Oh, absolutely, because they still have that power projection capability, which the other great powers don't. Now, on this very, on this topic of oil and oil trade, this is where, in a kind of a way, the Russians come out beneficiaries, because China has been sourcing a significant

amount of its oil from Venezuela recently, especially heavy crude. And remember, there's a difference between heavy crude and light crude. So China buying heavy crude from Venezuela, soon it will lose access to heavy crude from Venezuela. So it is going to have to rely more on Russia. So Russia's leverage over China increases. Yeah, China completely embarrassed by this, Yes. Given that they had their guy in Venezuela just a few hours ago. Well, indeed, yes. Yes.

Nikos, let's get to some questions. Yes. I have to be friends to say. Yeah, let's just run through these quick and we'll end this live stream. I don't even know where to begin. I will express my general thoughts on Russia and President Putin on your next stream, but today Venezuela has fallen? Yeah, absolutely.

Do you foresee the Russia-Ukraine war spiraling into a bigger war when Ukraine inevitably collapses. There's much talk about this in Russia itself, by the way, just to say there's been discussion about what might happen if Ukraine does indeed collapse. Yeah. How will Russia and China now react to you? They will. I've already discussed this. China is now going to have to turn to Russia for more of its crude oil, and they will, they will bind together more closely. But from their point of view, I think this is important to say Venezuela is,

is not a core country. Eurasia is where they are. The Chinese, what they're going to have to do, if they really want to defend their maritime interests, remember China is by far the biggest maritime trading power. I suspect they're going to accelerate their fleet construction. Yeah, OMG Puppie says that makes sense. The general's bribed because they have AA tech and never used it.

Helicopters hovering over a city, shooting it up, not even. in shoulder-fire missiles, exactly. Yes. Exactly. Can we somehow see Israel's role here? Maduro condemned Israel. The northeast South America is pro-Palestine, U.S. foreign policy, Israeli foreign policy. Netanyahu was just at Mar-a-Lago.

Yeah, I mean, they may have been a role played, but I mean, you know, I don't think the United States needed. I mean, I don't think we needed Israel for the United States to act in the way that we did. even speak very much. Padmitage Preper says secure Venezuela for when Iran closes Hormuz. Well, the oil types are different. And I think this is the first thing to say. Yeah. Flying Boar says Putin is naive and stupid, plain and simple.

Now, I don't think he's either naive nor stupid. What could Russia practically do to assist Venezuela? The country that might just possibly have been able to, to take some action was China, and China didn't. The Chinese remain very focused on their own neighborhood, which is Taiwan, and the Russians have to be, because they don't have the reach the China and Russia do. That's right, the United States does. Sorry. Yeah. Stephen Hightower says, Good Lord, can no one hold against or challenge the US Hedgeimani as a US citizen? I'm so tired of the same story. Neocons and Zionists need to go. Well, yeah, I mean, if you're talking about who can

hold it back. Lots of people in the world are holding it back. But if you want to stop upon this kind of policy, it has to be done from within the United States. The United States now owns Venezuela with all the problems that will bring in its wake. Remember, we had exactly the same discussions after Syria collapsed. Syria has not turned out well. Al Jalani's government is failing. It does not control most of the country. Violence is intensified there.

IS is returning. And Al Jolani is turning to the Russians film. So, you know, bear in mind that things are not always straightforward. Venezuela, closer to the United States, more in its neighborhood, if you like.

I think that perhaps the Americans have more chances. of getting a grip on Venezuela than they do on Syria. Syria's always been very problematic. But don't assume this is over. It might only just have started. And that would be very typical of these operations.

O.G. Wall says, good day. Amadeus says, I hope the Yankee casualty hits five figures. Zero casualties. I was going to say. John says the Russian military and Putin are thinking that was pretty bad as comrades. Well, as far as they can, they're probably thinking again, I don't think they had many expectations of what Venezuela could do. And they must by now know that the Americans have this ability to leverage power in places like Venezuela and to bribe officials in places like there too.

To repeat again, the Russians have said, and we shouldn't, we shouldn't challenge this, that Venezuela, never asked Russia to help. Yeah. Matthew says, was that a yes or no to a larger European war? Well, I said possibly. Possibly. Haroku, thank you for that. Super Chat. Neil says, when are you guys making a video on Iran situation? We will very soon, very soon. It will be up. Amadeus says, I thought Russia and China provided AA.

