We live in a dangerous, unstable world - and Trump is acting as its sovereign |
The US seizure of a Russian-flagged, Venezuela-linked oil tanker is the latest and most dangerous episode in Donald Trump’s neo-imperialist takeover of Venezuela and its oil industry. After last month’s seizure of the tanker Skipper, two more were seized on Wednesday – one in the North Atlantic, another in the Caribbean.
US War Secretary Pete Hegseth posted: “The blockade of sanctioned and illicit Venezuelan oil remains in FULL EFFECT – anywhere in the world.”
Such imperialist power grabs in the 19th century invariably created friction between great military states and brought them into conflict – a process that culminated in the First World War. Assertion of extra-territorial authority – like Trump’s kidnapping of Venezuelan president Nicolás Maduro – likewise fuels imperial hubris and over-reach, with the potential to spark violent conflict anywhere in the world.
Trump now acts as the unchallenged sovereign of the seas with the right to seize any vessel breaching US sanctions or acting contrary to the wishes of the US government – regardless of international law. On land he is establishing control over formerly independent Venezuela, whose post-Maduro leadership he........