It is providential that Zohran Kwame Mamdani was born in Kampala rather than, say, Kansas City. Otherwise, if he ever made it to the White House as a “natural born US citizen", he might want to pull off a Nicolas Maduro-like “arrest" of his favourite hate figure in India. And a local “hallowed" Nobel Laureate marshalling “international" pressure for such a political coup would help. After all, the US does not consider democracy in other countries to be sacrosanct.

It is also curious that barely a year after what was clearly a US backed if not US aided coup d’etat in Bangladesh ousted the sitting Prime Minister and replaced her with a non-elected “chief advisor" Muhammed Yunus who happens to be a Nobel Peace Prize winner, another Nobel laureate is the frontrunner to step into Maduro’s job in Caracas. Even Maria CorinaMachado’s slew of international awards is comparable to or greater than those Yunus has bagged.

Besides that 2006 Nobel, Yunus notched up two major US awards, pointing to its fondness for him: the US Presidential Medal of Freedom from Barack Obama and the US Congressional Gold Medal. He also got the Magsaysay Award, the World Food Prize, Seoul Peace Prize among many others, and even an Olympic Laurel. Besides the 2025 Nobel for Peace, Machado’s list includes the Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought and the Václav Havel Human Rights Prize.

Despite Machado calling President Donald Trumpsoon after winning the Peace Prize last year and supposedly “dedicating it" to him, there is uncertainty about her ascent to the top office after he announced that the US would “run" Venezuela until a “transition". But that situation may just be pending key post-Maduro “discussions" as Machado is clearly the world media’s favourite “candidate" to lead Venezuela as also of the so-called “international community".

So, is the Nobel Peace Prize the new qualification to become alternative candidates for top political posts by non-voter international entities? With the turmoil........

© News18