I would be happy to receive comments on the events in Venezuela. I am not planning to make any early statement myself on these issues, and will study the US and Venezuelan responses as they develop. It seems likely this will lead to some rebuilding of the badly run down Venezuelan oil industry which will drive oil prices down easing inflationary pressures.
January 3, 2026
worries me look what happened in Iraq and Afganistan
January 4, 2026
Trump is neither Bush nor Biden. Nevertheless what he appears to be attempting is a monumental undertaking, especially as Trump has unfinished business in Ukraine and the Middle East, while also being threated by China over Taiwan. The last named would seem to be a threat of conventional military invasion which would consume enormous quantities of resources to counter.
January 4, 2026
PG. The Chinese haven’t done so, but they could say “if the US can take over a sovereign nation, then we can take over our errant province of Taiwan”. What’s good for the goose…
January 4, 2026
I agree. Kidnapping a foreign head of state could set a dangerous precedent.
January 3, 2026
Let hope it goes well, I tend to think it will, but perhaps I am rather too optimistic. If only Starmer would listen to the helpful instructions from Trump:- ditch net zero, fire the dire “nasty” and incompetent London Mayor, cut taxes, restrore freedom of speech, cut red tape, drill, frack and mine, cut low skilled immigration, stop two tier justice, halve the size of the state, ditch two tier Justice, have real freedoms of choice and get out of Mrs Reeves’s insane doom loop economics!
January 4, 2026
I think the large majority of electorate agree with all of that!
January 3, 2026
Russia is very cross about it so it must be good. Venezuela will be better off without him and his wife. But how will the elected president be able to get rid of his gang now waving flags and guns all over the place? If USA goes in and takes over they will abandon again suddenly as they have done before, Vietnam, Afghanistan et al.
The oil price is falling because demand in China has plummeted.
January 3, 2026
I don’t think Trump intends to occupy Venezuela per se but just try to intimidate the existing government into doing as they are told. However, I doubt the Chavistas/Cartels will give up that easily and I’m afraid the odds of anarchy reigning there for a good while are quite high.
The oil price is dropping because supply is currently exceeding demand and this will likely continue next year. This should be good news for us ICE drivers (but maybe not under this lot) and will also (hopefully) hit Putin in the pocket too..
January 4, 2026
Ukraine is doing very well to destroy Putin’s access to oil for the invasion, the rest of the world must do their bit on the rest.
January 4, 2026
oil price is falling because it looks like the regime in iran will fall, and be replaced with something better, hopefully bringing their oil properly onto world markets.
January 3, 2026
USA has enough of an excuse under “self defence”, defence from out of control drugs cartels swamping US cities with drugs destroying American youth. Out of control immigration rings flooding the US with illegal immigrants.
One can only hope the USA does the same to Starmer and Khan.
January 4, 2026
@iain gill – here is hoping. Although 2TK now refuses to share security information with the USA.
January 4, 2026
@Ian Gill. The cartels are overwhelmingly Columbian and Mexican. The base materials for synthetic drugs come from India and China.
Venezuela has oil. Trump has now said, that’s what he wants. And Rubio wants to deny that oil to Cuba.
Drug suppression is a flimsy excuse. Even the US DeA website recently reported that Venezuela was way, way down the list of suply countries to the US.
January 3, 2026
Much was wrong in Venezuela especially having a leader appointed on the basis of faulty election.
Trump describes the people as being freed by military action yet the legality of a nation interfering in another’s affairs is uncertain. Control of oil, weapons and drugs are probably the major issues needing urgent attention.
Typically many other issues will emerge with major consequences. Iraq and Afghanistan did not end well and generated long-lingering effects. Effects on Cuba are yet another dimension.
The US appears to have planned carefully but they are unlikely to be able to manage all outcomes. Starmer seemed unaware when questioned and gave merely a holding response.
January 3, 2026
It is clear Starmer is not taken into the confidence of US special operations because they do not trust him.
