I just listened to Trump justify the US invasion of Venezuela, and the kidnapping of President Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores. To give him credit, at least he didn’t bother hiding his intentions: stealing the largest remaining proven oil reserves in the world. He stood there, flanked by sycophants Hegseth and Rubio, and brazenly told the world how the US will run the country “until such a time as we can do a safe, proper and judicious transition.”

I don’t know how true the accusations are that Maduro is involved in drug trafficking, money laundering, embezzlement, and election fraud. It seems entirely possible there’s a case to be made. But is it really right for “Team America: World Police” to invade another sovereign nation, kidnap its elected leader and their spouse, and kill an unknown number of Venezuelan soldiers – and possibly civilians – in the process?

I wrote this in my blog the other day:

“Fight the narcissistic, misogynist, arrogant old white men who have clawed their way to the top of the fetid political pile, treating truth, human lives, welfare, and civil rights as expendable commodities — traded for votes or simply discarded as democracy and the right to protest are eroded.”

The US actions against Venezuela — the power-gaming, the enormous armada sitting off the Caribbean coast, the overwhelming military might, including supposedly unrivalled “American Warriors” from the Department of “War” — are a very clear signal of US foreign policy going forward. And Trump isn’t even pretending otherwise. He wants to boast about it, wrapping naked imperialism in hollow words like “Peace, Liberty and Justice” — three concepts I’m not convinced he understands at all.

Referring to Venezuela, Trump said::

“Run the country til such a time as we can do a safe, proper and judicious transition.”

And referring to other dictators – or, more accurately, any foreign leader he and his administration don’t like – he added:

“What happened to Maduro can happen to them”

Trump has just seized control of the world’s largest remaining proven oil reserves and openly stated he’s sending in US oil companies to manage them — securing vast new fossil fuel supplies and obscene amounts of cash for Chevron and friends. We can’t afford to burn the oil we already have; the climate crisis is spiralling out of control. But of course, Trump doesn’t believe in that. It’s all a hoax, apparently.

He also made it very clear that the US is:

“Ready to stage second and much larger attack if needed.”

So yes — the gloves are well and truly off. If they were ever on to begin with. He’s not even trying to disguise the threats of violence anymore.

Meanwhile, Netanyahu continues slaughtering Palestinians and stealing their land, despite an arrest warrant from the International Criminal Court for war crimes. Putin continues his illegal invasion of Ukraine, with a similar ICC warrant hanging over him. At what point do we stop pretending this is normal? Are we living in some dystopian fever dream? Who, exactly, are the real criminals here?

I could have limited the poster to Trump alongside Hegseth and Rubio. But it feels more honest to include his international war-criminal allies: Netanyahu and Putin. What a tight little club of ageing, authoritarian strongmen. Xi Jinping could arguably be added too, but somehow his crimes feel almost restrained by comparison. The patriarchy is alive and well.

It seems Team America: World Police is here to stay – with US foreign policy openly embracing the right to take whatever it wants, from whoever it wants, whenever it wants. The question is whether Europe will finally find the backbone to stand up to Trump, or whether we’ll continue playing the role of obedient lickspittles and sycophants.

“America, fuck yeah,

Comin′ again to save the motherfuckin’ day, yeah,

America, fuck yeah,

Freedom is the only way, yeah”

And of course, none of this would be possible without the loyal supporting cast: the allies who nod gravely, issue “deeply concerned” statements, and then quietly sign the arms deals anyway. The UK and Europe will huff, puff, and clutch their pearls – right up until Washington snaps its fingers, at which point we’ll rediscover the ancient art of obedience. It’ll all be waved away as “pragmatism”, “security interests”, or the timeless classic “we had no choice”. History, however, has an annoying habit of remembering who spoke out – and who smiled politely while the bombs fell.