By Alan Singer
Like many Americans, I am puzzled by President Donald Trump’s justifications for the invasion of Venezuela and the incarceration of its President. It appears to be a violation of international law and the 1973 U.S. War Powers Act which required the President to consult with Congress before launching a military campaign. The Trump administration maintains it didn’t require Congressional authorization because it was a law enforcement operation, not a military incursion.
It remains unclear how these actions place America first, unless the goal is seizing Venezuelan assets like its oil reserves. But even this is questionable. According to Paul Krugman, American oil companies are not anxious to take over the Venezuelan oil industry because its equipment is dilapidated and the oil is a form that is expensive to process.
In an editorial, The New York Times declared Trump’s behavior in Venezuela “Illegal and Unwise.” Similar actions by the United States to force regime change in Afghanistan, Iraq, and Libya have made the situations in these countries worse. The Guardian accused the United States under Trump of becoming a “rogue state.” Brazil, Mexico, Colombia, Chile, Spain and Uruguay issued a joint resolution denouncing the attack on Venezuela and the kidnapping of its President as “an extremely dangerous precedent.” They warned against “any attempt at governmental control, administration, or external appropriation of natural or strategic resources” in Venezuela. However most domestic and foreign critics of Trump have moderated their responses to the attack on Venezuelan sovereignty, apparently fearful of incurring Donald Trump’s animus. Trump has already threatened future U.S. military incursions into Mexico, Cuba, and Colombia and is once again claiming the United States should take control over Greenland.
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Source: Daily Kos
Image source: clipart-library.com
Alan Singer is a historian and teacher educator at Hofstra University, Hempstead, New York. His most recent books are Social Studies for Secondary Schools, 5th edition (Routledge, 2024) and Class-Conscious Coal Miners (SUNY Press, 2024). Blogs, tweets, essays, interviews, and e-blasts present his views and not those of Hofstra University.