On that point of trust does anyone actually trust Starmer?
January 4, 2026
A couple of months ago, it was reported that the UK had stopped sharing intelligence with the USA about narcoboats in the Caribbean because it believed USA attacks on them were illegal. Marco Rubio subsequently said this was a “false story” …. but personally I think it sounds extremely plausible.
Why would the USA inform Two-Tier of their plans? He and his Administration is simply not trustworthy.
January 5, 2026
Keeping plans secret depends on the fewest number of people knowing, and Keir Starmer is often an untrustworthy opponent anyway.
January 4, 2026
The Fabian’s think he’s a worthy leader!
January 4, 2026
@Bloke. Perhaps we could argue that Starmer was elected under a “faulty election”, and hope Trump abducts him, too!
January 5, 2026
Based on the Labour Manifesto and the claims they made both before and after election, that would be a stong case.
January 3, 2026
Shared threats, the drug trafficking to the USA and the UK come from the same source organised by the same gangs
Media Quotes
“The decision by the United Kingdom to withhold intelligence from its closest ally cannot be dismissed as part of the ordinary course of events.”
“The United Kingdom’s decision to withhold intelligence is significant because it holds the line on behaviour it deems to be illegal.”
“Intelligence sharing between the United States and United Kingdom is special, even when compared to the Five Eyes intelligence community that the two nations formed after World War II and now includes Australia, Canada, and New Zealand. The decision by the United Kingdom to withhold intelligence from its closest ally cannot be dismissed as part of the ordinary course of events.”
The Guardian “Keir Starmer says he wants ‘ambitious security partnership’ with EU”
‘European Council president, António Costa, told reporters that “everyone was delighted to welcome Sir Keir Starmer … and to say clearly that the United Kingdom and the European Union are reliable and predictable partners”’
The trend is to make things irreversible and consign the UK to servitude
January 4, 2026
The only thing that is ‘reliable and predictable’ about Starmer’s Gang of Fabians and communists and the anti-democratic expansionist empire of the EU is that they will be on the wrong side, the side of oppression, hate and destruction.
January 3, 2026
I am sceptical about this..US always has had big drugs problems but now oil is involved. Why doesn’t he do the same to Russia?.Corrupt US administration
January 4, 2026
@Jane – the source of drugs into the US is the same source of drugs into the UK – Venezuela.
The Royal Navy is active in the area to stop these shipments, the last was £160m of cocaine from that source. As for oil yes Venezuela has the Worlds largest resource, but their neighbour and former UK Colony and Commonwealth Member Guyana has uncovered some large reserves. As a result Maduro has threatened to invade Guyana. Ordinarily I would suggest the UK would come to Guyana’s aid but under 2TK he would have helped Maduro seize the country for a barrel of oil.
January 4, 2026
@Ian B. In the most recent assessments (2024 and 2025 NDTA), Venezuela Venezuela is not highlighted as a top-tier threat country for U.S.-bound drugs. (National Drug Threat Assessment of the US Drug Enforcement Agency).
January 4, 2026
The 2024 NDTA does not contain even a single reference to Venezuela.
Both years’ reports focus heavily on Mexican cartels using Chinese raw materials to produce synthetic opiates as the single biggest drug issue the US faces.
This is all about Trump getting control of Venezuela’s oil reserves (supposedly 17% of the world’s reserves). It is also heavy crude, different from the USA’s light crude, but needed by US refineries as part of the refining process.
I’m sure there’ll be some way that he enhances his bank balance along the way as well.
January 3, 2026
You’ve got to hand it to Trump he’s decisive in his actions. I bet Iran is watching closely.
He’s realigning the world order taking on the bad players rather than hand wringing like our useless leaders.
I just hope the people of Venezuela benefit from his intervention.
January 4, 2026
Starmer’s Gang is not on the same side as Trump.
