To the Editor:
We live in an age where government-by-deception has become the new normal. So when Washington engages in showy, geopolitical muscle-flexing, Americans are totally justified in asking if it’s a diversion from some other ominous disaster-in-the-making. Regarding the recent caper in Venezuela, those suspicions are very well-founded indeed.
Literally hours before Maduro’s capture, Moscow presented to our government the decrypted navigation systems, complete with flight pathways and mission orientations, of the drones launched from Ukraine at the residence of Russian President Putin. This explodes like a downed UAV the twofold falsehood pervasive in much of the Western press coverage: Either that there was no such attack at all, or the fallback deception that the real target was a military facility, many miles away from Putin’s home. The stark reality then emerges: This was an assassination attempt, however inept, against the leader of a nuclear superpower! The phrase “flirting with World War III” grossly understates the gravity of the situation.
But before U.S. Intelligence could respond to this highly discomforting evidence, presto! The Maduro affair abruptly took the whole incident off the table altogether. What a convenient coincidence!
Absolutely nobody should trivialize what happened in Caracas itself. Putting aside huge issues of international law and national sovereignty that the operation raises, it’s definitely not about stopping narcotics trafficking. Even the New York Times has usefully reported that the 2020 indictment of Maduro pointedly references his alleged collaboration with the regime of ex-Honduran President Hernández in dope transshipments. Yet while Maduro is snatched and jailed, Hernández is pardoned and free, even after being convicted in 2024 by current top Trump prosecutor Emil Bove III! Maybe, just maybe, this blatant double standard indicates that geopolitical considerations far removed from drug-fighting are paramount.
The Trans-Atlantic financial system is a huge bubble set to burst. China is offering to partner with South American governments in large-scale development of industry and infrastructure. Unwilling to cooperate, unable to compete, Washington can only resort to force to keep control of its “backyard.”
Yes, the abduction was ugly. But don’t be distracted from the bigger, even nastier picture.
Sincerely, Doug Mallouk
