Go Ahead, Be Jealous
America is good at stuff when we set our minds to it
Details of the operation are still sketchy, as one should expect, but the reign of Nicolás Maduro has come to a definitive end. We can be absolutely sure that the Venezuelan despot was taken into custody along with his wife Cilia because Venezuelan Vice President Delcy Rodriguez is demanding proof of life. Rather than denials, the uniform reaction has been concern for the consequences. My favorite is the Russian Foreign Ministry response, because the jealousy just drips from their demand for “immediate clarification” that the Maduros are alive and unharmed.
“Such actions, if they did indeed take place, constitute an unacceptable violation of the sovereignty of an independent state, respect for which is a key principle of international law”, they said, tongue firmly in cheek. Everyone old enough to remember when Russian mercenaries and special forces and assassins all tried to take out the president of Ukraine and his wife will understand why Moscow is so, so jealous, right now. Vladimir Putin tried his own fait accompli in 2022, a miserable failure that produced the current quagmire in the Donbas. Now that he has watched Donald Trump leave two key overseas clients staggering, Putin has to be envious of the American war machine.
Delta Force was reportedly positioned in force inside of Caracas for some time before the operation. Sketchy reports of their infiltration in recent months are consistent with a build-up. It remains to be seen what role local resistance might have played in their deployment; my assumption is a limited intelligence role. Expatriate networks are clearly providing the US military with operational intelligence, as the spectacular extraction of María Corina Machado showed in December. Resistance elements clearly deconflicted and coordinated their own actions with the Pentagon, that time. It is reasonable to assume this same relationship also facilitated the pre-positioning of Delta Force to achieve tactical and strategic surprise despite the state of high alert.
All the sources I have found show that action began after 1:50 AM Venezuelan Standard Time, with battle fully engaged by 2 AM. Videos posted to social media by local residents and analyzed by OSINT reveal a joint operation of MH-60 Blackhawks, MH-6 Little Birds, MH-47 Chinooks, and AH-1Z Viper helicopters. This last type, which is flown only by the United States Marine Corps, was observed striking ground targets from close range with the knife-fighting tactics of USMC aviation. Meanwhile, two of the other three types, all US Army helicopters, have room for passengers, medics, and backup. The Little Bird is a nimble fighting machine that normally operates with the other two.
This powerful strike package hit Fuerte Tiuna and La Carlota airport, possibly the location from which Nicolás Maduro was extracted along with all the ground operators, or else subject to suppressing fire on his means of escape. Fuerte Tiuna is Venezuela’s largest military complex and central command center. It also hosts Maduro’s residence, which is equipped with a personal bunker. Smoke and fires can be seen at Fuerte Tiuna in some online videos, with some scenes of multiple explosions consistent with the destruction of surface-to-air missile batteries.
By contrast, Miraflores Palace, the official residence in Caracas, does not appear to have been targeted. The operation represents a total defeat of the Bolivarian National Intelligence Service (SEBIN) as well as their Cuban security and intelligence advisers. No one left behind can take power in Caracas without the knowledge that their own personal safety is no longer guaranteed. This will complicate political succession as the Maduros go on trial.
Because the Maduros will go on trial. Russian concern-trolling is merely a projection of what they themselves had in store for Olena Zelenska and her husband, Volodymyr Zelenskyy. This is the United States of America, where we put our Noriegas in prison. The Maduros “will soon face the full wrath of American justice on American soil in American courts”, Attorney General Pam Bondi posted. The Maduros will be in a federal courtroom soon enough, facing charges, because that’s how Americans like it. Everyone will have proof of life — as well as proof of success.
We will learn more about whatever the Maduros were doing, too. “This action likely falls within the president’s inherent authority under Article II of the Constitution to protect U.S. personnel from an actual or imminent attack”, Sen. Mike Lee posted on X. Marco Rubio, Trump’s Secretary of State, reminded everyone that Maduro is not in fact an elected head of state, having seized power against the democratic will of Venezuelans, turning the state into a drug running paradise. “Maduro is the head of the Cartel de Los Soles, a narco-terror organization which has taken possession of a country”, Rubio says.