January 3, 2026
I think today was a good outcome and I applaud President Trump and the US special forces. I believe there is legal justification as a dangerous individual was arrested today. Venezuela’s leaders have been accused of institutional drug trafficking since 1999 and Maduro himself was formally charged with drug trafficking and money laundering in 2020 too (please see link below). Interpol couldn’t arrest him so his arrest would necessitate a US military mission or he would never be arrested.
That said I think there are ulterior motives too including Maduro selling discounted sanctioned oil to China and India, the 1976 Venezuelan oil industry nationalisation (theft) many of which were stolen US oil fields, being a Socialist dictatorship with corrupt elections and being an historic source of mass criminal migration to the US.
Venezuela has not been invaded, the infrastructure remains intact and Trump said today he can work with the VP Delcy Rodriguez too so I think civil unrest is unlikely.
I think it was a justified move which has been a good outcome for the US and likely Venezuela too.
https://www.nbcmiami.com/news/national-international/these-are-the-charges-maduro-and-his-wife-face-following-their-capture/3743104/
January 3, 2026
Trump has been looking to do this for some time. Initially he was sinking Venezuelan boats in international waters. Now this.
January 3, 2026
I congratulate President Trump on taking this action which I fully support. Maduro was illegitimately still in power through sheer brutality having lost an election even after illegitimately stopping his strongest opponent from standing. I , where practical, do believe (even as a libertarian) like John Donne in the human race that at least in extremis no man nor country is an island entire unto himself – ask not for whom the bell doth toll, it tolls for thee.
January 3, 2026
I’m very pleased that President Trump has removed the evil dictator Maduro.
A fantastic military operation by USA special forces.
Imprisoning his opponents without trial.
Impoverishing his people whilst enriching his pals.
Making evil drugs his major cash crop.
Taking companies into national control without compensation.
Ruining a national economy which has huge amounts of natural resources is a remarkable negative achievement.
The world is a much better place for the discisive action taken by America.
PS
I expext hefner is having a fit.
January 3, 2026
Hear hear, a great many common people can sleep soundly tonight due to Trumps actions, and few can’t ….I wish wealth & health for a democreatic venezuela
January 3, 2026
Primarily, as I see it, this is all about stopping so many drugs killing US citizens – That alone was enough to justify the action but there are other benefits too, including that people who had to leave Venezuela can plan to go home once the country is stabilized.
Maduro was a high class criminal – without this action he would have held onto power for many years, sucking any wealth he could out of the country while supervising the destruction of so many lives through drugs.
Trump has shown himself a caring president who will act against tyranny. I wish he’d give some lessons to Starmer on what makes a decent leader.
January 3, 2026
1. I salute the American armed forces and intelligence services. My goodness, they are good. I read in the New York Times that there was a human intelligence source within Maduro’s close coterie feeding precise information about where he was and what his contingency plans were through several weeks in the run-up to Christmas. The information was so good that the US Army Delta Force team was able to build a full-scale model of the safe house and practice storming it well in advance of the operation.
2. I imagine that the American diplomatic service is looking forward to explaining to their Russian counterparts how it is that Uncle Sam can reach into a neighbouring capital and grab the head of state but the Kremlin couldn’t manage it when they tried it four years ago. The Russians have requested a special session of the UN Security Council to discuss the situation: if I was in the State Department I’d be preparing to play back to the Russians exactly the same excuses that they used in Security Council discussions about Ukraine in 2022, and with a wry smile.
January 3, 2026
It’s an interesting conumdrum isn’t it.
Trump walks all over the idea of sovereignty by “kidnapping” the Head of State of another nation. Just about everyone on the news today seems horrifed by this breaking of “International Law”.
However, this man is also effectively the leader of a drug cartel, whose government has been complicit in large scale drug smuggling into the US. There is also some doubt about whether he actually won the last election – so is he actually the elected representative of his people or just a criminal who has siezed power?