Well, of course they did. But if the soldiers who were, were operating it a wrong ride it wasn't used just like syria there's there was people were paid off exactly that's it that's simple yes maduro maduro got sent off to to the u.s yeah uh the usa has not got venezuela in the bag yet no no no it's just beginning everything's beginning now exactly but but this is a short-term covert operational success it's not a u.s military This is a covert operational success. Yes. And other countries should take notice.

Lieutenant General says President Putin should have just taken Elensky then? Well, again, this is the fundamental issue. The United States and Europe have secure transit lines to Ukraine. killing or removing Zelensky which has simply resulted in somebody else very like him, controlled by the Americans and the Europeans taking control. What would the benefit for the Russians of that have been?

Putin has actually discussed that. He says we have an irrational and incompetent leader in place from our point of view. Better keep him there. Ms. Texas, G says is it possible that the Chinese arranged for Maduro to be given and out? It may very well, I mean, that this is a theory. Not because of Rubio's circulating that the Chinese met with Maduro in order to tell him to give himself up. I don't believe that, actually.

Maybe, but Maduro is saying that he's going to be put on trial. Rubio is saying that he's going to be put on trial. I don't believe that actually. I mean, I have to say that. A couple more. Why not? The USA are the bad guys. You want them to win?

No, we don't want them to win. Speaking of myself, I'm appalled by this sort of thing. I always have felt that when it came to a contest between the United States and Venezuela, all the odds were on the American side. Where I was surprised with Venezuela, if I have to say this, is that it has taken this law just the same uh USA now says a minority of MAGA are war mongers that's coming from locals oh true enough um let me get to the rest Alexander I'm upset it started right as I was heading to work and I'm I am supposed to monitor the situation um on lunch now

thank you for that Tony uh Pinyamamba thank you for that super chat Elsa says wow what to start to the New Year, gentlemen, my wish for 2026 is that you look out for your health and well-being. Thank you for your amazing work. Thank you for that. Elsa. Matthew says, good Lord, time to start panicking in Europe by the sound of things. Will Russia re-nuclearize Cuba or South America? Well, they won't renuclearize Cuba because that would be a dramatic escalation, which would lead to unpredictable events. But here I think is where the Russian, and the Chinese need to make a decision because of course Cuba is a

totemic place of the regime there is much more solid I call it the regime the government there is far more solid in my opinion than the one in Venezuela is and they can there's no that we we have economic problems but certainly not the kind of hyperinflation that there has been in Venezuela so the question is what do the Russians and the Chinese do. And again, what do the Cubans do? Because just as Venezuela did not ask for Russian and Chinese help, certainly not Russian help.

Cuba rejected it. I mean, the Russians offered them oil and they wouldn't take it because they wanted the oil from Venezuela instead because they had this close connection to Venezuela. Now, as I said, the Cubans need to make decisions about what they're going to do. And the Russians and the Russians and the Chinese need to decide what steps they're going to take with Cuba as well. And whether the deal that was done between the United States and the Soviet Union in 1962 is still in force. Nigel says, all the best for 2006, the Duran gang.

Thanks. Amadeus says then cheer for Venezuelan accuracy. Yeah. Okay. I reckon from Brent, Brent, I reckon there's long-term planning here. USA consolidating power in the Western Hemisphere. It's reducing energy supplies to China. It's attempting to break Iran away from Sino, Russia, setting pieces on the board, maybe. Oh, absolutely. I mean, that's exactly what the neocons always do. They're always playing chess. It doesn't mean that the chess game is ever successful because human beings are not chess pieces and nor estates.

just to say that's where the neocons go wrong. Nico says, as I've said before, and you don't believe me, the West is willing to do anything, even nuclear war to win, we hype China, but what have they done? Well, they've done an awful lot. I mean, if I may say so, I mean, they've transformed their country and society. They've become a major economic power. They've expanded their influence in places like Africa, and they're building the world's biggest fleet. So they're doing lots of things, and they won the trade conflict.

with the United States last year. So we can't say that China hasn't done anything, but it doesn't have the power at the present time to interfere, intervene in places like Latin America. What I think this is going to do, by the way, and this is something that I've been thinking about this over the course of this program, and I've been thinking of other things that, you know, I have these discussions with Sofia and Midgift.

