Mick Hartley

In contrast to Philip Collins in the Times, Simon Tisdall in the Guardian sees the latest developments in Venezuela not as the chance for some much-needed soul-searching, but as yet another opportunity for Trump-bashing.

Donald Trump’s ship of fools is heading for the rocks in Venezuela:

Donald Trump’s implicit threat of direct US military intervention in Venezuela is a high-risk gamble that could backfire calamitously. By publicly and aggressively backing the opposition’s bid to supplant him, Trump has presented Nicolás Maduro, the country’s incumbent president, with a very personal, existential challenge.

If Maduro reacts, as he has in the past, by using violence to suppress his opponents, or if he arrests US diplomats who ignore his order to leave the country, Trump may face a daunting choice between rapid escalation, including possibly sending in US forces, and a humiliating climbdown. […]

Even if Trump and his ship of fools and knaves do not start a war in Venezuela, they could just as easily trigger new conflicts in the Middle East or with China, without even meaning to. And Venezuela’s Juan Guaidó should be aware – these people do not make reliable allies. With Trump’s “team of morons” in charge, there is no safety net, no room for error – and no telling what happens next.

No acknowledgement that most governments in the region go along with Trump in supporting opposition leader Juan Guaido as Venezuela's interim president. Or indeed of the catastrophic situation of Venezuela's beleagured population, after Chavez and then Maduro pursued the socialist dream, backed all along the way by Guardian columnists and by Corbyn. There are, of course, plenty of reasons to criticise Trump, but his actions over Venezuela really aren't among them. 

This is just further confirmation of what Collins was saying – that the left seem to find it impossible to take a good look at themselves sometimes. It's so much easier to blame America.

Read the comments and weep. Or rather, don't bother.