In practice, i don’t think it really matters. Trump deciced to act and has done so, in exactly the samme way as Putin did in Ukraine and Xi Jinping will most likely do in Taiwan. Others don’t like this new world because they imagine this perfect New International World order where everyone obeys the(ir) rules. They’ve forgotton the realities of power. The strong do as they wish and the weak look on and keep their thoughts to themselves.
I beleive much of what Trump is doing actually involves China. He is facing America West and is also making sure his backyard is secure. This includes Venuzula, with it’s huge oil reserves (and debts to China) and soon I suspect Cuba. He’s going to let Europe deal with Russia (or not) as he doesn’t want a fight on two fronts. He is also securing his energy resources and denying cheal oil to China by this move. China has been on maneuvers around Taiwan again recently and they will keep ramping this pressure up. Best case there will be a new Cold War between the US and China.
Countries that try to sit on the fence are going to find that is a very uncomfortable place to perch – as Starmer was reminded today. The world is changing and change always brings disruption. It’s time to rethink our national priorities and quickly…
January 4, 2026
+1
January 3, 2026
Success all depends on how quickly a democratic government and free enterprise can be established in Venezuela so that the USA can step back and allow a nation in recovery retrospectively to demonstrate that Trump’s decisive action was justified.
January 3, 2026
This is clearly an operation in line with the USA’s well practiced policy of taking out those characters it has declared a pariah. Osama Bin Laden style. In this case capturing the pariah and his wife to put them on trial is a new dimension and will be worth watching how it unfolds.
On the other side of the question we have to be aware of the risks this sort of action brings into play. Who exactly has the right to invade a sovereign nation then capture its dictator and place him on trial?
If that same snatch squad visited Downing St. and took away Starmer in blindfold and cable ties for trial in the USA would we be so accepting of the action?
Having thought about that for a minute, the answer is obviously, yes we would be very happy providing stalled elections are immediately allowed to take place and a general election is immediately called.
We can but hope….
January 3, 2026
We just don’t have enough information to effectively judge. Is this all about narcotics or is oil America’s real interest? Maduro and his wife apparently taken unharmed? Did he know in advance? All very suspicious.
January 3, 2026
I too have no argument over this latest bit of decisive US action, but how come at the same time, President Trump treats Ukraine with such contempt? I can only conclude that Putin has some hold over him ( etc ed)
It now looks like the Mad Mullahs of Iran will only need a gentle nudge…………..here’s hoping.
The US can then go in and confiscate their entire stock of nuclear materiel and take it to the US.
January 3, 2026
Trump gets my vote, with the importation of drugs & international criminality etc, he saw a clear and present danger….and acted
January 4, 2026
I agree. Starmer would never have done that. He, and his Government, just talk tough, as if they are actually doing something.
January 3, 2026
Having just watched the ludicrous statement by the illegitimate VP, it looked surreal.
How does she propose to “defend” the country, or reinstate her equally illegitimate boss?
It will be interesting to see him appear in court. Pity Putin won’t be standing next to him charged with crimes against Ukraine.
January 4, 2026
I understand Maduro is to tried in a US court under US law. There will be much said about the legality or otherwise of this. We have an International Criminal Court which, “tries individuals charged with the gravest crimes of concern to the international community: genocide, war crimes, crimes against humanity and the crime of aggression.”
Maduro’s supposed crimes seem not to lie within the jurisdiction of either the ICC or US courts. I remember an Army officer colleague (I was in the RN) remarking that the best way to avoid such difficulties is to kill them in the field. It seems Trump sees an advantage in demostrating the power of the US to intervene decisively and to avoid civilian casualties by starting at the head of the snake rather than the more conventional way of working up from the tail or destroying the snake’s habitat and food supply first.
