Essequibo Updates: USSOUTHCOM, Guyana, Venezuela

Security cooperation between Guyana and the US appears to deepen

U.S. Marine Corps Major General Julie Nethercot’s, U.S. Southern Command Strategy, Policy, and Plans Director has visited Guyana. Her visit to Guyana from May 6th to May 8th possibly  or probably signals a significant step forward in our nation’s defence and security partnership with the United States, some observers believe. This visit follows closely on the heels of Major General Evan Pettus’ – also of the  U.S. Southern Command – engagement in February, probably highlighting a deepening commitment of the United States to bolstering Guyana’s security capabilities.

Related:

US Navy Aircraft Overflight Increases Regional Risk: Padrino

On Thursday morning, U.S. authorities announced that two U.S. Navy F/A-18F Super Hornet fighter jets will carry out a flyover over “Georgetown and its surroundings” with the approval of the Guyanese government chaired by Irfaan Ali.

Venezuela Advances in Exercising Sovereignty Over Essequibo Region

The head of the Strategic Operational Command of the Bolivarian National Armed Force (CEOFANB), General Domingo Hernández Lárez, reported that Bolivarian National Armed Force (FANB) troops continue to work to interconnect the newly created Guayana Esequiba state with the rest of the Venezuelan territory.

2020 Guyanese Election & Venezuela-Guyana Border Dispute

US military airlifts embassy personnel from Haiti, bolsters security

The US military said on Sunday (Mar 10) it has carried out an operation in Haiti to airlift non-essential embassy personnel from the country and added US forces bolster embassy security, as the Caribbean nation reels under a state of emergency.

US military airlifts embassy personnel from Haiti, bolsters security

Related:

White House Calls on Haitian Leader to Resign, Considers Sending Elite Soldiers to Embassy

Boots on the ground in the Middle East make Americans less safe, not more

Boots on the ground in the Middle East make Americans less safe, not more

This sound logic has been ignored in Iraq and Syria, where small numbers of American troops stationed on remote and exposed bases are under fire from Iranian-backed militias. As of this writing, at least 60 American service members have sustained injuries in more than 73 attacks over the past few weeks.

All of this brings to mind a solemn and recently observed milestone. On Oct. 23, the U.S. Embassy in Beirut marked the 40th anniversary of the U.S. Marine Corps barracks bombing, when a suicide bomber detonated a truck bomb killing 241 U.S. service members. Their mission was never clearly defined, they were bound by peacetime rules of engagement to maintain “neutral status,” and they took sniper and mortar fire from the moment their boots touched ground.

Daniel Davis said, in his interview with Jason Beardsley (author), that the attacks are up to 118. Beardsley is with Koch-funded Concerned Veterans for America.

US Missiles Made For, Aimed at China

The United States is working toward fielding a number of new weapon systems including the Precision Strike Missile (PrSM), the “Typhon” Mid-Range Capability missile launcher, and the “Dark Eagle” Long-Range Hypersonic Weapon, all designed from the ground up almost entirely to fight China in a future war the US envisions it can wage to prevent the East Asian nation from surpassing it militarily and economically both within the Indo-Pacific region, and globally.

US Missiles Made For, Aimed at China (archived)

Smedley Butler Wasn’t Kidding, by David Swanson

by David Swanson

Writer, Dandelion Salad

Let’s Try Democracy

February 4, 2022

Smedley Butler is generally left out of U.S. history. If you bring up a guy who prevented a Wall Street coup against FDR, you do real damage to the tale of peaceful respect for government from the beginning of time up through January 6, 2021. If you mention the scandal that erupted when he recounted how Mussolini had run over a little girl with his car, it’s hard to leave out the U.S. government’s friendly relations with Mussolini.

Smedley Butler Wasn’t Kidding, by David Swanson

Previously:

Why Smedley Butler left the imperialist front despising ‘Gangsters of Capitalism’

The Retired General Who Stopped a Wall Street Coup

Smedley Butler on Interventionism