Clearly anyone who invades another country must think they can get away with it. Anyone who failed, or had a pyrrhic victory, will have been surprised.Woodchopper wrote: ↑Wed Dec 06, 2023 11:00 amBut there is a history of leaders assuming that they could get away with an invasion. Putin evidently thought that Russian troops would march into Kyiv, Hussein believed that the rest of the world would not save Kuwait, and Galtieri assumed that Britain wouldn't fight in 1982.
As already mentioned, Maduro did a deal with Biden, and has reneged immediately and completely without evident consequence. That might well make him think America isn't in the mood for punishing him and he can push the boundaries of his misbehaviour. I bet he is very happy about pulling that one off. If the US continues in its apparent indifference to Maduro's cheating on this, that could prove an expensive mistake. And unfortunately Lula, now returned to power in Brazil, has been a Maduro apologist. We can only hope he will change his mind if they start invading their neighbours.