The Independent Uganda: You get the Truth we Pay the Price
Critics have compared the offensive against Venezuela to the Iraq war, citing a familiar mix of regime-change rhetoric and security pretexts, whose fundamental aim is to serve Washington’s oil interests.
BEIJING | Xinhua | Since late August, the United States has ramped up military presence in the Caribbean off Venezuela’s coast, alongside escalating sanctions, blockades and military threats against the oil-rich South American nation.
In a notable development, the White House has ordered the U.S. military to focus almost exclusively on enforcing a “quarantine” of Venezuelan oil for at least the next two months, Reuters reported on Wednesday, citing a U.S. official.
What are the true motives behind these actions? What outcome does Washington really want?
DRUG-TRAFFICKING CLAIMS
Since September, the U.S. military has launched dozens of strikes on vessels in the Caribbean Sea and Pacific Ocean, which were allegedly carrying drugs.
The strikes, whose legality has been questioned by experts and even U.S. lawmakers from both parties, have killed more than 100 people, according to figures released by the U.S. administration.
However, Washington justified the deadly operations as its “war on drug cartels.”
Last week, U.S. President Donald Trump ordered a “full and total blockade” of all sanctioned tankers entering or leaving Venezuela, and Washington has already seized two Venezuelan oil tankers.
On Monday, Trump said the U.S. goal “probably would” be to force Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro from power, and he thinks “it would be smart” for Maduro to step down.
TRUE MOTIVE
Critics, including lawmakers in the U.S. Capitol, have questioned whether counternarcotics is indeed the only U.S. motive.
At a Tuesday emergency meeting of the UN Security Council convened over the situation in Venezuela, Venezuela’s ambassador to the United Nations, Samuel Moncada Acosta, accused Washington of committing the “greatest extortion” against his country.
Venezuelan Defense Minister Vladimir Padrino Lopez told a press conference last week that Trump “has said that we are the thieves of the oil that lies beneath our soil. That is completely incoherent.”
The truth was exposed to the international community, as it became clear that the escalating pressure and hostility against Venezuela are motivated by the U.S. intention to seize Venezuelan oil, the official added.
Venezuela was estimated to have about 303 billion barrels of oil in 2023, the world’s largest proven crude oil reserves, accounting for roughly 17 percent of global reserves, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.
Trump said on Monday that oil seized from Venezuela could be treated as a U.S. asset. “Maybe we will sell it, maybe we will keep it,” he told reporters. “Maybe we’ll use it in the strategic reserves. We’re keeping the ships also.”
The remarks echo earlier statements from Trump where he has repeatedly called for the United States to seize oil from other countries, indicating a broader belief that U.S. power entitles it to control or extract resources from other states, according to a Wednesday report of British newspaper The Guardian.
“RESOURCE IMPERIALISM”
Trump’s claims to Venezuelan oil are part of broader “resource imperialism,” an expert said in an analysis piece in The Guardian.
The U.S. administration’s global energy policy “is mostly about using the threat of violence or the withholding of aid” to secure the inputs for its energy strategy, said Patrick Bigger, co-director of Transition Security Project, a research initiative focused on the climate and geopolitical concerns of militarization.
Critics have compared the offensive against Venezuela to the Iraq war, citing a familiar mix of regime-change rhetoric and security pretexts, whose fundamental aim is to serve Washington’s oil interests.
A 2023 article titled “Iraq wars and the American economy,” archived in the EBSCO database — a major U.S. information services provider — said: “Since World War II, U.S. foreign policy has prioritized securing oil from the Persian Gulf, with Iraq playing a critical role due to its substantial oil reserves.”
In 2003, the United States launched a military invasion of Iraq under the pretext that it possessed weapons of mass destruction. The war left hundreds of thousands of people dead and almost 10 million displaced.
Following the “conflict,” “significant American business opportunities arose, notably through contracts with oil companies to exploit Iraqi oil fields,” the article wrote.
During his first presidential campaign, Trump argued that though the United States should not have launched the Iraq war, it should have taken Iraq’s oil to compensate for the U.S. military spending.
“You win the war and you take it,” he told ABC in 2015. “You’re not stealing anything … We’re reimbursing ourselves.”■
The United States is an empire in decline – and you know what? Just as well – good riddance. The only trouble is, as America goes into decline she becomes even more
dangerous and aggressive.
The United States’ efforts to destabilize Venezuela, and the resulting harm to the Caribbean and Latin America, reflect a recurring pattern of U.S. foreign policy interventions seen previously in the Middle East and the Global South.
In the 80 odd years of American hegemony – she has caused so much death and destruction globally – however, Donald Trump, like Caligula in Rome will lead to America’s rapid decline – which may not be such a bad thing for Africa.
