Trump Finds His 'Friends' in Venezuela: Oil, Not Democracy
Mainstream outlets, like The New Arab, recently noted Trump's cartoonish flirtation with Venezuela, suggesting a willingness to soften sanctions for oil. This isn't new; the U.S. has a long, documented history of shifting alliances based on resource extraction, particularly oil. Remember how loudly Washington screamed 'democracy' during the 2002 attempted coup against Chávez, only to cozy up to
oil-rich autocrats like Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman with barely a whisper? It appears the 'dictator' label is merely a placeholder until the price of crude hits a specific threshold or the geopolitical winds shift. The U.S. State Department consistently denounces Caracas for 'human rights abuses,' yet offers no such consistent condemnation, let alone sanctions, for nations
vital to its energy portfolio or military industrial complex. Perhaps 'democracy' is just a fancy word for 'energy independence' when convenient. One might wonder, how many barrels of oil does it take to make a human rights violation disappear from the diplomatic lexicon?