Comment: The brief war in 2008 certainly anticipated much of what we're seeing today, ie. a NATO/Western-influenced country or forces invades/attacks a country Russia is allied with - Russia responds brilliantly - Russia gets demonized by the West and forces of Empire for doing so. See also:

• The South Ossetia war 9 years later: EU investigation ignored and 'nobody paid the price' for 2000 killed
• Following the Crimean example: South Ossetia planning referendum to join Russia
• Georgia's ex-president thanks Kiev for support in 2008 South Ossetia conflict

Comment: Moscow plans to respond in kind:

Moscow is ready for the bill introduced by US senators on measures against the Kremlin elite and on banning transactions related to Russia's new sovereign debt, Chairman of the Russian State Duma's (lower house) Financial Markets Committee Anatoly Aksakov told Nezavisimaya Gazeta. The lawmaker noted the US sanctions' impact on Russia's financial system would be insignificant. "It is more symbolic and moral rather than important in material terms," he said.

A source close to the Kremlin has not ruled out that Russia could retaliate with its "crushing" military and strategic measures and review some its international commitments.

"If the unproven meddling in US election gives them the right to cause economic damage and deal a blow to the nation's welfare, it's not surprising that Russia could draw up measures, including military and strategic ones, which can result in irreparable losses for the Americans' economy and profits," the source told the paper.

Comment: Washington's denials about the recent attempt on Maduro's life are clearly not too credible!

See:

• Venezuelan President Maduro survives assassination attempt during public speech (UPDATES)
• 'Attempt to destabilize Venezuela': Russia condemns attack on Maduro - US denies involvement

Comment: Maduro has made some additional comments on the attempted assassination:

The Venezuelan President has in turn announced that the investigation into his attempted assassination has already made significant progress: "preliminary investigation indicates that many of those responsible for the attack, the financiers and planners, live in the United States in the state of Florida."

Maduro has said that he has "no doubt" that the perpetrators include US-backed Colombian and Venezuelan terrorists, including outgoing Colombian leader Juan Manuel Santos himself, engaged in a "right-wing plot" to overthrow Maduro.

"I hope the Trump administration is willing to fight terrorist groups that commit attacks in peaceful countries on our continent, in this case Venezuela", Maduro proclaimed on national television.

Indeed, it would not be a conspiracy to suggest that the Venezuelan opposition, which is no stranger to terrorist tactics to achieve their aims of disruption, is behind this. As logically follows, it would by no means be hyperbole to suggest that the CIA and US government have a hand in this.

Evidence to support this is not only the overall track record of US Imperialism in Latin America, notorious for coup d'etats, disappearances, and support for brutal military dictatorships, but more recently, the coup attempts in Venezuela in April 2002 and two attempts at destabilization using the guarimbas in 2014 and 2017.

US Imperialism and the Venezuelan comprador bourgeoisie have proven unsuccessful at dislodging the Bolívarian Revolution from power. They've lost dozens of elections and most recently, Maduro was re-elected President, and regional and local elections saw a consolidation of wins for the PSUV and revolutionary groups. It is no wonder they are stooping to desperate tactics like this drone attempt.

Today's event also takes place just days after Maduro reached crucial new agreements with the peasant movement. Maduro wants to meet their demands for (1) security from the political assassinations of campesinos by Colombian paramilitaries, (2) more land to farm, and (3) credits and technology.

Additionally, Maduro has unleashed investigations against corrupt bureaucrats who sabotaged the state oil company. This represents a continuation of the deepening of the Bolivarian revolution amidst the food crisis caused by capitalist hoarders.

It can be safely assumed that the Bolivarian security forces will pursue the perpetrators of this assassination attempt and the popular forces of Venezuela will secure their areas in case of an escalation from nearby Colombia, which was recently made a member of NATO by the US.

UPDATES 5 AUGUST, 12:30 CET

Another update, courtesy of RT:

Unconfirmed media reports indicated that a splinter group called 'Flannel Soldiers' claimed credit for the attack. Spain's El Mundo newspaper cited a Twitter account under a similar name which alleged "the operation was to fly drones loaded with C4," but said they were shot down by the presidential guard before reaching their target.

According to Gregory Wilpert, co-founder of Venezuelanalysis website, those who orchestrated the plot hoped that "the military would rise up against the president and would take it as an opportunity to organize a coup and overthrow the government."

The Colombian government has of course denied any involvement. It's interesting, however, that outgoing Colombian president Juan Manuel Santos - a Nobel Peace Prize laureate despite waging a border war against Venezuela - 'predicted' just 5 days previously that he foresees "regime change" in Caracas "in the near future."

23:30 CET

US National Security czar John 'Evil Ned Flanders' Bolton has piped up to declare that the US govt was "not involved" in the assassination attempt against Maduro.

Bolton was apparently just letting everyone know. Because, ya know, many people were suspecting precisely that.

Which is interesting because it means that even the the US govt. knows that everyone else knows that the US govt. has a long track record of assassinating or otherwise overthrowing the democratically-elected leaders of other nations.

But America's the greatest democracy on earth, don't ya know.

UPDATE 6 August

A video was posted on social media by by Cesar Guardiola, a security adviser and retired military serviceman, purportedly showing the drone exploding. Maduro can be heard giving his speech in the background as the camera focuses on a drone flying in the sky. The drone is then seen to be engulfed in a fireball, followed a split second later by a loud bang. Venezuelan Minister of Communication and Information Jorge Rodriguez announced that six people had been detained in connection with the reported plot to kill Maduro.

Comment: That these corporations have been doing this is no secret. However with this latest concerted effort to ban InfoWars from their platforms under their vague "community standards", will we see more alternative sources hit by the ban-hammer? And will the blatant censorship and constant oppression drive users to other platforms? Although they don't (yet) have the reach, these newer ones (like Steemit or Dtube), are decentralized, put power back into the hands of the people and are growing in number. It might be our best chance at fighting back. See also: In America, corporate censorship is state censorship

Facebook shut down InfoWars permanently, calling it 'hate speech', without notifying them what precisely constituted the hate speech. Apple removed all their podcasts for the same 'reason'. Jones's YouTube channel had 2.4 million subscribers. After YT banned him, subscribers were met with an invitation to unsubscribe from the now inaccessible channel. The absurd thing is this: it's not the government doing the censorship (i.e. Trump's White House) - it's the high-level corporate world; the 'Deep State'. That should show everyone where the real power lies. It's no coincidence that their behavior bears a striking resemblance to the Soviets...

Comment: See also:

• Reality Check: Ben Swann on the social media purge of dissenting voices
• Spotify removes podcasts of 'The Alex Jones Show' citing 'hate content'
• Facebook bans Alex Jones for 30 days
• CNN pressures YouTube to ban InfoWars, sending advertisers running

Comment: The stunning lack of evidence for such claims really doesn't matter to these people because allegation after allegation is all the public needs to accept that there is a 'case' against Russia.

Comment: A 'One Size Fits All' policy works once. Even less when accompanied by belligerence.

Comment: Someone, besides Trump, has got to reach out and restart the dialogue.

Comment: 'The Trump/Russia probe is, in fact, a long national nightmare.' The norm for investigations at this level of government, for reasons we are not privy to, take years to conclude and often with no significant results. Consider Whitewater - over two years and no results, Bill Clintons' Lewinsky indiscretions investigation: 1995-1999 and a meaningless impeachment. Meanwhile, those in power remain in power. Once the Trump-Russia collusion investigation farce has concluded, we should expect and demand a massive counter-investigation into the current accusatory side. As Zane said: the new norm.