I do not know if the ancient Chinese author Sun Tzu was actually a real person, but the

book The Art of War has many timeless insights. One is that a good general brings the enemy

to battle at a time and place of the general's choosing.  But supreme excellence in

generalship is to break the enemy's will without fighting. Sun Tzu even then cautioned

against fighting in cities, and he spends a great deal of the book explaining why

knowledge of the enemy is more valuable than weapons. 

Today, Venezuela faces four deadly enemies: tectonics, diseases, financial

 mismanagement and ignorance. The last two we can defeat.

The difficult things about fighting a planet are the planet is large, does not care, and

we live here. We cannot yet tell where or when the major earthquake will be. We

can be close to certain one or more cities will be damaged or even destroyed. If we

just sit around waiting to be hit then our will has been broken without fighting. Low

marks for us from Sun Tzu. However, even if an earthquake levelled Caracas and

killed millions, it is likely Venezuela would survive. At least in name. Hard luck if you

are one of those millions, especially if you might have been saved.