That previous US leaders permitted Western Hemisphere nations to get so in bed with rival hegemonies for so long is the shocking thing.

Remember the Cuban Missile Crisis?

I closely follow all of this, to the detriment of my job. I'm amused that the US State Dept's PR is that "Maduro is selling oil to our enemies."

We've frozen Venezuela out from buying or selling anything from any other country. This is how economic sanctions work. If a company or country does business with Venezuela, we block them from doing business in the USA.

What else is Venezuela supposed to do? Of course they're going to sell oil to countries that we don't like. It's the first thing that happens when we place severe economic sanctions on another country.