{"id":8417,"date":"2026-01-03T08:40:12","date_gmt":"2026-01-03T14:40:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.acu.edu\/coatesn\/?p=8417"},"modified":"2026-01-07T10:54:27","modified_gmt":"2026-01-07T16:54:27","slug":"8417","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.acu.edu\/coatesn\/2026\/01\/03\/8417\/","title":{"rendered":""},"content":{"rendered":"

As this Jan. 3 begins, this blog turns to events in Venezuela, because after all, if your rearrange the letters you get Iran (or Hezbollah).\u00a0 Same for Cuba.\u00a0 The best news coverage is on BBC.\u00a0 Follow the NYT also.\u00a0 Here’s one of many stories in other sources,\u00a0\u201cIran, Hezbollah condemn, Russia offers mediation after US operation on Venezuela,\u201d<\/a> JPost, 1-3-26.\u00a0 And see\u00a0\u201cNobel Peace Prize winner and opposition leader Machado welcomes US intervention,\u201d<\/a> BBC, 1-3-26.\u00a0\u00a0\u201cThe opposition leader of Venezuela – and Nobel Peace Prize winner – Maria Corina Machado has welcomed the US intervention, saying the country\u2019s \u201chour of freedom\u201d has arrived. She said on social media that President Maduro was removed from power after refusing a negotiated exit, and the opposition\u2019s candidate for the 2024 elections – Edmundo Gonzalez – should now \u201cassume\u201d the presidency.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIran Supreme Leader says will not yield as protest simmer and US threatens,\u201d<\/a> Reuters, 1-3-26.\u00a0\u00a0Let the words of the Leader remind us, that when he says the Regime will only \u201ctalk to protesters\u201d, not rioters, that he believes all protesters are rioters.\u00a0 He will talk to no persons on the street.\u00a0 The Regime will soon begin a heavy hand of arrests, beatings, and death.\u00a0 They have no other pattern, history, or playbook.\u00a0 See \u201cIran\u2019s Khamenei says rioters \u2018must be put in their place\u2019 amid protests,\u201d<\/a> Al Jazeera, 1-3-26.\u00a0 Similar,\u00a0<\/span>\u201cKhamenei labels protesters \u2018enemy mercenaries,\u2019 backs crackdown,\u201d<\/a> Iran International, 1-3-26.\u00a0 Anyone who walks, marches, chants, they’re all rioters to Khamenei, and are to be dealt with.<\/p>\n

This blog finds opportunity to mention international law fairly often, and here again today but in the context of Iran and its Latin American partners\/proxies.\u00a0 A problem that some have is they don’t remember that international law is made and codified by countries, not persons or international organizations.\u00a0 We remember Eichmann, Noriega, and now Maduro.\u00a0 The UN Secretary General has not pushed for Maduro to give up power after he stole the election, a violation of int’l norms, but he is calling for his reinstatement after Maduro’s removal on narco-terrorism by the U.S.\u00a0 In short, international law has a moral component, and the people of Venezuela especially sense this, along with the U.S.<\/p>\n

\u201cIran and Maduro ties suffer major blow following US operation and capture of Venezuelan dictator,\u201d<\/a> Fox, 1-3-26.\u00a0\u00a0\u201cExperts say Venezuela served as operational hub for Iranian terrorism, drug trafficking and power projection in Latin America.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIran Uprising Day 7: Bloodshed in Malekshahi and Khamenei\u2019s Panic as Nation Defies Crackdown,\u201d<\/a> NCRI, 1-3-26.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As this Jan. 3 begins, this blog turns to events in Venezuela, because after all, if your rearrange the letters you get Iran (or Hezbollah).\u00a0 Same for Cuba.\u00a0 The best news coverage is on BBC.\u00a0 Follow the NYT also.\u00a0 Here’s one of many stories in other sources,\u00a0\u201cIran, Hezbollah condemn, Russia offers mediation after US operation … <\/p>\n

Continue reading “”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2819,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2532],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8417","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-update"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.acu.edu\/coatesn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8417","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.acu.edu\/coatesn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.acu.edu\/coatesn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.acu.edu\/coatesn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2819"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.acu.edu\/coatesn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8417"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.acu.edu\/coatesn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8417\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8446,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.acu.edu\/coatesn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8417\/revisions\/8446"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.acu.edu\/coatesn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8417"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.acu.edu\/coatesn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8417"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.acu.edu\/coatesn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8417"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}