"It's All About the Oil, Stupid!": Mehdi Hasan on Trump Attacking Venezuela & Kidnapping Maduro

Jan 6, 2026 | Zeteo's Mehdi Hasan outlines Donald Trump's "Donroe Doctrine," a throwback foreign policy exemplified by the Trump administration's shocking intervention in Venezuela. With his claims of U.S. sovereignty over nations in the Western Hemisphere, "Trump's basically saying, 'Well, this is ours, and China, Russia can have their spheres of influence.' And it is very 19th-century-esque. 'Let's divide up the world between the powers.'" This orientation is a major shift from U.S. foreign policy of recent decades, such as the 2003 invasion of Iraq, when interventionist actions were framed around ideological motivations, explains Hasan. "They said it was WMDs. They said it was democracy. They said it was al-Qaeda. They at least pretended that it wasn't about the oil." Meanwhile, Trump is brazen about his aims to seize control of Venezuela's resources and demonstrate that "might is right."

I can think of many words that one could use to describe Trump. Just about all of them are uncomplimentary. But, when thinking about Trump’s bold and audacious move on Venezuela, the word which immediately springs to mind is THIEF. — © Mark Alexander

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