Gunboat diplomacy as practiced by Britain, Germany and Italy in 1902 led to a prolonged naval blockade of Venezuela to force payment of contested debts.
Gunship diplomacy as practiced early Saturday morning by President Trump involved a two-hour raid by attack helicopters and special force operators who captured Venezuelan strongman Nicolás Maduro.
But where the gunboats of 124 years ago just steamed away when the immediate dispute was settled, the gunships that carried off Maduro and his wife to face narcotic trafficking charges left behind the potential for disaster in a country twice the size of Iraq and almost three times the size of Vietnam.
The post Opinion: Trump Is Launching His Own Iraq—on Hypocrisy Instead of Lies appeared first on The Daily Beast