1/ Vladimir Putin's heavy investment in the regime of Venezuelan former President Nicolás Maduro has been a costly and disastrous failure, according to Russian commentators. They admit that Russia is too weak to stop its allies from being picked off one by one by the West.

2/ Maxim Kalashnikov is scathing about what the fall of Maduro means for Russian foreign policy, saying that it "marks the collapse of the Russian leadership's long-standing PR-fueled foreign policy."

3/ "For a long time, it resembled a fireworks display: much noise and hype, but no real benefit to the development and industrialisation of the Russian Federation, or to the reunification of the Russian people.

4/ "Let's just dump $20 billion into the "black hole" of raw materials-fueled pseudo-socialism in Venezuela, never to be recouped.Let's bury a comparable amount of resources in Syria, which we absolutely do not need…

5/ …(but then miss the chance for Novorossiya and completely neglect the migration problem in Russia). Let's create naval bases in Syria and Sudan, for which we don't even have a navy. But we'll lose the chance to take Odesa and unite with Transnistria...

6/ "All of this has ended in a predictable fiasco. Now there is no Syria, no Sudan, no Venezuela. Odesa, Kherson, and Mykolaiv are in Banderite [Ukrainian] hands, Transnistria is blockaded and hanging by a thread.

7/ "Russia has been swept out of the Transcaucasus and is being removed from Central Asia. The enormous resources squandered on "foreign policy pyrotechnics" can no longer be recovered. NATO has now been reinforced by Finns and Swedes.

8/ "After all, you can't count your chickens before they hatch. And now, this "autumn for the patriarch" [i.e. Putin] is upon us.

9/ "It's a shame. The chances we've had since 2000 were magical. And it's a shame they've been relegated to the category of lost victories. A gloomy time lies ahead..."

10/ Alexander Kartavykh is similarly scathing about the waste of resources that the Maduro regime represented for Russia:

11/ "Even Maduro wouldn't have given us anything; have you seen what's happening with the economy? They didn't even pay the security forces anything. Because they're idiots, not so much greedy as stupid. That's why they were abandoned so easily, actually.

12/ "In short, they might as well have given a homeless guy working on a heating main a few grand in "investments." And then expect him to drink it all away, start a new life, and one day give back every penny.

13/ "Don't bother me, write off the expenses, and move on. Optionally, you can hang those who lobbied for this loan, because it didn't seem worthwhile even before the invasion. And in any case, don't interfere with enjoying the best post-New Year's show of 2026."

14/ 'The Ghost of Novorossiya' criticises Venezuela's apparent lack of preparedness for the US intervention, and comments that from a geopolitical perspective, "I would say the picture is grim."

15/ "At the end of 2024, the Assad regime falls in Syria; in the summer of 2025, American-Israeli efforts inflict colossal damage on Iran; now Venezuela is being sidelined.

16/ "The Western bloc is methodically identifying weak elements among the so-called "revisionist powers" and eliminating them precisely when they are most difficult to help.

17/ "This avoids a disadvantageous frontal clash with Russia and China, allowing for small changes in the international balance of power for tougher negotiations with Moscow and Beijing in the future.

18/ "In this context, it's appropriate to predict a further increase in tensions in regions where Russian interests are present, but which are also peripheral, far away, and of significantly lower priority compared to the main Ukrainian issue.

19/ "These are regions where our allies face a number of acute socioeconomic challenges, where the potential for rebellion by the hostile opposition is high, and where our rivals find it convenient to sponsor provocations.

20/ "I don't rule out that sooner or later, they will try to push us out of Africa using this strategy. Will we be ready for this?"

21/ The 'Russian People's Militia (RND)' asks and answers the question of "Why didn't Russia help its strategic partner in South America? Was it really impossible to do anything?"

22/ "You won't like the answer. Russia has long been past the point of assistance in America, Africa, or the Middle East. We need to help ourselves, at least, to get out of the Special Military Operation in a draw.

23/ "The most we can do in a situation like Maduro's is to "puff ourselves up," expressing deep concern and resolute protests at the UN. And, of course, write off billions in debt to African countries and those same South and Latin America as "brotherly aid."

24/ "Bashar al-Assad, now sitting in front of the TV in Moscow, watching the handcuffed Maduro, probably thinks he got off easy, having completely lost his country and fled it in time.

25/ "As for the Americans, they couldn't care less what their various [European] partners think of them. Even if those partners roll out thousands of protest notes and hundreds of concerns.

26/ "So the "cooks" can curse "Vaska the Cat" [Russian UN ambassador Vasily Nebenzya] in the UN building as much as they want. He'll listen to them (with one ear) and silently devour the supplies "in the house." Libya, Iraq, Syria, Iran, Venezuela. Who's next?" /end

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