The Donroe Doctrine is a Scam

This is from an article on the New Republic site, by the same name.  New Republic has never been one of my favorite opinion journal places, but I don't think anything they said in this article is untrue. Seem like they pretty well nailed it:

The Donroe Doctrine Is a Scam | The New Republic

"It’s been quite a busy few days for U.S. foreign policy. First was President Donald Trump’s brazenly illegal abduction of Venezuela’s head of state. Then Secretary of State Marco Rubio threatened to make good on his longtime dream of retaking Cuba, warning that the Cuban government is “in a lot of trouble.” And on Tuesday, Trump’s senior adviser on fascism (or whatever his title is), Stephen Miller, declared that Greenland belongs to the United States and that Trump could take the territory if he wanted. This “Donroe Doctrine,” as they’ve termed it, is based on a single principle: that, as Miller ranted Tuesday, the United States will henceforth “conduct ourselves as a superpower” by using our military “to secure our interests unapologetically in our hemisphere.”

"Here’s the rub: When the Trump administration says “our interests,” they’re not talking about your or my interests, and they’re not talking about the nation’s interests. They’re talking about the interests of corporate elites. The Donroe Doctrine is a racket—nothing more and nothing less—designed to make the U.S. taxpayer underwrite resource imperialism for Trump’s billionaire buddies."

"They don’t appear to be trying very hard to hide this reality. Trump has been pretty explicit that the Venezuelan takeover is not about freedom for Venezuelans. Asked whether he would demand the acting Venezuelan president offer amnesty to opposition figures or release political prisoners, Trump responded, “We haven’t gotten to that. Right now, what we want to do is fix up the oil.” The Venezuelan takeover is not about democracy. Asked about plans for “free and fair elections,” he responded, “Well, it depends.… We’re going to have to have big investments by the oil companies.” According to Trump, kidnapping Maduro wasn’t even about regime change. The new acting president of Venezuela, Delcy Rodríguez, was vice president under Maduro, so the regime running Venezuela today is identical minus one person. When Trump was asked, “What do you need from Delcy Rodríguez?” his singular response was: “Total access. We need access to the oil.” So this gunboat diplomacy is about oil. But it’s not oil for American consumers....So who does stand to gain? The same people as usual: Trump’s billionaire buddies....That includes corporations like ExxonMobil, which has used the controversial investor-state dispute settlement system to claim $15 billion from the Venezuelan government, and ConocoPhillips, which has sought $30 billion via the investor-state dispute settlement system—claims Trump will likely use as a starting point for forced repayments to Big Oil. Both companies’ stocks, as well as Chevron’s, jumped following the Venezuela news on Monday."

"It also includes billionaires like Trump megadonor Paul Singer, whose hedge fund Elliott Management last November acquired Citgo, the U.S.-based subsidiary of PVDSA, Venezuela’s state-run oil company. Citgo’s oil refineries stand to make huge profits from Venezuela’s heavy crude oil reserves, according to the executive director of refining and oil products at the Oil Price Information Service, or OPIS, who called this access “a game changer for U.S. Gulf Coast and West Coast refiners in terms of profitability.” Indeed, Trump has already launched that gravy train: On Tuesday, he announced that Venezuela would be “turning over” 30 to 50 million barrels of oil—he appeared to be referring to stock built up during the U.S. blockade—to be sold at “market price in the U.S. And on Wednesday, Energy Secretary Chris Wright announced that the U.S. would control Venezuela’s oil “indefinitely.” So refineries like those owned by Singer are about to be handed a massive windfall, while Trump—who took to social media to write that “that money will be controlled by me, the President of the United States of America”—gets a new slush fund....In short, the Venezuela takeover is, like most major endeavors across Trump’s business and political career, a scam."

"...We should expect the same approach to any future illegal land grabs by this administration. Should the Trump team proceed with its unhinged plan to annex Greenland next, the minerals and oil and gas reserves buried there will not be safeguarded for our collective national welfare; they’ll go to Trump’s billionaire friends, to be exploited in the most profitable ways available to them."

"....But Democrats need to actually say this. They need to explain why this rewarmed fascist nonsense is a terrible deal for the American taxpayers who’ll be subsidizing those billionaire profits."

All the nonsense we've heard about liberating the Venezuelan people from a brutal dictator is, exactly that, nonsense.  Everyone knows Maduro was a brutal dictator. But concern for the Venezuela people had nothing to do with why this operation was carried out.  It was all about greed.