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Trump now ‘runs’ Venezuela because Machado accepted the Nobel Peace Prize

Trump now ‘runs’ Venezuela because Machado accepted the Nobel Peace Prize

Larry Diamond writes: To understand the depth of Donald Trump’s betrayal of the democratic movement in Venezuela, it is necessary to appreciate the consummate courage, planning, and organization behind the opposition victory on July 28, 2024. For her valiant efforts to organize and lead the campaign for democracy, María Corina Machado was awarded the 2025 Nobel Peace Prize. In her moving acceptance speech on Dec. 10, read by her daughter (due to her late arrival in Oslo from a perilous…

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Venezuela raid enriches MAGA ‘vulture’ investor, Paul Singer

Venezuela raid enriches MAGA ‘vulture’ investor, Paul Singer

Judd Legum writes: This June, when Trump sought funds to bankroll a primary challenger to Thomas Massie (R-KY), who raised Trump’s ire by supporting the release of the Epstein Files, Singer contributed $1 million, the largest contribution. Since Trump was first elected in 2016, Singer has met personally with Trump at least four times. “Paul just left and he’s given us his total support,” Trump declared after meeting with Singer at the White House in February 2017. “I want to…

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U.S. foes and allies denounce Trump’s ‘crime of aggression’ in Venezuela at UN Security Council meeting

U.S. foes and allies denounce Trump’s ‘crime of aggression’ in Venezuela at UN Security Council meeting

The Guardian reports: The meeting had been requested by Colombia, which delivered a carefully calibrated rebuke of Washington. The country’s ambassador, Leonor Zalabata Torres, condemned the US action as a violation of Venezuela’s sovereignty, political independence and territorial integrity. “Democracy cannot be defended or promoted through violence and coercion, and it cannot be superseded, either, by economic interests,” she said. “There is no justification whatsoever, under any circumstances, for the unilateral use of force to commit an act of aggression.”…

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Trump says the U.S. ‘needs’ Greenland — Europe should take him at his word

Trump says the U.S. ‘needs’ Greenland — Europe should take him at his word

Olga Lautman writes: When a sitting U.S. president openly claims the right to seize foreign territory for “security” and resources, Europe is no longer dealing with rhetoric but with timing. Yesterday should have been another clear wake-up call that these threats are no longer hypothetical. As with Venezuela, which Trump sought to act against during his first term, Greenland has been on his agenda since at least 2019. The difference is that during his first term, there were still restraints—Congress,…

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Trump and Rubio plan to control Venezuela through threats and coercion

Trump and Rubio plan to control Venezuela through threats and coercion

The New York Times reports: Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Sunday appeared to pivot away from President Trump’s assertion a day earlier that the United States would “run” Venezuela, emphasizing instead that the administration would keep a military “quarantine” in place on the country’s oil exports to exert leverage on the new leadership there. When asked how the United States planned to govern Venezuela, Mr. Rubio did not lay out a plan for a U.S. occupation authority, like the…

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‘Naked imperialism’: How Trump intervention in Venezuela is a return to form for the U.S.

‘Naked imperialism’: How Trump intervention in Venezuela is a return to form for the U.S.

The Guardian reports: The US bombardment of Venezuela and the capture of its president, Nicolás Maduro, follow a long history of interventions in South and Central America and the Caribbean over the past two centuries. But they also mark an unprecedented moment as the first direct US military attack on a South American country. At a press conference after Maduro’s capture, Donald Trump said that “American dominance in the western hemisphere will never be questioned again”. But since the mid-19th…

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Trump’s Venezuelan oil bonanza may prove elusive

Trump’s Venezuelan oil bonanza may prove elusive

Reuters reports: Venezuela is unlikely to see any meaningful boost to crude output for years even if U.S. oil majors do invest the billions of dollars in the country that President Donald Trump promised just hours following Nicolás Maduro’s capture by U.S. forces. The South American country may have the world’s largest estimated oil reserves, but output has plummeted over the past decades amid mismanagement and a lack of investment from foreign firms after Venezuela nationalized oil operations in the…

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Trump wants to unlock Venezuela’s oil reserves but the world doesn’t have much appetite for more oil

Trump wants to unlock Venezuela’s oil reserves but the world doesn’t have much appetite for more oil

The Wall Street Journal reports: For months, the U.S. sold its pressure campaign against Venezuela as a way to curtail drug trafficking. Now, it’s about getting American energy companies access to one of the world’s largest oil bounties. The Trump administration’s move to oust Venezuelan strongman Nicolás Maduro in a surprise military operation early Saturday will pave the way for U.S. oil companies to regain a foothold in the South American nation, President Trump said at a Mar-a-Lago press conference….