Apparently, the Chinese exercises around Taiwan are becoming ever more sophisticated and ever bigger in scale, and they are becoming closer and closer to dress rehearsals. So given the direction of travel with the United States, I would not be surprised if the Chinese are now going to start to say to themselves, we have to take action with Taiwan soon, because if we don't, given that this is a game of all against all, things might start to get particularly dangerous there. It's been entirely unreported,

but China also seized a cargo ship, ferrying arms to Taiwan. It was all over the Chinese media and Chinese social media. Apparently there were high-mass missiles on that ship, and as I said, the Chinese seem to be tightening the screws. on Taiwan and Taiwan is a much more consequential place ultimately than even Venezuela is with all its own the oil can be replaced stand-alone complex thank you for that

Jonathan says is this the next phase of World War III with China yeah I mean the US the US is obsessed with the challenge from China and they don't want China interfering in the Western Hemisphere they've said it says I'm sure the US is afraid of China's exercises while they are delivering 11 billion worth of anti-shipping missiles to Taiwan via cargo planes. Yes, I know, but we've seen that American missiles are not quite as effective as sometimes they're made out to be. 11 billion in terms of missiles may seem like a lot.

It isn't. Stand alone. Thank you for that. Joker says, is there enough of Latin identity, or South American countries can come together against U.S. aggression? Well, at the moment, there are divisions within Latin America, and I think this is the thing people need to bear in mind. There are the Ande states, which have one particular position,

and then there are the southern ones. At the moment, there is a swing to the right across Latin America. We see that with Millie. We see that with the recent elections in Bolivia and Chile. Left-wing governments have been economically unsuccessful. recently and so there is a swing to the right. The other thing to always understand about Latin America is that this is not a straightforward place where there is just a everybody is united against the United States in the way that some people imagine. The United States has always

had friends and supporters there in large numbers. Nikko says Russia is in the same boat. They are preparing another Crocus style attack. Rubio announced it will happen. Lula didn't even help Maduro. Well, I haven't heard that Lula, Rubio, spoke about a terrorist attack in Russia. I've heard that, yeah. I'm not just to say. As of Brazil, if we're talking about Latin American countries, Brazil is the giant of Latin America.

I mean, this is a direct challenge to them, much more than it is ultimately to China. and Russia, because this is Brazil's neighborhood. If the United States is going to treat the whole of Latin America as a sphere of influence, where does that lead Brazil? A big country, huge economic resources, potentially, barely any military at all. It's the Brazilians, perhaps, who ought to be responding to this more aggressively than they're doing. see that they're absolutely nowhere. Yeah.

I still don't get how Europe can go to war with no weapons from Mexico. Well, they can't. There's a brilliant piece in the Rompal Institute that discusses this very point. Nico says, I'm sick and tired. I'm sick and tired of the excuses from all the BRIC's countries. None of them reacting. President Putin is criticized, but they are all the same.

Well, what would you like them to do? I mean, this is the question that I really need to ask you. I mean, at the end of the day, we've had exactly the same discussion. Russians, about Syria as well. If the military in Venezuela are bribed and go over to the other side, what exactly are the BRICS countries supposed to do? They don't, as the moment have, the power projection power to intervene directly in Venezuela.

The Soviet Union didn't. They don't have the intel. It shows that China and Russia, especially China did not have the, intel on the ground in Venezuela, which is far away. I mean, we're not talking about next to China, but they still didn't have the intel to at least put out the warning to Maduro and say, look, your military is turning on you. No, they didn't. And they don't. And I mean, again, probably because this is not, they don't judge it a core interest, which it isn't. Alex, thank you for that super sticker. John says, unfortunately, rules-based order has always been a pipe

dream. My friend's history proves this. Well, the rules-based order was an American and it is collapsing. It's an American convention that Russia and China buy into completely. No, no. The Chinese and the Russians have always opposed the rules-based order. What they have supported is international law. A rules-based order superseded international law and both international law and the rules-based order are now basically.

