The US's muscle-flexing risks worsening conflict conditions

Venezuela is under my control, and soon we'll get Greenland.

- Shashi Shekhar

It’s necessary for the US; Donald Trump said recently.This is nota threat issued by some medieval tyrant, but a chilling statement issued by the sitting President of the US -- the same modern nation that claims to be the Medina of democracy. Trump has also referred to Canada as the 5lst state of the US. But will he send troops to march on Canadian soil, too? Is it that easy? The answer is hidden in the events of the last week.

Let's first look at how the other countries reacted to the US invasion of Venezuela.

After the US attack on Venezuela, Beijing imposed a ban on many US products, and its banks sped up the process of shifting to settling global trade transactions in yuan instead of the dollar. China’s President, Xi Jinping, warned that if the situation didn’t improve, American companies stand to face increased restrictions. As a result, companies doing business with China saw their shares plummet on Wall Street.

Russia, on the other hand, started “repositioning” its deadliest weapons and its strongest nuclear submarines near Venezuela. Despite being bogged down by internal strife, Iran has already threatened to close the Strait of Hormuz.

Meanwhile, hackers in some US cities attacked electricity services, communications, transportation networks and hospitals, shutting these down for some time. The US blamed it on China while the latter denied any responsibility. The question is: Can the US fight on so many fronts?