Of oil, gold and the American dream of ruling over the world

India's statement mentions neither the US nor international law, though that would have been the expectation from the BRICS baton holder

- MANJEEV SINGH PURI

Even by the exalted standards of the US military and its precision bombing raid on Iran's nuclear facilities, the forced removal and transfer to the US of Nicolas Maduro, the sitting President of Venezuela, awed. But it also shocked.

This was not a regime change engineered by intelligence agencies but a violation of international law and respect for the sovereignty of nations, not to mention disregard for the US constitutional requirement of keeping Congress informed. Rightly, it raises serious concerns not only in the US's hegemonie domain of the Americas but across the world.

Venezuelan involvement in the narcotics trade and President Maduro's indictment in a US court on those counts is the stated reason for the action, which was billed by the Secretary of State as law enforcement, no matter US military boots on Venezuelan ground. But by all accounts, Venezuela is hardly the big narcotics player.

And the usual pretext, human rights violations and restoration of democracy, doesn't appear to carry the day either, Indeed, President Trump said that the leader of the opposition, Maria Machado, who was recently conferred the Nobel Peace Prize, didn't have much "respect and support" in Venezuela. And, on the ground, some kind of deal seems to be getting pushed with Delcy Rodriguez, who was President Maduro's vice-president. All of this appears to be an oily deal with Venezuela.