DONROE DOCTRINE AND US' NEO-IMPERIALISM

JUST when you thought Donald Trump had crossed all red lines and he couldn't do anything crazier, he surprises you by stretching the limits of unacceptability.

- GURBIR SINGH

The invasion of Caracas, and the abduction of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and his wife Cilia Flores in the dead of night on January 3 by elite US Delta commandos set off a global gasp. Many are still recovering from the images of an injured Maduro and his wife being hauled in prison uniform from armored vans before a New York judge.

Since January 3, events have sweeping the world without a moment to digest the new world order. After bombing the Venezuelan capital, Donald Trump has announced he intends to "run" the country via the new President and Maduro's second-in-command, Delcy Rodriguez. For starters, he has seized a couple of oil tankers and ordered Venezuela to turn over 30 to 50 million barrels of oil to the US as reparation.

He has also turned his attention to other pesky opponents like President Gustavo Petro of Columbia, calling him "a sick man who likes to make cocaine and sell it to the US."

It all started with posing Maduro and others as suppliers of drugs, and pushing criminals in the garb of immigrants. But everyone knew it was all about controlling America's backyard, and accessing its oil and other resources.

Unlike the shadowy language and anonymity of CIA operations ordered by past US presidents, Trump and his team don't mince words. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, whose origins are from the Cuban exile community, hinted Cuba was in U.S.' sights when he said: "If I lived in Havana and I was in the government, I'd be concerned at least a little bit."