Drug running in order to ruin the lives of people of a single country, as far as I know, has not been cited before as an act of war, athough clearly aggressive and targetted against one country. Can drug running against a nation be classed as biological or chemical warfare? International law has always had to be innovative to address new forms of warfare. At least Trump is not constrained by the ECHR and has no qualms about telling the UN where to go.
it would be wonderful to see Hamas and Hezbollah and their supporters all charged for their numerous war crimes. We can but dream. We just haven’t got the capacity or the will to enforce justice at scale. We have to go for the critical targets. Khameini next.
January 4, 2026
The US is not a member of the ICC
January 4, 2026
The UN has unsurprisingly failed to act against a murderer, drug trafficker, a torturer who has ruined the economy which had a population of 48 milliion of whom 8 million have emigrated leaving a very substantial percentage of the rest in poverty. Maduro and his administration have been responsible for tens of thousands of deaths in the US and ruined the oil industry in the country including a reduction of 80% in GDP.
International law has failed.
The situation in Venezuela is not in any comparable to the Russia/Ukraine or China/Taiwan conflict/potential conflict .
January 4, 2026
This much talked about ‘International Law’ is a fiction. It does not exist. It is only applied to those countries that do not posses the capacity either militarily of financially to say no to those projecting supposed international law, There is no international police force there is no international army there is no authority structure to enforce international law. It is purely a legal argument used by lawyers to look legitimate when they have no such position.
Israel was sanctioned by the ICC under the direction of the most corrupt government yet put in place in South Africa. The USA and Israel told the lawyers what they could do with their international order.
The UN is trying to claim world authority, it is run by second rate politicians with bizarre priorities and has no legitimacy beyond what the major powers grant it.
January 4, 2026
“In difficult and desperate cases, the boldest counsels are the safest.”
The wimpist reaction by Starmer are in character.
January 4, 2026
Good for Trump, he’s actually stopping the boats and smashing the gangs, doing something to protect his country, his people.
If the US supports the transition to the previously elected leaders then it will be interesting to see how the left react considering one of them received a nobel peace Prize.
Compare with the tossers in HMG who are at best all mouth and trousers but in reality driven to destroy us.
January 4, 2026
The above sentence says it all. While one talks the talk, the other walks the walk.
January 4, 2026
Whilst I understand the reasons for action, the history of such action in Vietnam and Afghanistan has shown that it will take years, huge sums of money, but rarely improves matters for long.
Perhaps Trump will try to work matters, and plan the running and exit in a very different way to his predecessors.
I hope such bold action pays off, but I fear a repeat of past overseas failures.
January 4, 2026
Iraq and Libya also prime examples of removing the Government head and leaving chaos behind.
January 4, 2026
This is the ruthless use of US power by Trump because he can use it and is willing to use it. The reasons advanced, to stem drug flows into the USA from Venezuela, and to get back control of its oil industry are rational. Venezuela was already a failed state. Although Trump says he will run the country, that seems unlikely. The US track record at running other countries is shockingly bad; it usually makes them worse than they were before. It is not clear why the outcome in Venezuela will be any different.
January 4, 2026
President Trump asked President Maduro to stop the Venezuelan drug trafficking and the influx of Venezuelan criminal migrants, both of which were blighting the lives of millions of Americans.
He didn’t. He now knows that actions (or in this case, a failure to take action) has consequences.
Wouldn’t it be helpful if we had a Prime Minister who was prepared to teach the same lesson to Macron 🙂
January 4, 2026
Donna
Not sticking up for TTK but he does not hold all the cards. We are very reliant on French ports for the movement of our goods and the various power interconnectors to say the least.
The whole point of the EU was to make it so that member states (EU / German / French Colonies) could not escape. The EURO was very much key to this plan. The fools on this side of the Channel think the likes of Germany and France are our friends. They are happy to pretend that to be the case unless it suits them otherwise.
