Is Venezuela heading to civil war?

[Karpatsky]

I didn't say you denied aid was being sent, I was just pointing out that the article talked specifically about massing 'aid' and not the military.

If you want to stick to that term, go ahead, but it's silly and not helpful to your argument.

I'm using the term the American state media is using, who usually tend to have a much rosier view of American foreign policy than I do. And even if I were to specifically refrain from using the word 'massing', it doesn't change the substance of my argument.

Massing troops =/= massing aid, both in meaning and implication- this is a substantive difference, not merely semantics.

[Karpatsky]

Neither of those says the US is massing military gear.

Nobody mentioned "gear" until you brought it up. What I said was military forces. Which is correct. See the articles above.

The opposite would better support your argument. Using military hardware to transport non-military goods is gear but not forces, and I'm not sure reconnaissance flights can 'mass'.

[Karpatsky]

Neither of those says the US is massing military gear.

Nobody mentioned "gear" until you brought it up. What I said was military forces. Which is correct. See the articles above.

The opposite would better support your argument. Using military hardware to transport non-military goods is gear but not forces, and I'm not sure reconnaissance flights can 'mass'.

The use of the word "mass" was issued prior to the revelations about increased recon flights, which in fact occurred about 20 hours ago. Nevertheless, military aircraft is obviously a part of military forces, and it's obvious that the whole scenario of delivering American aid into Venezuela (as opposed to UN aid, for example) from neighbouring countries was intended as a pretext for military intervention. The government in Caracas has warned of such in advance, as had Russia. Vice President Pence has already said a full-scale invasion is "on the table", Trump himself has strongly hinted at such, and this "humanitarian aid" everyone loves to talk about so much is designed as a provocation to Maduro's government and orchestrated by the man who praised the atrocities committed by the military forces of the American-backed government in El Salvador.

Whether you believe it is the intention of the US to invade Venezuela or not does not change the reality of what concentration of military force there currently is or is not near Venezuela.