There is always a man with a clipboard who thinks he can manage a country like a badly run pub. White House: We will run Venezuela until a proper transition. Everyone else: How long, and who wrote the definition of proper? The Reuters details about a Jan 3 raid, power outages in Caracas, and a flight to New York sound like the sort of plot a writer would be told to tone down. Then Rubio turns up on Jan 7 with phases, stabilize, recover, transition, like this is a board game and not a nation full of people. The danger is that "stabilize" becomes a synonym for "do whatever the hell we like while everyone is tired". If this is really about protecting Venezuelans, make the rules public, set a clock, and stop talking about oil like it is loot. If it is not, at least have the decency not to call it a rescue mission.