It has been an accusation long levelled at certain US politicians that their brains might have been softened by a lengthy diet of television, Westerns, and the heroic triumphalism of the prattling cowboy.  There was never going to be a break with this tradition regarding President Donald Trump, except the fact that he claimed to be more restrained on the draw.  Of late, that restraint has vanished.  A buildup of US army personnel in the Caribbean; the bombing, on fatuous grounds, of vessels in the Caribbean Sea carrying fictional narco-cargo destined for the United States and, just to top things, delirious notions about attacking the Islamic Republic of Iran in the early hours of the morning in the event protestors are shot.

It was clear after the release of the 2025 National Security Strategy that this administration was going to shred the inhibitions imposed by international law and opt for the more liberating costumery of gangsterism.  In the Western Hemisphere, the United States would assert its muscle and dictate terms, as it has done previously, to countries in Latin America.  Washington desired “a Hemisphere whose governments cooperate with us against narco-terrorists, cartels, and other transnational criminal organizations”, one “that remains free of hostile foreign incursion or ownership of key assets, and that supports critical supply chains” and ensured “continued access to key strategic locations.  In other words, we will assert and enforce a ‘Trump Corollary’ to the Monroe Doctrine.”

Venezuela has become the first target of this corollary.  On 3 January, a little after 2 am local time, Caracas, and other sites in the country, were attacked by US forces as part of Operation Absolute Resolve.  By 4:21 am, Trump announced that the Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and his wife Cilia Flores had been captured.  The Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Dan Caine, at a press conference held at the President’s Florida compound, spoke of, “An extraction so precise it involved more than 150 aircraft launching across the Western Hemisphere in close coordination, all coming........

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