The Course of Empire by Thomas Cole
I’ll just point out that in no way can Venezuela be considered a security threat to the United States. And the “human rights violations”, while some are real are far less than routinely committed by many US allies, including Saudi Arabia, while Venezuela is more democratic, again, than many countries the US has not imposed sanctions on.
This sort of bullying is exactly the sort of thing which will lead to the end of American hegemony. Though less severe, one is reminded of the Melian dialogue. The Athenians argue that the powerful do as they will and the weak as they must, and that the Melians should surrender. If they do not, the Athenians will slaughter the men and sell the women and children into slavery.
The Melian reply in part, is thus:
But do you not recognise another danger? For, once more, since you drive us from the plea of justice and press upon us your doctrine of expediency, we must show you what is for our interest, and, if it be for yours also, may hope to convince you: Will you not be making enemies of all who are now neutrals? When they see how you are treating us they will expect you some day to turn against them; and if so, are you not strengthening the enemies whom you already have, and bringing upon you others who, if they could help, would never dream of being your enemies at all?
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The irony of the Melian dialogue is that both sides are right: the Melians are destroyed, and would have been better off if they submitted. But the destruction of Melos is indeed one of the contributing factors to the eventual fall of Athens, because while Sparta may be nastier internally, they are also less dangerous to other city-states than Athens is.
The analogy is not perfect, because even with all of Venezuela’s problems, much of the population is better off resisting the US than it would be conceding (the poor and the darker colored citizens have benefited immensely under the Bolivaran revolution).
But America, and the West’s continued insistence that nations will kneel or suffer is very similar and is already damaging American power.