Intel9 serves up open source intelligence, which can be depressing as a steady diet. Follow the links if you’d like to take a break from that. If I had a choice of a life, it might be that of S.I. Newhouse, a tiny bit of which finds its way into this blog.

Some paintings have been reserved for separate exhibit.

• Penn Station Renovation; New Plan Saves Big Money, for Less Than $1B
• Blue Tango; Dancing in the New Year
• New Art Series; Traces of the Past; Painting the Ediacaran Period; Att: Larry Gagosian
• (CNN) Male artists ‘peak in their 40s,’ Tracey Emin says; Baloney!
• Sugar canes for your digital tree
• The Way We Were
• Turkey Feathers
• Ukraine, the Firebird or Phoenix
• For (CNN) Anderson Cooper; Loss and Serial Immortality
• In Memorium; Sylvan Morein, March 26,1923 – March 20, 2022; Eulogy to my Father
• Att: Larry Gagosian; A Painting for Today – Trash Talk
• Say Kaddish for 500,000 COVID Dead
• On New Year’s Eve, Goodbye to the Future; Politics Part 3
• Now is the Winter of Our Discontent; a Painting for Today
• COVID-19 and Augury; A Painting for Today
• Hunter Biden’s Art
• Dear Hillary, About Bernie
• Halloween: Mop and Broom Night out
• Halloween: Mop and Broom Escape to Freedom!
• American Time of Troubles; Hero of Charlottesville; A Painting for Today
• OT: The Post Internet Fortune Teller in Chelsea, NYC
• Guide to Bob’s Solo Manhattan Art Show
• Bob’s Manhattan Art Show; Burning Man
• (CNN) Former Pentagon UFO official: ‘We may not be alone’
• (CNN) Condolences to Anderson Cooper
• Things to Do on Mars; Your CNN Companion
• Groupon Planetary Flying Saucer Cruises
• Davos: T-20 Years and Counting
• Looking for a Gig; Korea-Russia-Nuclear-Putin-KGB-China Sea
• In Memoriam; George H.W. Bush
• Portrait of a Spaceman on Display at School of Visual Arts Manhattan
• Edward R. Murrow, Brian Williams, & Oil Painting Tips & Tricks
• Through the Keyhole, Into the Future

The ball  is still in play, so this is preliminary.

The team which has executed Venezuela strategy appears to have a rare historical sense relating to the errors of the 2003 invasion of Iraq. The architects of the post-conflict intervention were collectively known as the “neoconservatives”. Following military conquest, this group attempted a complete reconstruction of Iraq along democratic lines, based on preconceptions devoid of cultural relevance. The first, immediately controversial step was “de-Ba’athification“, removal from civil service eligibility of anyone, primarily Sunnis, associated with  the old regime. This had the effects of removing virtually all experienced civil servants, and provoking the enmity of the Sunni minority, who actually thought they were the majority.  Since the Sunnis had been in control of the state, the vacuum devolved into multi-polar conflict: Sunnis and Shias with each other, and against the U.S.

This happened despite a U.S. occupation that was regarded favorably by a significant percentage of the population. No matter how beneficent U.S. intentions in Venezuela may be, the wrong choices of collaboration could result in civil war. Each general or military clique has potential of a warlord domain.

This is the likely basis of Trump’s choice to interface with Delcy Rodríguez, a committed leftist, rather than conservative opposition leader Maria Corina Machado. This is not regime change. If we subtract the potentially damaging imperialist rhetoric, it becomes possible to offer Venezuela a win-win:

• Cessation of anti-American ideological posturing and alignments.
• A favorable environment for U.S. investment.
• Recognition of U.S. security interests.
• A secure cash cow, based on oil revenues,  for the left to finance their social agenda.
• Recognition by the U.S. of the validity of domestic left-leaning social policies.

Will legitimate democracy be an eventual U.S. goal? This depends upon the degree to which the U.S. chooses to risk dismantling or weakening the existing power structure.

This historical sense is worthy of note. Henry Kissinger would have appreciated the nuances.