Cross-Posting: Venezuela

I have been gravely concerned about Venezuela for some time. My concerns now include the possibility of escalation to war. From a preview of my weekly news post on my main blog:

   -   as exiled Venezuelans yearn for home but fear a long wait before they can return and Venezuela's top military envoy to the USA defects, the USA - and Australia and some other nations – have recognised Venezuela's Opposition Leader as interim President (leading to Russian accusations that the USA is attempting “to engineer a coup d’état”, and attempts by the self-appointed president to wrest control of the nation’s state oil company, shortly before the USA imposed sanctions), while Europe has gave an eight day ultimatum for free and fair elections and then recognised the Opposition Leader as interim leader (he said his family have been threatened by security forces) and New Zealand has also called for free and fair elections (in my opinion, the current incumbent has lost all claims to legitimacy, but acting on flawed elections is not the solution: I am concerned this is heading for war [a war that is likely to be more like Syria than situations where despots have been successfully]deposed – sanctions already exist. If war comes, one question is the extent of international involvement: arming one side of an internal civil war only, or more active. The best solution would be for the incumbent to go peacefully, and for that, he would need a place of refuge);