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Bipartisan opposition to data center boom puts AI industry’s growth plans at risk

Bipartisan opposition to data center boom puts AI industry’s growth plans at risk

CNBC reports: Democratic Socialist Sen. Bernie Sanders and right-wing Gov. Ron DeSantis agree on virtually nothing. But they found common ground this year as leading skeptics of the artificial intelligence industry’s data center boom. The alignment of two national figures on the left and right signals that a political reckoning is brewing over the AI industry’s impact on electricity prices, grid stability and the labor market. The opposition could slow the industry’s development plans if it reaches a broad bipartisan…

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Trump’s imperial ambitions

Trump’s imperial ambitions

Julian Borger writes: Trump’s belief in his own global omnipotence, and his desire to grab the territory and natural resources of other countries has been held in check until now by his fear of entanglement in foreign wars. He claimed (falsely) to have ended eight wars, and his greatest ambition in 2025 seemed to be winning the Nobel peace prize. Less than a month ago he was brandishing a hastily confected substitute, the Fifa peace prize. That act of self-abasement…

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Trump promised MAGA the U.S. wouldn’t police the world – now it’s running Venezuela

Trump promised MAGA the U.S. wouldn’t police the world – now it’s running Venezuela

James Ball writes: America was supposed to be done with being “the world’s policeman”. Donald Trump said so repeatedly during his first term, and during his campaign in 2024. MAGA was sick of seeing US troops deployed around the world, of spending billions on conflicts thousands of miles away, of hearing about places they’d never heard of. Donald Trump would put America first. Today, President Trump announced the United States will be running Venezuela for the foreseeable future – at…

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Venezuela’s VP refuses to bow to Trump’s imperial dictate

Venezuela’s VP refuses to bow to Trump’s imperial dictate

Axios reports: Venezuela’s Vice President Delcy Rodríguez condemned the U.S. attack and capture of President Nicolás Maduro on Saturday, saying in a televised address the nation “will never return to being the colony of another empire.” Why it matters: Rodríguez’s words are the first indicator the transition from Maduro’s regime won’t go as smoothly as President Trump hoped. Trump told reporters Saturday that he expects the U.S. to run Venezuela temporarily, and that Rodríguez had been sworn in as president. Venezuela has not announced that Rodríguez has…

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After capturing Maduro, Trump warns Cuba, Mexico and Colombia could be next

After capturing Maduro, Trump warns Cuba, Mexico and Colombia could be next

Axios reports: Hours after the U.S. invaded Venezuela to seize President Nicolás Maduro, President Trump sent a warning to the governments of Mexico, Cuba and Colombia that their countries could be next. Why it matters: The stunning attack on Caracas follows Trump’s recent assertion of his own version of the Monroe Doctrine, and the president’s comments that the U.S is not afraid to put “boots on the ground” in the country suggest that the administration won’t hesitate to have an ongoing presence in the…

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American justice was supposed to be blind and impartial. Now it aims at vengeance

American justice was supposed to be blind and impartial. Now it aims at vengeance

Paul Rosenzweig writes: Nicolás Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, have been forcibly taken from Venezuela and are being moved to the United States to face criminal drug-trafficking charges. Regardless of the international-law implications of this military action, the Trump administration’s description of what awaits Maduro and Flores has also transgressed basic principles of American domestic criminal law, as well as the underlying philosophical justification for punishment. Attorney General Pam Bondi has promised that Maduro and Flores “will soon face…

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Trump claims the job market is booming for U.S.-born. The data shows the opposite

Trump claims the job market is booming for U.S.-born. The data shows the opposite

The Washington Post reports: President Donald Trump and White House leaders say that American workers are winning because of his immigration crackdown. But the data doesn’t back that up. Since the summer, Trump officials have been trumpeting the idea that job creation is booming for U.S.-born workers. Trump said so, too, during a prime-time address last month aimed at assuaging Americans’ concerns about the economy. “In the year before my election, all net creation of jobs was going to foreign…

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Why Trump is quickly losing Hispanic support

Why Trump is quickly losing Hispanic support

Sam Sanchez and Massey Villarreal write: Forty-eight percent of Hispanic voters supported Donald Trump in 2024. He and his party ought to make a New Year’s resolution for 2026: Listen to Hispanic voters. Ahead of the 2026 midterms, Republicans are bleeding Hispanic support, driven by frustrations over economic hardship and overreaching immigration enforcement. Mr. Trump won record Hispanic support by promising durable solutions on immigration and the economy. Nearly a year later, the administration is taking an enforcement-only approach to…

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