By Mohammad Ali Haqshenas
US President Donald Trump has exposed a worldview rooted in colonial entitlement by claiming Venezuela’s oil and other resources as America’s own, says a Venezuelan academic and political commentator.
Speaking to the Press TV website, Guillermo R. Barreto, a professor at the Simon Bolivar University, said Trump's claim on the South American country's rich oil resources reveals his "supremacist, colonialist, and imperialist" agenda.
“Trump explicitly stated his claim to the oil, lands, and resources that according to him belong to the US; this is undoubtedly a reckless declaration that reveals his supremacist, colonialist, and imperialist vision, devoid of any knowledge of history or international law,” he stated.
The academic and analyst said he believes Washington’s bellicose approach in the Caribbean reflects a deeper strategic anxiety.
It is a fact that US hegemony is under threat,” Barreto said, pointing to lost ground in technology, finance, and global markets.
“The US has lost markets in Asia and Africa, and therefore, its security doctrine prioritizes the domination of Latin America (and all their resources), employing the two remaining weapons at its disposal: military power and the entertainment industry,” he added.
At the center of that strategy, he noted, is not just Venezuela itself but its important Global South allies, particularly China.
“The US doesn't just need control of these resources for its own development. It needs to prevent China (and Russia or Iran) from accessing them because, ultimately, the US's biggest war is against China,” Barreto said. “Controlling Venezuela means blocking China's access to the world's largest oil reserves.”
The geopolitical calculations also explain, in his view, Washington’s hostility toward the Bolivarian Revolution, now in its third decade....... more below
Volker Turk has warned that efforts to advance reparatory justice are facing resistance in “certain quarters,” and urged countries to back Africa’s push.
Reparatory justice for historical crimes, including colonialism, enslavement, and the trade in enslaved Africans, is crucial to dismantling systemic racism, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk has said.
Speaking at the UN Permanent Forum on People of African Descent on Tuesday, Turk linked present-day discrimination against people from the continent to the enduring legacy of colonialism and enslavement.
”Racism and dehumanizing rhetoric continue to permeate public institutions, communities, and online platforms,” he said, according to the UN Press Service. Turk noted that “digital technologies, including AI, are reproducing and amplifying existing biases against people of African descent.”
The remarks come weeks after the UN General Assembly adopted a resolution declaring the transatlantic slave trade “the gravest...
The US VP had to defend President Trump’s Gaza policy at a rally on a Georgia college campus.
US Vice President J.D. Vance was forced to defend Washington’s policy in Gaza after he was booed and heckled at a key MAGA event on Wednesday.
Co-founded by the late Charlie Kirk, Turning Point USA (TPUSA) is a conservative student group that has long been seen as a strong support base of President Donald Trump’s MAGA movement but is now showing apparent cracks.
Less than 15 minutes into a TPUSA event at the University of Georgia on Wednesday, Vance was interrupted by hecklers over US policy in Gaza, with one audience member shouting, “Jesus Christ does not support genocide!” As he attempted to respond, others shouted, “You’re killing children!” and “You’re bombing children!”
Vance replied by referring to Trump’s achievements as president, including securing a fragile ceasefire in Gaza, something he said the previous administration of Joe Biden failed to do.
“I ...
Sergey Shoigu has cautioned Finland and the Baltic states against allowing Kiev to use their airspace for attacks on Russia.
Russia would have the right to retaliate if Finland and the Baltic states are deliberately allowing Ukrainian drones to pass through their airspace, Security Council Secretary Sergey Shoigu said on Thursday.
“Recently, there has been an increase in Ukrainian drone strikes against Russia via Finland, Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia,” Shoigu told journalists. “As a result, civilians are suffering and significant damage is being caused to civilian infrastructure.”
Either Western air defenses are proving ineffective, or these four countries “deliberately provide their airspace, thereby becoming open accomplices in aggression against Russia,” he added. In the latter case, Moscow has the right to self-defense in response to an “armed attack” under Article 51 of the UN Charter, the security chief stressed.
In recent weeks, Kiev has intensified drone strikes on ...
