Active Conflicts & News Megathread August 27, 2025

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[u/scarlet_sage]

I'm not sure whether this belongs here or in its own top-level post.

On BlueSky (and for all I know, other social media), ‪OSINTtechnical‬ @osinttechnical.bsky.social‬ began a skeet thread with

New from @truth.bsky.social, the U.S. is massing reconnaissance aircraft near Venezuela as the U.S. deploys nearly a dozen ships into the region.

The evidence adduced includes these items (see the thread for more details)

• Puerto Rico now hosts a detachment of Navy P-8A Poseidons. They include AN/APS-154 AAS (Advanced Airborne Sensor) and MUOS satellite upgrade. One with both, which allows them to direct strikes.
• "Earlier this month, the U.S announced that it would deploy a warship and at least one attack submarine to the southern Caribbean Sea."
• But it now includes 3 Arleigh Burkes, and the Iwo Jima Amphibious Ready Group with thousands of Marines.
• And a Ticonderoga-class cruiser and a Los Angeles-class sub.

Unfortunately, I don't know a way to induce BlueSky to show a post and all its descendants. Going to the base post shows a lot of them, but I have to click on some places to get them all. (This might be an imitation of how Twitter worked?}

Has this been discussed by anyone else? Does it look plausible, or like fear-mongering? Is there reason to think that it's aimed at Venezuela in particular, or might it be the Panama Canal, which the Trump Administration has threatened?

[u/IntroductionNeat2746 → u/scarlet_sage]

Is there reason to think that it's aimed at Venezuela in particular, or might it be the Panama Canal, which the Trump Administration has threatened?

It's 100% aimed at Venezuela.

 Today, the Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) sanctioned the Cartel de los Soles (a.k.a. Cartel of the Suns) as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist.  Cartel de los Soles is a Venezuela-based criminal group headed by Nicolas Maduro Moros and other high-ranking Venezuelan individuals in the Maduro regime that provides material support to foreign terrorist organizations threatening the peace and security of the United States, namely Tren de Aragua and the Sinaloa Cartel.

https://home.treasury.gov/news/press-releases/sb0207

It's outright bizarre that this story hasn't got any traction outside of Latin America, including the US.

[u/Thoth_the_5th_of_Tho → u/IntroductionNeat2746]

It's outright bizarre that this story hasn't got any traction outside of Latin America, including the US.

It's not that surprising. Trump has threatened to invade Greenland, Canada and Mexico, then forgotten about each a few weeks later. This one might be different, he seems to genuinely dislike Maduro, and Venezuela is isolated and vulnerable in a way Denmark certainly isn't, but even then, there is a high likelihood this amounts to nothing.

[u/scarlet_sage → u/IntroductionNeat2746]

Nicolas Maduro Moros

I wasn't sure of the name, so I had to look it up: Nicolás Maduro, "serving as the 53rd president of Venezuela since 2013" as Wikipedia puts it.