| This week began with the shocking news of the illegal kidnapping of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro ordered by President Donald Trump and his “secretary of war.” But perhaps it shouldn’t be so surprising, Séamus Malekafzali wrote. After all, it was Trump who authorized the illegal assassination of Iranian military commander Qassem Soleimani in 2020.
While Trump cited “narcoterrorism” to defend Maduro’s abduction, he also didn’t hide how much he coveted Venezuela’s natural resources. The United States is already the world’s largest petrostate, and as Mark Hertsgaard explained this week, “The United States’ vast oil reserves have been key to its superpower status for more than a century.” Trump was clearly motivated by the promise of power and profits from the seizure of Venezuela’s oil. As many have noted in near disbelief, Trump said he plans to “run the country.”
Meanwhile, Chris Lehmann wrote that Democrats in Congress did what they do best when they hear about presidential abuses: “as little as possible.” Hopefully they will do a bit more to respond to the news from Minneapolis, where an ICE agent murdered an ICE observer, a poet and mother named Renee Nicole Good. Governor Tim Walz has already spoken up and so has a hurting city. Alyssa Oursler reports from the vigil for Good that the protesters have two simple demands: “ICE out” and justice for Renee.
-Alana Pockros
Associate Editor, The Nation |
