@FediThing @Illuminatus Starting an illegal war and invasion just to steal someone else's fossil fuel reserves, just as fossil fuels are entering their final decline as a global energy transition to renewables kicks in, is quite a look, isn't it?
Like robbing a depository to steal all the obsolete banknotes that are being destroyed because they're being replaced by a different design.
Jan 3, 2026, 3:06 PM@cstross @FediThing @Illuminatus in the Iraq war, it took several years of manufacturing consent before the illegal war, and then further years attempting to cover up that it was all about the oil.
We've speed-run that process in about 6 hours, here.
From the way he spoke about invading Canada and Greenland on taking office, one wonders if he's got some sort of secret "Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact" type thing with Putin, where he lets Putin take over Europe through hybrid warfare while Trump takes over the Americas.
Authoritarians often seem to enjoy carving up maps of the world together, and Trump seems to have trouble not mentioning his plans.
@cstross @FediThing @Illuminatus
“For oil, this has the potential for a historic event,” said Phil Flynn, senior market analyst at the Price Futures Group. “The Maduro regime and Hugo Chavez basically ransacked the Venezuelan oil industry.”
https://edition.cnn.com/2026/01/03/business/oil-gas-venezuela-maduro
Why won't someone PLEASE think of the oil corporations?
Jan 3, 2026, 3:35 PM@cstross @FediThing @Illuminatus Yep. Extra oil supplies from Venezuela entering the market once sanctions are dropped will only bring down oil prices, so not even good for US oil companies this is supposed to benefit. Though I wouldn’t be surprised if Trump Oil becomes a thing and gets the rights to Venezuelan reserves.