January 4, 2026
Hegseth has the right idea for stopping the boats – Trump has the right idea for overturning socialist governments and taking their oil like the CIA MI6 and Mossad did when they overthrew the legitimate Iran government in 1953 all to help BP get the oil
January 4, 2026
The oil in Persia did indeed belong to the Persian people. But the infrastructure was built and paid for by Anglo Persian (BP). I am not too sure they got a fair price when the Persian government nationalised it and took it from them.
January 4, 2026
Trump has done the world a favour. The Maduro regime operated a gangster state financed by drug dealing. If it had been merely left wing and corrupt but with free elections every five years (like Argentina became) then Trump should have stayed out. But there was no chance of Maduro being toppled – he lost the last election yet refused to budge. Trump must have had some internal help or it wouldn’t have been so easy. There must now be an efficient transition to a democratic replacement and the world will be a better place for it.
January 4, 2026
The decision to take the gentleman to New York for his trial may be a mistake. The judges and prosecutors there used lawfare against Trump and are among the worst leftie activists in the USA. They may ignore evidence and order immediate release.
January 4, 2026
I have no doubt this action had been planned for months, with the CIA spreading largesse to avoid any military confrontation. Notwithstanding this are we seeing just another example of American hegemony. Now restricted to the America’s following their failures in Europe and the Middle East.
January 4, 2026
The potential change of regime to a more beneficial management should be a gain for the ordinary citizen of Venezuela. However, Trump is involved, so can we trust anyone? Trusting the USA used to be the first reliable thought, despite their past history, so – maybe – we should not be surprised! Perhaps Trump’s attitude to the world is the first honest president we have had for a very long time? They always put self first and demand payment for everything. We took 60 years to pay them back ourselves. So no real surprise if Trump can further line his supporter’s pockets?
January 4, 2026
If the intention removal of Nicolás Maduro was to be followed by the ‘USA running’ Venezuela as suggested by the MsM that would be a massive mistake, but then if the USA intends to ensure free and fair elections keeping the thugs, the drug barons out of the way that is another story altogether.
Presumably this capture was aided from the inside, which in some ways suggests that some in the Country have sort change, hopefully democratic change.
The unfortunate thing about democracy as a project, is that it gets hijacked, usually big-time hijacking. Here in the UK they call it a democracy as long as those in power get to choose and fund the candidates that are personally loyal to them. The intended recipient of democracy the electorate, the citizen is bypassed by the abuse of power of a minority. This is the same path followed in the EU, democracy is warped to suit the few not the many.
January 4, 2026
The amusing sideline here is some and seemingly vested interest and the media had suggested Tony Blair should run Gaza. This centuries hater of democracy put in charge! The minds of some are just demented.
At least the BBC did align Nicolás Maduro as being ‘left-wing’ with his hate of democracy, therefor from the same cabal and the with same alignment as 2TK – Kier Starmer
January 4, 2026
It’s lawlesness. It shows clearly that the US has no moral superiority and only “leads the world” because it’s the biggest bully in the international playground. Russia and China have more justification invading Ukraine and Taiwan, than the US has here.
There’s no recent precedent for a happy outcome of a hostile takeover of a sovereign nation, particularly when the motivation is to strip it of its natural resources.As for Trump saying he’ll “run” the country, that tnen becomes colonialism. Not a great way to make friends and allies. With plenty of armed militia, as some wit said. “Venezuela” is Spanish for “Vietnam.
The world looks on and wonders if Pandora’s box has been opened.
On a lighter but still serious note, what would our reaction be if Trump abducted Starmer?
January 4, 2026
A sense of relief?
January 4, 2026
If the headmaster sees a bully in the playground, intimidating others so the can’t study properly, then the head has a duty to act
January 4, 2026
Good afternoon.
The Munroe Doctrine in operation.
This is a warning to others in the America’s not to have foreign bases and allies that are not friendly to the USA.
January 4, 2026
Brilliantly executed. And in the EU and UK it’s a pleasure to see the usual suspects fulminating.
Perhaps the PM and his Attorney-General will now think twice before arresting the next Christian who prays silently on an urban street.