They are for sure trying to bait China into a mistake. But the ruling elite running America are also cowards afraid of their own deaths, which is why they are not seeking a world war.
If America wants a war with China, all it needs to do is push its tailor made button for that and get its puppets in Taiwan to declare formal independence and they can have their war tomorrow. But they will loose that war, which is the problem and why they can’t play that card now.
They seem to want to bait China into a direct military clash in America’s backyard. Thinking to use the tyranny of distance against China. Then once they have managed to materially weaken the PLAN in LATAM, they can then take the fight to China’s doorsteps.
But China is too wise to fall into such an obvious trap. Instead it looks like Beijing is calling Trump’s bluff and saying, invade Venezuela if you have the balls, we won’t try to stop you. I think Beijing’s total disinterest has caught Trump and his team off guard and now they don’t know how to proceed. As if China stays out if it, their brilliant plan to bait China into a war in LATAM and weakening the PLA by hitting its overstretched supply lines is going to backfire into America stuck in another unwinnable forever war against local fighters. Only those local fighters will have AKs and DJIs, so they can actually do a lot more damage than any irregular force the Americans have ever face before as now not even their heaviest tanks can be unkillable trump cards in firefights.
