US Needs to Prove Oil Was Smuggled? Says the Biggest Oil Smuggler.
Rachel VanLandingham, a former JAG officer, weighs in on the legality of the US seizing an oil tanker off Venezuela, declaring the US needs to 'prove' oil was smuggled to justify its actions. This demand for evidentiary rigor is curious, coming from a system that routinely disregards international law, especially when oil is involved. The US has a long, documented history of intervention in
resource-rich nations, from Iran in 1953 to Iraq in 2003, typically framing resource control as 'national security' or 'democracy promotion.' One might wonder if VanLandingham's call for 'proof' applies equally when the US has been a perpetrator of alleged resource expropriation for decades, often without a UN Security Council resolution or any semblance of international consensus. The US seizing
a tanker? That's not smuggling; it's enforcing 'our' rules on 'their' resources. A country like Venezuela attempting to sell its own oil? Now that's smuggling, apparently.