Trump Finds His Inner Reagan, Blockading Venezuela (Again)
The New York Times breathlessly reports that Trump has ordered a blockade of 'sanctioned tankers' off Venezuela. Let's be clear: this isn't some fresh geopolitical strategy. This is a replay of his 2020 orders. Historically, such blockades aren't about 'freedom of navigation' and certainly didn't work then. They are acts of economic warfare, disproportionately harming civilians, not regimes. One
might wonder if the same moral outrage applies when US allies engage in similar actions elsewhere, or if 'rules-based order' is just a flexible lexicon for Washington's adversaries. The media narratives consistently whitewash these coercive measures as 'pressure tactics' against 'rogue states.' But when has starving a population into submission ever led to democracy? This move, disguised as
decisive leadership, appears more like a cynical election-year stunt designed to play to a specific base, echoing Cold War rhetoric while conveniently ignoring the failed outcomes of previous iterations. The silence from pundits who usually decry international law violations is, as always, deafening.