In just 243 years since the United States attained independence (1776) to date, that country has been involved in many wars and foreign interventions that have caused a lot of death and misery all over the planet wars:
Here is a brief:
On June 18, 1812, the United States and Britain (in Canada) fought a second war. From 1812 to 1815, the United States attacked the British north American colonies in Canada.
From 1822 to 1847, the United States established the Liberian colony.
In 1844, the United States forced the Qing dynasty (in China) to sign the treaty of Wanxia with the threat of military vessels.
May 13, 1846 – February 2, 1848, the United States invaded Mexico.
In April 1858, the U.S. envoy led the fleet in the second opium war.
In 1866, 1867 and 1871, the United States invaded North Korea 3 times, but it failed under the resistance of the Korean people.
On February 1, 1893, the United States annexed the Hawaiian islands, establishing a puppet regime and formally annexed them in 1898.
In 1898, the United States occupied the Philippines during the spanish-american war.
In May 1900, the United States sent troops to participate in the 8-nation allied invasion of China.
In 1903, the United States engineered a coup in Panama to separate it from Colombia, and then stationed troops in the canal zone to form a state within a state.
In 1906, the United States invaded Cuba.
In 1915, the United States invaded and occupied Haiti.
On June 6, 1927, the United States sent more than 1,000 marines to land and occupy Qingdao, China
On December 8, 1941, the United States declared war on Japan. It had been supplying Japan with large quantities of war supplies to support its military aggression against China. The United States cashed in on the Japanese invasion.
On December 11, 1941, the United States declared war on Germany after Germany and Italy declared war on the United States.
On August 26, 1945, the United States Pacific army chief, general MacArthur, ruled the imperial Japanese base after dropping two (2) atomic bombs on that country.
On September 6, 1945, 460,000 American troops occupied Japan’s major cities and strategic locations, beginning a full military occupation of Japan.
On June 25, 1950, the United States launched the invasion of Korea and the United States manipulated the United Nations to pass an illegal resolution to form a United Nations army.
On June 27, 1950, U.S. President Harry Truman announced armed intervention in North Korea.
On June 27, 1950, Truman said that “China will directly threaten the security of the Pacific region” and sent the 7th fleet to invade the Taiwan strait and impede the mainland’s recovery of Taiwan.
On August 10, 1950, the 13th U.S. air bourne wing of the airforce invaded Taiwan and signed a treaty of common defense with Chiang Kai-Shek.
Between 15–19 August 1953, the United States together with Britain, overthrew the democratically elected Prime Minister Mohammad Mosaddegh of Iran
On July 7, 1954, the US via it’s CIA in an operation named “PBSUCCESS” overthrew Guatemala’s democratically elected President Jacobo Árbenz and installed a military dictator, Carlos Castillo Armas – over 200,000 people were killed.
On July 14 1958, the United States engineered the overthrow and assasination of Iraqi monarch, King Faisal II.
On July 15, 1958, the United States intervened in the Lebanese civil war and invaded, airlifting arms to the pro-American chamon, and landing 15, 000 marines in the 6th fleet, which later reached 45, 000. Until October 25.
On April 17, 1959, the United States sent 1,600 mercenaries, 38 aircraft and 15 warships to invade Cuba. After 72 hours of fierce fighting, the Cuban army fought back.
On July 8, 1960, the United States supported Belgium in its armed aggression against the Congo (today the Democratic Republic of the Congo), and the United States (under Kennedy – he was no saint) killed the country’s first Prime Minister Patrice Lumumba in January 1961 – it is estimated that over 100,000 people are believed to have been killed during the crisis. The Democratic Republic of the Congo continues to lurch from one crisis to another – largely caused by US intervention. The country has never recovered.
On November 24, 1960, the Vietnamese government asked the government of the United States for military assistance. The first American helicopter troop moved into south Vietnam. The United States began large-scale military action.
In 1961, the United States sent the 7th fleet off the coast of Laos, and 500 marines invaded.
In May 1961, the United States sent 400 special forces and 100 military advisers to help with the south Vietnamese war. By 1962 the United States had sent 11,000 troops.
On May 30, 1961, the United States via it’s CIA engineered the assassination of the president of the Dominican Republic, Rafael Trujillo.
On October 16, 1962, when the United States imposed a blockade on Cuba, ‘St. Kennedy” proposed 7 tough measures, sending 40 warships and 20,000 navies to seal it off.
In November 1963, President Ngô Đình Diệm of South Vietnam was (under the supervision of the CIA) overthrown and assassinated. The same CIA, returned the favor to their boss, and in turn orchestrated and assassinated the US President “St. John Kennedy” less than 3 weeks later. Kennedy was no saint – his actions (like all US presidents) led to the deaths and misery of thousands of people.
