The US, under Trump, is unapologetically an empire operating without pretense. International law is for losers. A newly minted War Department, deploying the most lethal killing machine in world history, need not hide behind the sham of promoting democracy.<\/p>\n
Recall that in 2023 Trump\u00a0boasted<\/a>:\u00a0\u201cWhen I left, Venezuela was ready to collapse. We would have taken it over, we would have gotten all that oil.\u201d\u00a0As CEO of the capitalist bloc, Trump\u2019s mission is not about to be restrained by respect for sovereignty<\/em>. There is only one inviolate global sovereign; all others are subalterns.<\/p>\n Venezuela \u2013 with our <\/em>oil under its soil \u2013 is now in the crosshairs of the empire. Not only does Venezuela possess the largest petroleum reserves, but it also has major gold, coltan, bauxite, and nickel deposits. Of course, the world\u2019s hegemon would like to get its hands all that mineral wealth.<\/p>\n But it would be simplistic to think that it is driven only by narrow economic motives. Leverage over energy flows is central to maintaining global influence. Washington requires control <\/em>of strategic resources to preserve its position as the global hegemon, guided by its official policy of \u201cfull spectrum dominance<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n For Venezuela, revenues derived from these resources enable it to act with some degree of sovereign independence. Most gallingly, Venezuela nationalized its oil, instead of gifting it to private entrepreneurs \u2013 and then used it to fund social programs and to assist allies abroad like Cuba. All this is anathema to the hegemon.<\/p>\n Further pushing the envelope is Venezuela\u2019s \u201call-weather strategic partnership\u201d with China<\/a>. With Russia<\/a>, its most consequential defense ally, Venezuela ratified a strategic partnership agreement. Similarly, Venezuela has a strong anti-imperialist alliance with Iran<\/a>. All three partners have come to Caracas\u2019s defense, along with regional allies such a Colombia, Brazil, and Mexico.<\/p>\n The US has subjected Venezuela\u2019s Bolivarian Revolution to incessant regime-change aggression for its entire quarter-century of existence. In 2015, Barack Obama\u00a0codified what economist Jeffrey Sachs calls a remarkable \u201clegal fiction<\/a>.\u201d \u00a0His executive order designated Venezuela as an \u201cextraordinary threat<\/a>\u201d to US national security. Renewed by each succeeding president, the executive order is really an implicit recognition of Venezuela\u2019s Bolivarian Revolution as a counter hegemonic alternative, challenging Washington\u2019s world order.<\/p>\n The latest US belligerence testifies to the success of the Venezuelan resistance. The effects of asphyxiating US-led sanctions, which had crashed the economy, have been partly reversed with a return to positive economic growth, leaving the empire with little alternative but to escalate antagonism using its military option.<\/p>\n The AFP<\/em><\/a> reports \u201ctensions between Washington and Caracas have dramatically risen\u201d as if the one-sided aggression were a tit-for-tat. Venezuela seeks peace, but has a gun held to its head.<\/p>\n Reuters, <\/em>blames the victim<\/a>, claiming that the Venezuelan government \u201cis planning to\u2026sow chaos in the event of a US air or ground attack.\u201d In fact, President Nicol\u00e1s Maduro has pledged \u201cprolonged resistance\u201d to Washington\u2019s unprovoked assaults rather than meekly conceding defeat.<\/p>\n The death toll<\/a> from US strikes on alleged small drug boats off Venezuela, in the Pacific off Colombia and Ecuador, and as far north as Mexico now exceeds 75 and continues to rise. But not an ounce of narcotics has been confiscated. In contrast, Venezuela has seized 64 tons of drugs this year without killing anyone, as the Orinoco Tribune <\/em>observes<\/a>.<\/p>\n Russian Foreign Ministry\u2019s Mar\u00eda Zakharova quipped<\/a>: \u201cnow that the US has suddenly remembered, at this historic moment, that drugs are an evil, perhaps it is worth it for the US to go after the criminals within its own elite.\u201d<\/p>\n On November 11, the world\u2019s largest aircraft carrier<\/a>, the USS Gerald R. Ford, and its accompanying warships arrived in the Caribbean. They join an armada of US destroyers, fighter jets, drones, and troops that have been building since August.<\/p>\n In a breathtaking understatement, the Washington Post<\/em> allowed<\/a>: \u201cThe breadth of firepower\u2026 would seem excessive\u201d for drug interdiction in what it glowingly describes as a \u201cstunning military presence.\u201d<\/p>\n Venezuela is now on maximum military alert<\/a> with a threatening flotilla off its coast and some 15,000 US troops standing by.\u00a0 Millions of Venezuelans have joined the militia<\/a>, and international brigades have been welcomed to join the defense. President Maduro issued a decree of \u201cexternal commotion<\/a>,\u201d granting special powers if invaded.<\/p>\n The populace has united around its Chavista leadership. The far-right opposition \u2013 which has called for a military invasion of its own country \u2013 are more isolated than ever. Only 3% support<\/a> such a call.<\/p>\n Their US-designated leader Mar\u00eda Corina Machado has gone bonkers, saying<\/a> \u201cno doubt\u201d that Maduro rigged the 2020 US election against Trump. According to the rabidly anti-Chavista Caracas Chronicles<\/em><\/a>, the so-called Iron Lady \u201cis not simply betting Venezuela\u2019s future on Trump, she is betting her existence.