The truth of all this will be ground out in courtroom proceedings rather than by invasion. Casualties appear minimal, as the Battle of Fuerte Tiuna was short, sharp, and decisive. President Trump is correct to describe the operation as “brilliant” and give credit to “a lot of good planning and lot of great, great troops and great people”. Between the two major military events of his second term, the bombing of nuclear bunkers in Iran and this arrest of the Maduros, Trump’s focus on restoring a culture of effective lethality to the armed forces, including his decision to make Pete Hegseth Secretary of Defense (and then Secretary of War), seems to have paid off.
No wonder his enemies, foreign and domestic, are so mad today. The anger is not just about Maduro, or leftists sympathies, or mewling concerns for the rule of law. Trump is not supposed to win. Moreover, he is winning in the ‘gray zone’ where America was not supposed to take decisive actions, which was the whole point of all that effort adversaries put into creating them. Worst of all, Trump keeps winning without sustained Operation Iraqi Freedom-style invasions. All the ‘boots on the ground’ had already left Venezuelan ground by the time the world was the wiser.
Keep an eye out for domino effects. Maduro’s Venezuela has been a keystone in the global ‘shadow fleet’ that has sustained both Russian coffers as well as the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps, or IRGC, against western sanctions. Indeed, this same shadow fleet also carries much of the global drug traffic. As I have explained a couple of times already, the ‘go fast’ narcotrafficker boats are the logistical link between shore and shadow vessel, which 100 percent explains the Trump administration’s decision to target them.
“The United States will continue to pursue the illicit movement of sanctioned oil that is used to fund narco terrorism in the region,” U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said in December after American forces intercepted a shadow fleet tanker bound for Venezuela. “We will find you, and we will stop you.” This week, a Russian oil tanker, Bella1, finally turned on their transponder after weeks at sea trying to evade the US Navy blockade. The crew finally painted a Russian flag on the side of their ship, and Russian officials have begged the United States to leave Bella1 alone ever after. Context matters, and Caracas was clearly part of a larger scheme to win the very ‘gray zone’ conflict that America’s enemies had created to undermine American power and resolve.
The essential networking problem for America’s global adversaries has always the US Navy’s control of the seas. As long as American leadership shied away from exerting that power in the shadow fleet gray zone, an empty tanker like the Bella1 could depart Iran, as it did, fill up in Venezuela as intended, and launder the cargo into the global oil market. The Trump administration has chosen resolute force against enemies in weak military positions. Maduro has allowed his armed forces to hollow out for a decade, investing his limited funding in security forces instead, which left him supremely vulnerable to a resolute and competent action, a fait accompli.
Delta Force came to exist after the embarrassment of Desert One, the disastrous failed attempt to rescue the hostages at the US embassy in Iran, which was blamed in part on lack of preparedness for joint operations between the branches. Fuerte Tiuna was at least the equal of Israel’s famous raid on Entebbe, indeed it was likely far more complex. The dawn of 2026 is a fitting bookend to 1980, for it appears that Trump policy is also crushing the regime in Tehran.
On 18 December 2025, the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) imposed sanctions on 29 vessels and their respective management companies in Iran’s shadow fleet. Executive Order 13902 was supposed to be part of a “maximum pressure” campaign by the Trump administration. A few days later, the effects on the rial sparked the current demonstrations taking place all over the country. This time, the protests are coming from the bazaar, the urban core of Iran’s business community, the first significant uprising of its kind since 1979, and the crowds are suddenly chanting for the return of Pahlavi, also a first.
Donald Trump’s enemies are upset today and the reason is clear. He has not violated the War Powers Act, or done anything unprecedented in the history of American power. He is simply too successful against America’s enemies when he was not supposed to succeed at all — certainly not through effective violence, and definitely not by taking actions that are legal, even if previous presidents were too afraid, or polite, or mediocre to use them. He has knocked out two easy military victories, and Americans love a winner. No wonder Democrats are losing their minds today.
A Tipping Point In Tehran?
No one can impose change on Iran from outside and no one should try. As I wrote earlier this week, the world must let the bazaaris, the urban retail business community that has always been the center of gravity in Pers…
Yup.