Latin America correspondent Tom Philips

From the diaries @BooMan with Hillary Clinton leading ouster of Zelaya ...

Honduras: Zelaya was ousted from the presidency when he was kidnapped at gunpoint by the military | 28 June 2009 |

Trump Sets Bounty @ Fifty million dollars to capture and convict President Maduro

Trump doubles reward to $50 million for arrest of Venezuela's president to face US drug charges | AP News - 8 Aug 2025 |

Watch Trump award himself the $50 million bounty for Maduro's capture.

— Daniel DePetris (@DanDePetris) January 3, 2026

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Who is Venezuela's acting president Delcy Rodríguez?

[Update-1]

Much respected ET alumnus Sirocco as early as 2005 …

The US as nuclear rogue state. Part I of II | 2 Aug. 2005 |

In brief, the NPT allows only five states to have nuclear weapons: the US, the UK, France, Russia, and China. These five - aka the permanent members of the UN Security Council - agree not to transfer nuclear weapons technology to others, who agree not to seek to develop nuclear weapons. But importantly, that is not all. In return for the vast majority of countries forever forswearing the right to have nuclear forces, the five also agreed in Article VI of the NPT eventually to get rid of theirs.

While little known, especially in the US, this requirement is not in dispute. It was a central premise when on May 11 1995, the Cold War firmly behind them, 170 countries made the historic decision to extend the treaty indefinitely. And in 1996, the International Court of Justice unanimously held that Article VI obligates states to "bring to a conclusion negotiations leading to nuclear disarmament in all its aspects." Indeed, the five recognized nuclear weapon states recommitted themselves to this goal at the 30-year Non-Proliferation Treaty Review Conference in New York, May 2000.

At this conference, all parties adopted by consensus a Final Document containing a Programme of 13 Practical Steps for Nuclear Disarmament, including "an unequivocal undertaking by the nuclear weapon states to accomplish the total elimination of their nuclear arsenals." These 13 steps are quite specific. They include the ratification of a Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT); negotiations on a Fissile Material Cutoff Treaty; the preservation and strengthening of the Anti-Ballistic Missile (ABM) Treaty; nuclear disarmament by unilateral and multilateral means; and a "diminishing role for nuclear weapons in security policies."

For a while, a spirit of optimism prevailed. Then the Bush administration took office, followed half a year later by 9/11. And suddenly the nuclear night engulfed us once again.

The Nuclear Posture Review: Overview and Emerging Issues | January 31, 2002 |

The Bush Administration released the results of its Nuclear Posture Review in January 2002. That study states that the United States will no longer base its nuclear planning on the need to address the “Russian threat.” Instead, it will develop forces with the capabilities needed to address a range of threats from unspecified countries. Furthermore, offensive nuclear weapons will combine with missile defenses and conventional strike weapons to deter and defeat potential threats.

The United States will reduce its nuclear forces to between 1,700 and 2,200 “operationally deployed” warheads, and will place many of the warheads removed from deployed forces in reserve, as part of a “responsive force.” It will also strengthen its nuclear infrastructure so that it can be more “responsive” in sustaining the reliability of U.S. nuclear forces in the future. This study has raised numerous issues, such as how deep the reductions in nuclear forces will actually be, the potential need for new nuclear weapons in the future, and the role of nuclear weapons in U.S. defense and national security policy.

By Sirocco – Part II of II

[work in progress - ..]