London: (By Wajahat Ali Khan) President Trump has demonstrated his ability to use force at will by taking military action in Venezuela. President Maduro is currently in a US prison and Trump has announced that the US will now ‘run’ Venezuela.
President Trump made the announcement in an unprecedented news conference that experts say will have far-reaching implications for US foreign policy. Trump said the United States would remain involved in Venezuela until “we have a safe, orderly and just transition of power there.” President Trump said Secretary of State Marco Rubio had spoken to Venezuelan Vice President Delcy Rodriguez, who assured him that “we will do what you want.” “I think she (Delcy Rodriguez) is very kind, but she has no choice,” Trump said.
President Trump said he would not hesitate to send troops to the ground to achieve his goals. But does he believe he can rule Venezuela by remote control? Will the United States achieve its goals in Venezuela through military operations of this kind, which have been praised by Marco Rubio and Defence Secretary Pat Hegseth, and will other Latin American countries also follow American orders because of it?
American officials seem to think so. But the circumstances and events suggest that it will not be so easy. The mood of the leaders at the news conference at Trump’s Florida residence was triumphant, celebrating how the US military had accomplished its mission with such skill. But if we look back over the past 30 years, the US record of regime change by force has been disastrous. The political implications of a military operation are what determine its success or failure.
Iraq suffered a terrible disaster after the US invasion in 2003. Immediately after the US withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2021, after two decades of presence in Afghanistan and pouring billions of dollars into it, everything went out of America’s hands. Neither of these two countries was close to the US. Past US interventions in Latin America have also not yielded encouraging results. Despite condemnation of the US action, the US move also shows China a way out. China considers Taiwan its province and considers its integration a key part of its national security. In Washington, Senator Mark Warner, the Democratic vice chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, certainly fears this. He issued a statement saying that China’s leaders and others would be watching it closely.
“If the US uses military force to attack and capture foreign leaders, China could claim the same authority over Taiwan’s leadership,” he said. “It could even encourage the Russian president to kidnap the Ukrainian president. Once that line is crossed, each country will interpret international law in its own way.” President Trump’s actions at the start of the year point to another 12 months of global conflict ahead.
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