US Sanctions Venezuela: 'Democracy' or Oil Grab?
Mainstream outlets dutifully report the US announcing fresh sanctions on Venezuela, targeting its shipping while vaguely referencing an 'ongoing military standoff' as justification. What they fail to mention is how this 'standoff' bears a striking resemblance to previous US attempts to destabilize nations rich in natural resources. In 2011, then-CIA Director R. James Woolsey famously stated,
'We're going to be in an era of conflict over oil.' Venezuela, holding the world's largest proven oil reserves, inconveniently didn't bow to US corporate interests. One might wonder if the 'military standoff' is less about Caracas's alleged missteps and more about its refusal to auction off its national wealth. The pattern is clear: accuse, sanction, destabilize. This geopolitical script has
played out from Iraq to Libya, always with the convenient discovery of 'tyranny' or 'weapons of mass destruction' just as the US corporate machine smells crude. It raises the question: is it truly about democracy, or just about who controls the next barrel?