Hello All,
Quick note. Someone asked yesterday in the comments when I would write about European policy again. It was fortuitous timing as I have a piece entitled “A Grand Strategy For Europe”, which I was going to send out today or tomorrow. And, btw, I think there will be some surprising and important developments in this area in 2027, which I will be discussing later.
However, the story of Trump’s deal with the Venezuelan government to loot Venezuelan oil broke in the last few days and I wanted to get a piece on that out first. So the European piece will come after the Midweek Update.
Remember when Donald Trump seized Nicolas Maduro? At that time he defended the move as an attempt to bring freedom and the rule of law to the Venezuelan people. His specific claim explaining the seizure was that the USA wanted “peace, liberty, and justice for the great people of Venezuela.”
Of course that was nonsense. From the moment Maduro went, Trump opted to work with—indeed strengthen the position of—the most corrupt and oppressive elements of Maduro’s government. Indeed, it seems possible that that these elements colluded with the Trump administration in the process of getting rid of Maduro.
If you want to go back and read more about how what Trump was doing was not changing the Venezuelan government, but actually entrenching the worst elements, this was the piece I wrote about it on January 6.
Who Are US Partners In Venezuela?
This meant that the Venezuelan government actually strengthened its more extreme and left-wing elements, including not only the new President, Delcy Rodriguez (Maduro’s Vice President), but most importantly the Minister of Justice for Maduro, Diosdado Cabello Rondon. Rondon is ruthless and has been extensively linked to the drugs business. He was on the US State Department’s wanted list up until the moment Trump became president. If you want to read more about his role as it was seen until then, here is an archived version of his State Department page.
