[this article was written for the Unz Review]
The Empire has suffered painful defeats in Afghanistan and Iraq, but one has to admit that these are “tough” countries to crack.  The Empire also appears to have lost control of Libya, but that is another complex country which is very hard to control.  We also saw all the pathetic huffing and puffing with the DPRK.  But, let’s be honest, the USA never stood a chance to bully the DPRK into submission, nevermind invading or regime-changing it.  Syria was much weaker, but here Russia, Iran and Hezbollah did a world class job of repelling all the AngloZionist attacks, political and military.  Besides, I for one will never blame Trump for not listening to Bolton and not triggering WWIII over Syria (yet?)
But Venezuela?!
No Hezbollah or Iran backing Maduro there.  And Venezuela is way too far away from Russia to allow her to do what she did in Syria.  In fact, Venezuela is in the proverbial “backyard” of the USA and is surrounded by hostile puppet regimes.  And yet, tonight, it appears that the US puppet Guaidó has failed in his coup attempt.
Moon of Alabama did a great job covering the events of the day, so I will refer you to the excellent article “Venezuela – Random Guyaidó’s New Coup Attempt Turns Out to Be A Dangerous Joke“.  I fully concur that today’s coup was both a joke and very dangerous.
Russian readers can also check out this article by Vzgliad which also gives a lot of interesting details, including the fact that Guaidó launched his coup from the Colombian Embassy in Caracas (see here for a machine translation).
But the thing which amazes me most tonight is the truly breathtakingly pathetic weakness of the clowns who launched this latest failed operation: Pompeo and Mr MAGA.  Check them out:
Let’s begin with Pompeo.
According to him, the coup failed because of Russia (what else is new?)!  Not only that, but Maduro had already decided to run to Cuba, but then the Russians stopped him.
Really?
So are we to believe that the coup was a stunning success, yet another feather to the CIA’s “hat” of failed successful covert operations?  Apparently so.
After all, why would Maduro want to run unless he realized that the situation was hopeless?
But then “Russia” called him and told him to stay put.  The conversation must gone something like this:
Putin: Mr Maduro – you don’t need to worry about a thing.  Just do what we tell you and stay put.
Maduro: but my people hate me!  They all turned against me! The military is behind the coup!
Putin: no, no, it’s all under control, just stay put.
Maduro: but the mob will lynch me if I stay!!!!
Putin: no worries, nobody will touch you.
Does that dialog look credible to you?  I sure hope not!  I think that anybody with a modicum of intelligence ought to realize that Maduro’s decision to stay in place could only have been based on one of two possible considerations:
  1. The coup has failed and Maduro is safe or
  2. The coup is successful and Maduro will stay and fight till his last breath (like Allende did)
But tonight Maduro is safe in Caracas and the coup plotters are on the run.
The truth is that only a loser and imbecile like Pompeo could come up with such a lame excuse in a desperate attempt to “cover his ass” and blame his failure on the Neocon’s favorite scapegoat: Russia.
Now let’s check what his boss had to say:
Trump does not blame Russia.  Instead, he blames Cuba!
I don’t know what kind of silly scenarios Mr MAGA ran in his head to come up with “the Cubans did it” but that is even more ridiculous than “the Russians did it”.  Reading this “tweets” (how appropriate for this bird-brain!) one could get the impression that the Cubans launched a full-scale military attack (involving both the Cuban military and “militias”) and that they orchestrated a brutal crack-down on the Venezuelan people.
In the real world, however, Cuba did nothing of the sort.
But, really, who cares?!
In the Empire of Illusions fact don’t matter.  At least to the leaders of the AngloZionist Empire who continue to believe that only spin matters.
In the case of Venezuela, spin alone failed.
So what’s next?
According to the typical scenario revealed to us by John Perkins, the next step should be a full-scale US invasion.  And yes, he is right, that would be what the Empire would have done in its heyday.  But nowadays?
Check out this interesting news snippet: Eric Prince wants Blackwater to send 5,000 mercenaries to Venezuela(does anybody know why and how these clowns came up with the 5,000 figure?  First Bolton, now Prince.  Do they *really* think that this is enough?!).
The point is not whether Prince will ever get to send mercenaries to Venezuela or whether the Trump administration is inclined to accept this offer.  The point is that Prince would have never made this offer in the first place if the US military was up to the task.  It is not, and Prince knows that very well.
The military stands by the Constitutional government of Venezuela
As for Maduro, he seems to have the support not only of a majority of his people, but of the Venezuelan armed forces.  As for the armed forces, they are clearly enjoying the support of the people.
This is a very bad combination for the Empire.  Here is why:
Yes, Venezuela has immense problems.  And yes, both Chavez and Maduro have made mistakes.  But this is not about Chavez or Maduro, this is about the rule of law inside and outside Venezuela.  This is about the people of Venezuela, even the suffering ones, not willing to renounce the sovereignty of their country.  Yes, Chavez did not solve all of Venezuela’s problems, but to deliver the country to the Empire would mean crushing any hope of true, real, people power.  The Venezuelan people apparently have no illusions about their Yankee neighbors and they don’t want the Empire-style “democracy” to turn Venezuela into the next Libya.
I should never say never, and God only knows what tomorrow (May 1st) will bring (Guaido has called for a mass protests) but my gut feeling is that the Empire “injected” itself into Venezuela just enough to trigger an immune reaction, like a vaccine, but not enough to infect Venezuela with a toxin powerful enough to kill it.
In the meantime, US aircraft carriers are in the Mediterranean trying to scare Russia, Syria and Iran all at the same time.  I can just imagine the disgusted contempt with which this latest sabre-rattling with outdated hardware is received in Moscow, Damascus or Tehran.  Even Hezbollah remains utterly unimpressed.
The truth is that the only people who have not come to the realization that the Empire is broken and defeated are the rulers of the Neocon deep state and those who still watch the legacy Ziomedia.
By now everybody else has realized who utterly impotent the Empire has become.
Conclusion:
The Empire only *appears* to be strong.  In reality it is weak, confused, clueless and, most importantly, run by a sad gang of incompetent thugs who think that they can scare everybody into submission in spite of not having won a single significant war since 1945.  The inability to break the will of the people of Venezuela is only the latest symptom of this mind-boggling weakness.
I will leave the last word to this charming lady who really said it all:
The Saker
PS: warning – totally off topic! I just wanted to let you all know that I am doing well, all I need is a time to rest and re-charge the batteries.  I want to thank you all for your kind words and wishes: you touched my heart in a way I will never be able to put in words.  All I can say is “thank you!” for your kindness. The Saker