i remember years ago seeing a notice somewhat along the lines of: these are our principles and if you don't like them, we have others;

Editor’s note: Definitely one positive from the Russian campaign in Ukraine. It has made the US more willing to talk to Venezuela (if only in order to try to protect the West from a Russian energy embargo) and given Maduro some leverage. Also, the Empire has to humiliate itself by talking to President Maduro it had proclaimed was no longer President.

What does Maduro do here? Does he settle for the kind of minimal sanctions relief limited to oil that the US will want? He should set the price much higher. He has the leverage now but the problem remains that the global hegemon is not agreement capable. Once the Americans are reasonably satisfied that Russia has been contained they will come right back at him.

The better play might be for Russia, Venezuela, and Iran to threaten a total oil embargo together now that Russia is as much a pariah as the other two.  

Quite possibly now that Russia herself is heavily sanctioned the door to more cooperation rather than less has opened up.

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Senior U.S. officials are traveling to Venezuela on Saturday to meet with the government of President Nicolás Maduro, according to people familiar with the matter, as the Biden administration steps up efforts to separate Russia from its remaining international allies amid a widening standoff over Ukraine.

The trip is the highest-level visit by Washington officials to Caracas, Venezuela’s capital, in years. The United States broke off diplomatic relations with Mr. Maduro and closed its embassy in Caracas in 2019, after accusing the authoritarian leader of electoral fraud. The Trump administration then tried to topple Mr. Maduro’s government by sanctioning Venezuelan oil exports and the country’s senior officials, and by recognizing the opposition leader, Juan Guaidó, as Venezuela’s lawful president..........read more........