Subject: Re: Meanwhile, in Venezuela...
That doesn't mean that massive investment won't happen there, of course. If the U.S. government pays for the oil majors to go in and make all that investment, then there's a ton of money to be made at the expense of the U.S. or Venezuelan taxpayer. So everyone's going to be very interested to see if the U.S. government is willing to be on the hook for supplying the capital for all this infrastructure. If we are, then there's riches to be had building roads and laying pipe and building wells and whatnot - even if the oil doesn't sell for enough to make that worthwhile.

You're missing the point. A Venezuela in US orbit...does what for the global order? Who *doesn't* count Venezuela as a satellite country in that case?