The warmongering of U.S. neocons took another shocking turn this weekend as Republican Senator Lindsey Graham called for a Grenada style invasion of Venezuela, his comments suggesting he also favours war with Cuba.
Speaking with Fox News, Graham was enraged at the allegations of a Cuban presence in Venezuela, almost frothing at the mouth as he told the conservative propaganda channel that the Caribbean nation should be given an “ultimatum” to get out of Venezuela.
“I would do exactly what Reagan did. I would give Cuba the ultimatum to get out of Venezuela. If they don’t, I would let the Venezuelan military know, you’ve got to choose between democracy and Maduro. And if you choose Maduro and Cuba, we’re coming after you. This is in our backyard.”
Lindsey Graham
Laughably telling Fox that “the entire region supports the Trump approach, that Guaidó is the legitimate leader” Graham went on to threaten Cuba, denigrating every other nation in the Americas by saying that “this is in our backyard”. Graham had already called Cuba the “Western Hemisphere version of Iran” in a pro-war diatribe in the Wall Street Journal last week.
Senator Graham’s has a long history of favouring war with just about anybody who draws the ire of the United States that week, having favoured war with Iraq, Syria, Libya, Venezuela, Iran and Cuba to name just a handful. A position which is sadly not uncommon amongst Republicans.
“We’re not occupying Venezuela, but if Maduro refuses to go and the Cubans keep using their military apparatus to prop him up, it is in our national security interest to do in Venezuela what Reagan did in Grenada”
Lindsey Graham
Despite the barking rage of Graham, observers agree that the danger of a U.S. invasion of Venezuela has mostly passed as American eyes turn toward Iran.
However, with Trump said to disfavour a war with the Gulf state and Iran being a formidable opponent, in any case, the danger exists that neocon voices will rise again against an “easy target” such as Cuba, a much easier proposal to sway the isolationist Trump. Having failed to engineer regime change in either of their three main targets – North Korea, Venezuela or Iran, the hawks will be looking to save face both in terms of their own personal influence within the administration as well as in terms of international American imperial prestige.
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