i mean, i suppose that handing everything over to moscow is technically a way to avoid being toppled by washington, it's just that then you end up as a hand puppet of putin, which one would think is not really what you wanted, either.

the iranians were able to walk a line on this that a smart venezuelan leadership could look to as a model. even the north koreans have figured out a way to play this.

but, maduro is actually in truth more likely to end up like assad if he plays this game - held as a figurehead until the kremlin doesn't find him useful any more, and then discarded like bad meat.

we may be witnessing the return of the useful idiot, here.