The UN, the UN and international law. Exactly, exactly. Exactly. The rules-based order, it was the Europeans who were. brought into that. And the Americans are now ditching it is one of the reasons the Europeans are so upset at the moment with Trump. Hello there says, happy New Year to you. The Baltic states joined NATO despite bordering Russia. Why was Ukraine treated differently and seen as a red line and why go through all this trouble? Well, the Baltic states are small. Ukraine is very big. Ukraine is a

Slav country. There are tens of millions of Russians there. There are key Russian cities and key places there. I mean, it was seen as far more dangerous, far more threatening to the Russians than the Baltic states were. The decision by the United States to bring the Baltic states into NATO was strongly opposed in Russia. But they said after that, further NATO expansion is a red line. Alex Costello says, isn't it suspicious that Russian air defenses are not working when Israel attacks Syria and when U.S. attacks Venezuela? No, the Syrian air defenses used to work until again. The Syrian officers were all bribed. I mean, Syria collapsed because of, again, a mass defection by the Syrian political elite from the Assad government,

which is exactly what we've seen play out in Venezuela today. Hazan says how will this offset Iran closing the Strait of Hormuz and what will China and Russia do if Iran falls? Well, Iran is a completely different proposition. And Iran, if I may say so, is much more of a problem for the Briggs because there are all sorts of issues with Iran itself, which I've discussed in many programs. We will no doubt do a program about Iran.

Now, if Iran were to close the Straits of Hormuz, it would still be a major crisis in global oil markets. I think this is a key thing to understand. There are different types of oil. You can't replace one with the other. Light crude, which is what Iran produces, and what the Gulf states produce, is not the same as heavy crude.

Heavy crude is what the United States used to buy from Venezuela, then began to buy from Russia, since the sanctions it has not been able to that has affected some refineries in the United States now they will have access to it again. Herica, thank you for that. Newburgh, Gregory says the Pentagon found some of that $400 billion and paid some folks in Venezuela off. China take note, don't bail us out when interest payment is due.

What 400 billion are you referring to? I mean, that there's been bribery and all of this. This is true. Of that there is no question. Lord Kadoo, thank you for that. Al-Kane says thanks from Ireland boys. Keep the truth coming. Razor Yau says Trump is the new Clinton. Just as Clinton bombed Yugoslavia in 97.

Same happened to Venezuela in 2006. Trump had such promise and he wasted his potential. How could he fall so low? Well, yeah, I would agree with that. Well, he's going to take a victory left for this. A lot of people are going to be very happy about this in the United States. So he's going to get a boost from this. from certain parts of the U.S., no doubt about it.

Sticky Mark says, may God forgive them until we hold them to account for their crimes, they won't stop, will the banksters monetize the new U.S. reserves, LMPs? Well, indeed, I mean, ultimately, and this is, I think, the other thing to say, if we want to hold people to account, we need to do this ourselves.

I mean, this is the other thing. The Chinese and the Russians and people like that are first and foremost about their own countries and about their own societies. If our countries engage in predatory adventures around the world, which, to repeat again, always end up badly in the end for us, then that is our problem, first and foremost, not theirs. Amadeus says Vietnam showed us how to deal with fascism.

And Nitzvich says, What will the reaction of the South American continent be? Will they not be inclined to help the resistance? They will be next otherwise? Well, I mean, indeed, and it could very well play out that way. But as I said already, South America is divided. Argentina, Bolivia, and Chile now form a pro-American bloc. Now, that's the reality.

Yeah, Lord Khadu says, unfortunately, I'm not surprised in the least. Nor am I. No, we said something was going to happen. It happens, yeah. Commander Crossfire says talk of my demise is grossly overstated. We have never talked about the demise of the United States. Well, it's cleverly worded by Command of Crossfire. Yeah, the talk of my device overstated in the US.

Okay, very true. Yes. Very true. Okay. That is, that's everything. Thank you for that. That's super chat. Patrick, we'll be back with videos either today or tomorrow,

probably tomorrow, Alexander. And we'll continue to monitor the situation in Venezuela. One more, one more, Alexander from fuzzy balls. If Russia reaches the Hungarian border, won't that change everything? Because then Russia and China can reach Serbia, then Montenegro becomes key. Obviously. And I'd say that does happen. And of course, it hasn't happened.

But if it does happen, then we'll forget about Venezuela, frankly, because that will be far more important. Yeah, we'll see. We'll see what happens in Ukraine as Putin continues. to negotiate with Trump. We'll see what happens there. What trickery is in store. It's installed.

All right. We'll end it there. Thank you, everybody, for joining us. One quick second, Alexander. Just let me make sure we got everything. Yeah. All right. Take care.

And, yeah, we got everything. Take care, everybody.