"The US president was leaning on a bulkhead on Air Force One, in a charcoal suit and gold tie, regaling reporters with inside details of the abduction of Nicolas Maduro. He claimed his government was in charge of Venezuela and that US companies were poised to extract the country's oil wealth. Clearly giddy with the success of the operation, achieved without a single US fatality but several Venezuelan and Cuban ones, Trump then served notice on a string of other nations that could face the same fate."
"Cuba is ready to fall, he said. Colombia was run by a sick man who was selling cocaine to the US but who would not be doing it for very long. Trump said he would postpone for 20 days to two months any discussions about his desired takeover of Greenland, the semi-autonomous territory of Denmark, a Nato ally, but made clear he was determined to seize it for the sake of US national security."
"Lest there was any doubt about the scale of Trump's territorial ambitions, his administration posted its message to the world in capital letters, some of them red, on social media. This is OUR hemisphere, the state department declared on X above a black and white picture of Trump looking grimly determined. The White House deputy chief of staff, Stephen Miller, went on CNN to provide the rationale for Trump's new approach to foreign policy. We live in a world, in the real world, Jake, that is governed by strength, that is governed by force, that is governed by power."
An armed operation seized Venezuela's president at the start of 2026. The US president publicly celebrated aboard Air Force One, claiming control of Venezuela and imminent extraction of its oil by US companies. The operation produced no US fatalities but caused Venezuelan and Cuban deaths. The president issued explicit threats toward Cuba and Colombia and announced intentions to pursue control of Greenland, citing national security. The administration amplified its stance on social media with the declaration “This is OUR hemisphere.” A senior White House aide framed the approach as one governed by strength, force and power.
Read at www.theguardian.com
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