How much longer does Maduro have?

President Trump has closed Venezuelan air space. The New York Times, a big fan of Trump, says he can't actually do that. All direct flights to Venezuela, like direct flights to Russia, are prohibited, so no planes have been going from the US to Venezuela to suddenly have their flights cancelled.

Small, regional carriers have several hundred flights still scheduled to fly to or from Venezuela in December.

Not clear what Trump will do next.

The Monroe Doctrine says Venezuela, being a part of the Americas, belongs to the US, so Russia and other countries had better stay out (Russia still has diplomatic ties and treaties with Venezuela, as does the country buying all the Venezuelan oil, being the only country, other than the US, with refineries that can process the very sour Venezuelan crude).

So it is looking like whoever is really running the US of A is having Trump threaten military action against Venezuela in order to replace the evil dictator Maduro with the democratic winner of the 2025 Nobel Peace Prize.

Raising such questions as, 'What friends does Maduro have that would have the temerity to violate the Monroe Doctrine???? And what horrible things will the US do to those friends if they dare to help Maduro after the US have decided to get rid of him?'

 

Note (for whatever it's worth): Logistics change. In 1800, the UK had a 2+1 Navy, meaning that, if the nations with the 2nd and 3rd strongest nations allied against the UK, the UK Navy could defeat both of them. But by 1900, the US had a Navy that, while they could not challenge the UK in the Eastern Hemisphere, were more than a match for the UK in the Western Hemisphere, so the UK and US decided the US would dominate the entire Western Hemisphere and the UK would dominate the entire Eastern Hemisphere. WWI and WWII left the UK broke and unable to have a 2+1 Navy, or even a decent medium-size Navy. They could take on the Argentina Nava, with permission from the US, but that was about the limit of the power of what had been a 2+1 Navy. And that logistics that made the US the unquestionable master of the Western Hemisphere might have changed again. I guess we'll see rather soon if Venezuela has any friends that will stick around when the shooting starts inside Venezuela, given that one of those friends desperately need Venezuela oil.