The Huffington Post

Experts say the government's version of events is riddled with conflicting testimonies, tainted evidence and coerced confessions.

While the U.S. government's rationale that Venezuela poses a threat to U.S. national security is baseless, the unwillingness of Latin American leaders or multilateral regional institutions, like the OAS and South American Union, to move beyond occasional rhetoric slaps-on-the-wrist and confront Venezuela's inexorable drift towards authoritarianism and economic crisis is concerning.

Even as Afghan security forces battle Taliban insurgents and cross-border criminal networks, President Ashraf Ghani said he plans to devote at least 30 percent of his time to his country’s battered economy. Ghani said his security forces will weather the loss of most U.S. combat support and defeat a Taliban insurgency that’s inflicting record casualties.

Most of this proxy war makes little sense: the threats emanating from Yemen are distorted and exaggerated, the stakes are actually relatively low (except for Yemenis), any imposed settlement is highly elusive, and the costs to those engaged may be high. For the U.S., it can be once again something of a lose-lose situation, where the enemy of my enemy is often also my enemy.