[anikan_vader]

Venezuela’s (relatively sudden) refusal to honor its treaty obligations that admit the land is owned by Guyana is obviously due to oil greed.

Guyana has almost no military, but the Venezuelan military doesn’t really have any offensive capabilities that the US cant easily deter. The US actually appears to be a stabilizing force in this case; if the US committed to non-intervention, it would make sense for Venezuela to invade immediately.

As is, the strategic balance is not in favor of Venezuela attempting to annex the land by force.

[rpcope1]

Guyana being part of the Commonwealth of Nations also seems like it may mean that the British could get involved on their side, which could also be a significant factor.

[waveBidder]

This is what the much maligned "world's police" role the US military actually plays. It's a shame the NeoCons didn't understand the point of the threat is to never have to use it. the first gulf war didn't need a round two.

[zdragnar]

Round two was based on manufacturing a better ally in the region than the Saudis. After all, this was not too long after 9/11 and despite the lack of public attention, nobody was foolish enough to ignore the role of Saudi nationals in private.

If, as a democracy, Iraq became what Iran could have been (until the revolution), our influence would have played a much stronger moderating force in the middle east.

Instead, we discovered that democracies don't work when people don't want them to. It was a pipe dream that was doomed to fail from its inception.

One unforced error lead to another, and that's a lesson that nobody ever seems to learn.