Is Venezuela the first domino?

At the end of 2025 the general global expectations were that the Trump administration would use the 250th anniversary of US independence on 4 July to continue the global turmoil created by tariffs last year.

- Theo Venter

China is expected to continue trying to normalise global trade, and the search for peace in Ukraine will remain a difficult project.

South Africa got kicked out of the G20 for 2026, AGOA will most probably be renewed without us, and our relations with the US remained strained.

That was the situation until Christmas eve 2025 when US troops executed an operation against Isis in Nigeria, and grabbed President Nicolas Maduro and his wife on 3 January 2026 from the presidential palace in Caracas, Venezuela in a daring, but wellexecuted military operation. Trump went on to bomb Isis strongholds in Syria and started to challenge Denmark for control of Greenland.

American involvement is very clearly in line with a document published by the US State Department pertaining to the national security strategy of the US in November 2025. In this policy document the Trump administration sets out where, why, and how they will promote American interests.

'AMERICA FIRST' POLICY

What is clear from this 29-page document is that US foreign policy will always move from the position of 'America First'. In this context it is also important to note that the name of the US Department of Defence was recently changed to the War Department, a name previously used during World War I.