35. US, VENEZUELA: The Trump-Putin Pact?
With their recent invasion of Venezuela and the kidnapping of president Nicolás Maduro, the United States are signalling a return to a “spheres of influence” world order. By treating Vladimir Putin as a peer and focussing US dominance on the Western Hemisphere, the US is retreating from the rules-based international order it once upheld.
Was the US intervention in Venezuela part of an implicit bargain with Russia, in which the US traded freedom of action in the Americas for Russian leeway in Ukraine? Either way, the shift from a rules-based world order leaves Europe dangerously exposed and…
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