Two U.S. F-18 fighter jets flying in tandem entered Venezuelan airspace around noon Tuesday, circling over the Gulf of Venezuela in the latest show of force against the regime of Nicolás Maduro.

The flyover — carried out despite the Venezuelan regime’s possession of a number of Russian-made anti-aircraft batteries — took place less than 100 miles northeast of Maracaibo, Venezuela’s second-largest city. Thousands of Venezuelans tracked the aircraft online through specialized tracking websites, watching as the jets traced a bow-tie-shaped pattern over the gulf.

The fighters remained inside Venezuelan airspace for at least 40 minutes at an altitude of roughly 25,000 feet before heading north and leaving the area.

  • xenomor@lemmy.world
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    2 months ago

    I hope one of the nations that we are bullying will defend themselves. I’d LOVE to see a US F18 go down. Shit, I’d like to see a carrier go down.

    • Ember James@lemmy.ca
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      2 months ago

      You hope to see the US enter full scale war after instigating another country into defending itself?

      That is what will happen if anyone takes a shot at those planes, hence why they weren’t shot down.

      • xenomor@lemmy.world
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        2 months ago

        I am fully aware of this, and no, I don’t want to see a smaller country get crushed by the US war machine. I just want to see the US take losses at some point. I’m hopeful that some smaller power will figure out a way to actually defend themselves and to actually hurt us.

      • xenomor@lemmy.world
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        2 months ago

        I know. I just want some one to figure out a way to defend themselves against us.

        • Bristlecone@lemmy.world
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          2 months ago

          I also wish us (the US) bad things right now, my person. The piggish nature of America will only be seen by our ignorant civilians when they experience personal pain and suffering. We joke about how republikkkans only care when something affects them directly, but I’m starting to realize just how directly and how much of an impact it actually has to make for even that much to be true

        • ethnss@ttrpg.network
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          2 months ago

          The Afghans did a pretty decent job.

          Poor nations don’t have to ‘beat’ the US. They just need to wear it down until it’s no longer worth the resources to continue fighting.

          • NoneOfUrBusiness@fedia.io
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            2 months ago

            I mean, yes, but this “victory” came at the cost of two hundred thousand dead, God knows how many wounded, twenty years they could’ve used to develop their country and even tighter Taliban control than before the US invasion. Afghans managed to kick the US out, but they did not succeed at defending anything. If I was Venezuelan my lesson from this would be “absolutely don’t get into war with the US,” because such a war would leave their country in ruin just like Afghanistan.

          • xenomor@lemmy.world
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            2 months ago

            I guess. It’s frustrating that it takes so long and involves so much suffering.

            Despite the deep pockets and general indifference to casualties, I think that the American populace will react to sudden large losses. Like, we collectively don’t seem to care if 3 thousand US troops are killed during a prolonged engagement lasting years. But if 3 thousand died in a single event, like a ship sinking, people would be fucking pissed. A lot of that anger would be channeled into a desire for retaliation. Some of it would also be directed at the leadership that put that ship in harms way.

    • eldoom@lemmy.ml
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      2 months ago

      Isn’t that like almost exactly how USA got involved in the Vietnam war? They parked a ship just in provocation range then bombed the ever living hell out of the general area when they tried to defend themselves?

    • demonsword@lemmy.world
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      2 months ago

      I hope one of the nations that we are bullying will defend themselves.

      your country is deliberately targetting countries that cannot do that

      • xenomor@lemmy.world
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        2 months ago

        I agree. We fucking suck. Maybe some kind of coalition of nations can build a meaningful opposition to us.