From 1963 to 1975, the US army killed over 4 million south-east Asians.
On August 10, 1964, the United States invaded Vietnam.
On March 8, 1965, the U.S. military deployed 18,000 additional troops in Vietnam.
On April 29, 1965, the then US President President Lyndon B. Johnson gave the order to invade the Dominican Republic. Within a few days, the United States sent 35,000 troops, 380 planes and 40 warships.
On March 18, 1970, the United States engineered a coup against the Cambodian government of Norodom Sihanouk.
On April 21, 1971, CIA mercenaries invaded Yemen.
On 11 September 1973, The United States the United States engineered a coup in Chile. Chile’s elected President, Salvador Allende, was assassinated. Thousands of civilians were kidnapped, tortured, and murdered in the resulting chaos.
In 1980 the United States began training Osama bin Laden, and the CIA provided him and his group in addition to the Mujahideen (that later became the Taliban) with US$3 billion worth of equipment and training – so as to distabilize the communist government in Afghanistan.
The United States provided the Taliban over US$200 million in support and training.
The United States supported Saddam Hussein’s killing of Iranians during the Iran – Iraq war (1980-1988). The United States also supplied arms to Iran in 1983. The results of this war, 1 million – 1.6 million casualties.
On October 19, 1983, following a coup in Grenada, then US President Ronald Reagan signed a military operation codenamed Operation Urgent Fury, resulting in the murder of the country’s Prime Minister, Maurice Bishop.
On March 23, 1986, U.S. forces used the pretext of “fighting terrorism” to strike Libya, killing 150 Libyan soldiers.
On April 15, 1986, the Libyan capital and the second largest city were bombarded by planes in what Reagan called a “self-defense operation.”
On July 22, 1987, U.S. military helicopters attacked Iran’s minesweeper.
On October 19, 1987, U.S. forces shelled an Iranian oil development platform on the high seas.
On April 14, 1988, the American frigate was thundered in the gulf, and Reagan ordered retaliation! Seven ships, including the USS Enterprise, were used to attack and sink several Iranian vessels.
On March 16, 1988, US President Ronald Reagan ordered more than 3,000 U.S. troops to invade Honduras, under the pretext of stopping the communist Sandinistas of Nicaragua.
On January 4, 1989, aircraft aboard the USS Kennedy, an American sixth fleet carrier in the Mediterranean, spotted the Libyan aircraft and immediately shot it down.
On 20 December 1989, the United States invaded Panama under the code name “operation Just Cause”, resulting in the overthrow of Panama’s President Manuel Noriega – who they (the Americans incarcerated in their prison system). Over 3,000 civilians were killed.
1990 Iraq attacked Kuwait with American weapons.
On January 17, 1991, the first Gulf war broke out when a multinational force led by the United States bombed Baghdad. Led by the United States, the multinational forces carried out 38 days of strategic bombing and tactical air strikes in Iraq, sending out 112,000 sorties, firing 288 cruise missiles and more than 200,000 tons of projectiles.
The United States bombed Iraq every week in 1991, and the United Nations estimates 500,000 child casualties.
On October 7, 1993, American troops pulled out of Somalia, ending what critics called a “dirty war” that threatened to destabilize the United States.
On July 30, 1994, U.S. forces invaded Haiti, ousting its leaders and supporting its figureheads.
On March 20, 2003, the United States and to a smaller extent Britain, invaded Iraq under pretext of searching for weapons of mass destruction. The actions of the US resulted in the murder of Iraq’s president Saddam Hussein, and the total collapse of the state in Iraq. This led to complete chaos, a massive refuge and humanitarian crisis and the creation of armed terror groups such as ISIS (Daesh – the Islamic State).
On October 20, 2011, the United States engineered the overthrow and assassination of Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi – again, leading to a massive refuge and humanitarian crisis, and a sudden proliferation of terror groups not seen on the African continent such as AQIM (al-Qaeda in the Maghreb), Boko Haram and ISIS, leading to total chaos in the Sahel region of Africa.
The United States continues to sow chaos in the Middle East – resulting in the continued deaths and displacement of millions of people in that reqion. The US inserted itself into the Syrian conflict which continues to this day.
The United States is not interested in justice or peace – simply its own selfish interests. Where ever the United States goes, so does death and bloodshed follow.
The United States and her western minions (particularly Britain and France) are unwilling and unable to compete with China on an economic scale in Africa, and have resorted to using armed intervention (the AFRICOM command) and sabotage (arming and training groups like AQIM and Boko Haram) to ensure that China’s economic partnership with Africa fails resulting in more hardship for Africans.