- The global community is quite aware of the various follies unleashed by the president of the USA, Donald Trump, soon after assuming the mantle of the highest/powerful office in the universe. None of the measures adopted by the extremely unpredictable and maverick president, vis-à-vis tariffs, flip-flops, peace overtures, threats, false claims, and impetuous proclamations/exhortations, could be termed acceptable to the majority. Left with no option, it can be safely mentioned that most of the leaders from around the world have attempted to follow the leader’s whims and fancies, though facing disturbances from many quarters. Why, even the domestic population of the USA was showing increasing unhappiness with his illogical moves.
PC: Financial Times
- Out of the blue comes the news that the US has abducted the Venezuelan leader and his wife, Nicolás Maduro/Cilia Flores, in an extremely well-coordinated and smooth operation involving many agencies. Trump probably wants Venezuelan oil. Or he may desperately want to arrest the popularity slide witnessed in the last few months. He may also target Cuba next. However, the US interference in Latin America can get messy sooner rather than later. For months Trump administration had ramped up pressure against Maduro’s regime, amassed a huge military force in the Caribbean, and attacked boats coming out of Venezuelan drug trafficking into the US, something Trump says Maduro presided over, was a fig leaf. Trump wanted Maduro gone.
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PC: Firstpost
- Of course, Maduro wasn’t a benevolent leader. Far from it. He was the typical South American strongman who ruthlessly persecuted the political opposition and anyone who stood against him. His elections were a sham – he is widely believed to have lost the last one in 2024. So, many Venezuelans are happy to see him go. But all of that doesn’t change the fact that Trump’s abduction – there’s no other word for it – of Maduro and his wife is, by any reading of global rules, shocking. It’s not tenable in international law, nor is it consistent with Trump’s earlier denunciation of US military intervention abroad. Plus, America’s actions now seem congruent with what Russia is trying to do in Ukraine. So, what is Trump up to? He is not interested in Venezuela’s democracy.
PC: MSN
- Trump appears to be inclined to work with Maduro’s VP Delcy Rodriguez and run Venezuela through the existing elites of that country. Also, Trump is clearly eyeing Venezuelan oil and has said that US oil companies will fix Venezuela’s energy infrastructure and start selling the oil to third countries. That’s plain old-world colonialism. Venezuela has the largest proven oil reserve. But it’s heavy, sour oil, not the kind that’s easily refined. The final piece is the US’s apparent strategic pivot to the western hemisphere. This is Monroe Doctrine redux where the US treats the Americas as its own backyard. Message to Russia and China: Keep up attacks against Ukraine and Taiwan, lose strategic assets elsewhere. Trump must expect domestic backlash though.
