Trump’s seize of Maduro may very well be seen to ‘justify’ Putin’s invasion of Ukraine
The President bragged he is now “running” the South American country after its leader Nicolás Maduro was captured, but the actions have sparked global outrage amid fears of a global conflict
Donald Trump’s use of military force to capture Venezuelan president Nicolás Maduro might be used by Mad Vlad Putin as justification of his invasion of Ukraine, a security expert has warned.
The US President bragged he is now “running” the South American country after its leader and his was captured over the weekend before being hauled to a court in New York to face drug trafficking charges.
The Orange Manbaby was backed by long-time fanboy Nigel Farage, who said: “The American actions in Venezuela overnight are unorthodox and contrary to international law — but if they make China and Russia think twice, it may be a good thing.”
But professor Anthony Glees, a security expert from the University of Buckingham, said attempts to justify the military action “makes us look silly and irrelevant”.
He told the Daily Star: “Well, it’ll make them think twice what clever thugs they’ve been and since Trump now seems to think that Might is Right, that justifies Putin’s foul war of aggression on Ukraine and Xi’s vile attempts to bully Taiwan into submission.”
Prof Glees said Trump’s unilateral decision to bomb Venezuela and send troops in to remove Maduro could be a “turning point” in Maga’s relationship with Western Europe.
And he said the British government needs to increase the strength of our armed forces, who face face an arms race to keep Russian aggression at bay.
He told us: “Trump’s Venezuelan coup shows yet again how weak we are in the UK and how much we need strong leadership and strong weapons capability amongst all the European NATO member states.
“We were not told, let alone consulted. What we know today is that we cannot rely on the USA to secure us from that other big land-grabber in Europe, mad Vlad Putin.
“And we need to get cracking right now, this minute on building up our conventional strength because the next war in Europe has just moved very much nearer and it will start as a conventional one, not a nuclear one.”
His comments come as Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper warned MPs against “making equivalence” between the situations in Venezuela and Ukraine after Sir Keir Starmer refused to condemn the US military action, which may have breached international law.
Putin challenged Ukraine’s legitimacy as a state before his invasion of the country in 2022, baselessly claiming the Ukrainian government were neo-Nazis committing genocide against the Russian minority in the Donbas.
Richard Burgon, the Labour MP for Leeds East, told the Commons: “The reality is this – if it were Putin doing this, the Prime Minister would not be saying, ‘oh, it’s up to the Russians to decide whether or not this is legal’.
“But this is exactly what the Prime Minister has said in relation to Trump’s disgusting attack on Venezuela.
“Isn’t the reality that the Prime Minister is willing to ditch international law and sidestep the United Nations charter in order to appease Donald Trump, and doesn’t this cowardly, craven approach drag this country’s reputation through the dirt?”
In response, Ms Cooper said: “I do find it hard to not remember his support and welcoming for the (Nicolas) Maduro regime, a regime which is currently being investigated for crimes against humanity.”
Ms Cooper later told MPs: “I really would warn members against making equivalence here around what Putin has done in Ukraine, where thousands of children have been kidnapped, where they have invaded a country led by a democratically-elected president.
“We should be careful about recognising what we say and the implications of it.”
Maduro and his wife appeared before a court in New York on Monday where they denied drug trafficking charges. Critics claim Trump’s move is about oil profits rather than tackling drug kingpins in the country.
But Prof Glees thinks the oil is just the “icing on the cake” for the emboldened President, who has since threatened military action in other countries and appears to be eyeing up a landgrab of Greenland.
The professor told us: “I do not believe the reason Trump intervened in Venezuela was his wish to get America’s hands on Venezuelan oil. Yes US oil is light oil and Venezuela had the largest reserves of heavy crude in the world.
“But the point of Trump’s coup in arresting Maduro – and his claim that the USA will run Venezuela’s affairs – was to demonstrate his ability to project its overwhelming force, to bring about regime change to suit what he regards as the American interest.
“Oil is how Trump promises to fund this extraordinary military operation; it’s the icing on the cake, but not the cake itself.”
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