I'm John Batchelor.

Venezuela, a very large foetella off the shores of Venezuela, led by the biggest aircraft carrier in service right now, the Gerald Ford, a new class of supercarrier.

But there are plenty of Arlie Burke destroyers and other warships to suggest there's a war with Mars. No, this is about Venezuela, oil, after the detention and transportation of the illegitimate president,

the dictator Maduro, after.

And that's important because I welcome Josh Beerenbaum.

He is the deputy director of the Center on Economic and Financial

Power at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, asking a very controversial question, bringing it up

so that I smiled when I read it. The fleet of Venezuela.

You all recall the unhappiness about forever wars in the Middle East.

Is this a forever fleet?

What is the mission with the dictator gone?

Josh, a very good evening to you.

What a wonderful question.

Why? We understood the initial mission

was to give the president leverage when it came to subduing the toxic leadership in Caracas.

But the president is gone. And as we can tell, Dulce Rodriguez, the vice president, her brother Jorge Rodriguez,

who's head of the National Assembly, are obeying the direction of the United States to make sure

that the oil that they extract does not go to Cuba, does not go to China, and in fact, the

revenues of it are being distributed

at the direction of the White House. So, the Forever Fleet, why? Good evening to you, Josh.

Good evening, John. Thank you so much for having me. It's a great question. What comes next?

What is the leverage for? And why are we still there? The Rodriguez siblings are certainly complying now,

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