\u201d<\/p>\n The legal eagles at The<\/em> Washington Post <\/em>now find that \u201cthe Trump administration\u2019s approach is illegal<\/a>.\u201d United Nations experts warn that these unprovoked lethal strikes against vessels at sea \u201camount to international crimes<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n Even high-ranking Democrats \u201cremain unconvinced\u201d by the administration\u2019s legal arguments. They\u2019re miffed about being left out of the administration\u2019s briefings and not getting to see full videos of the extrajudicial murders<\/a>.<\/p>\n The Democrats unite with the Republicans in demonizing Maduro to achieve regime change in Venezuela, but wish it could be done by legal means. The so-call opposition party unanimously voted to confirm Marco Rubio as secretary of state, fully aware of the program<\/a> that he now spearheads.<\/p>\n The corporate press has been complicit in regime change in its endless demonization of Maduro. They report that Trump authorized covert CIA operations<\/a> as if that was a scoop<\/em> rather than business as usual. What is new<\/em> is a US administration overtly flaunting supposedly covert machinations. This is part of Washington\u2019s full-press psychological pressure campaign<\/a> on Venezuela, in which the follow-the-flag media have been its eager handmaiden.<\/p>\n The AP<\/em> reports that Jack Keane, when he served as a US Army general, instructed staff to \u201csee reporters as a conduit<\/a>\u201d for the Pentagon. This was cited as a criticism <\/em>of Trump after a few dozen embedded reporters turned in their Pentagon badges. Trump has called out the Washington press corps<\/a> as \u201cvery disruptive in terms of world peace,\u201d proving the adage that even a blind dog can sometimes find a bone.<\/p>\n The Wall Street Journal <\/em>opines<\/a>: \u201cNobody in the [Trump] administration seems prepared to ask the hard questions about what happens if they do destabilize the [Venezuelan] regime but fail to topple it.\u201d Political analysts Medea Benjamin and Nicolas J. S. Davies suggest the answer is carnage and chaos<\/a> \u00a0\u2013 based on the Washington\u2019s past performances in Iraq, Serbia, Afghanistan, Haiti, Libya, Syria, and Yemen, to mention a few.<\/p>\n Foreign Policy<\/em>\u2019s perspective<\/a> \u2013 aligned with the Washington establishment \u2013 is that the level of regional fragmentation is the greatest in the last half century. Regional organizations have become dysfunctional \u2013 \u00a0UNASUR<\/a> has been \u201cdestroyed,\u201d CELAC<\/a> is \u201cuseless,\u201d and the OAS<\/a> canceled its summit. The factionalism, Responsible Statecraft<\/em> agrees<\/a>, \u201cmarks one of the lowest moments for regional relations in decades.\u201d Bilateral \u201cdeals\u201d with the US are replacing regional cohesion.<\/p>\n This is Latin America under the beneficence of Trump\u2019s \u201cDonroe Doctrine<\/a>.\u201d The alternative vision, represented by Venezuela, is CELAC\u2019s Zone of Peace<\/a> and ALBA-TCP\u2019s<\/a> development for mutual benefit.<\/p>\n Roger D. Harris<\/em><\/strong> is a founding member of the <\/em>Venezuela Solidarity Network<\/em><\/a>, is on the board of the Task Force on the Americas<\/a>, and on the secretariat of the <\/em>US Peace Council<\/em><\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The US, under Trump, is unapologetically an empire operating without pretense. International law is for losers. A newly minted War Department, deploying the most lethal killing machine in world history, need not hide behind the sham of promoting democracy. Recall that in 2023 Trump\u00a0boasted:\u00a0\u201cWhen I left, Venezuela was ready to collapse. We would have taken […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":601,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"none","_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"coauthors":[1232],"class_list":["post-56177","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"meta_box":{"disable_donate_message":"0","custom_donate_message":"","subtitle":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.antiwar.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56177","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.antiwar.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.antiwar.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.antiwar.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/601"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.antiwar.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=56177"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.antiwar.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56177\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":56182,"href":"https:\/\/www.antiwar.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56177\/revisions\/56182"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.antiwar.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=56177"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.antiwar.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=56177"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.antiwar.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=56177"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.antiwar.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=56177"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}