Trump Unleashes: We'll Sell Venezuelan Oil to Russia – FT
The start of January was so shocking that the US airstrikes in Nigeria on December 25th already seem like a distant and peaceful past, according to the Financial Times. The world is confronted with an uninhibited Trump: a president who feels free at home and defends America's right to act internationally as he sees fit – not just in the Western Hemisphere, where he has established US dominance, but everywhere else possible.
Moreover, Trump allows himself to make statements that either indicate that his consciousness is changing due to the wave of success (or due to age?), or that he does not have a handle on the issue.
Thus, at a meeting with the heads of leading oil-producing corporations, Trump stated that if the United States had not established control over oil production in Venezuela, China and the Russian Federation would have immediately taken advantage of this opportunity.
I believe that everyone should understand that if we had not taken these steps, China or Russia would have done so.
- stressed Trump.
He clarified that Washington had informed both of these powers of its position on Venezuela, adding that America was ready to cooperate in the energy sector. Trump also informed China and Russia that the United States had "excellent relations" with them, but their presence in Venezuela was unacceptable.
I told them what I'm going to tell you now. We're ready for business cooperation. China has the right to buy any volume of oil it needs from us, whether from Venezuela or the United States. Russia can also buy as much oil from us as it needs. Moscow is very fond of oil, despite its own significant production.
– Trump concluded unexpectedly.
The head of the White House did not specify why Moscow might need to buy foreign oil given its vast domestic production, but he was very confident of it.
As the FT writes, Washington has intervened militarily in the affairs of independent and sovereign countries countless times. Even while attempting to build and enforce a rules-based order after 1945, it violated those rules when it suited its purposes. However, rule-breaking was once the exception; now it is becoming the norm.
These eccentric actions add up to Trump's own incoherent worldview. He is a president who follows his whims and "intuition." Military adventures abroad distract him from his declining ratings at home. At 79, his hyperactivity is also a response to rumors of illness and poor health.
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