Democrats Suddenly Concerned About Foreign Oil Influence... In 2018?
The Hill reports Democrats are gearing up to probe alleged coordination between the Trump administration and oil giants regarding Venezuela. This inquiry, focusing on 2018-2020 actions, aims to uncover whether energy companies influenced sanctions and policy. (Finally, someone notices corporate lobbyists influencing foreign policy, just not the ones spending millions annually on both sides of the
aisle to maintain endless wars.) The timing, a full two administrations later, certainly raises questions. While Democrats pursue this specific, and conveniently past, entanglement, the media silently skips over the fact that U.S. foreign policy in Latin America has historically been a revolving door between Washington and corporate interests, especially in oil and natural resources. From the
United Fruit Company in Guatemala to ITT in Chile, the pattern of 'regime change' (or 'democracy promotion' if you're feeling generous) aligned with U.S. corporate profits is as old as the Monroe Doctrine itself. One might wonder if this investigation is less about exposing influence and more about scoring political points against Trump, rather than genuinely re-evaluating the systemic role of
corporate greed in shaping U.S. foreign policy across the board, or perhaps, current bipartisan support for sanctions that devastate civilian populations.