Tag Archives: American Imperialism

The ‘Rules Based Order’ Has Always Been a Farce

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Let’s be clear about this thing called “international law.” There are laws and treaties and agreements on the books which are designed to hold power to account. The contradiction lies within its application. In this supposed “rules based order” that we have been told is now in tatters, the powerful have always manipulated the terms and conditions.

This is no more apparent than in the genocide in Gaza. Without a doubt, there have been other atrocities and genocides committed. But this one was completely funded and supported by the United States and other Western nations. They are the engine of this project of annihilation. And in no other case is the hypocrisy more glaring.

Now that the Trump regime is in power, the same aggression meted out on the Global South is turning inward toward the states that have long been in the political and economic orbit of the United States. Remember, most European countries were not perturbed by the “rupturing” of international law when it was being shredded by bombs and drones in Gaza. They are only upset now when those threats and belligerence are being aimed at them.

This is not to excuse the Trump regime and its Hitlerian aspirations. It is not an excuse for imperialistic, oppressive or violent regimes outside the American Empire either.

But it underscores the truth about the arrangement of power throughout most of the 20th century, most especially following the second world war. Where was this order when the US carpet bombed Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia? When it overthrew democratically elected governments or subverted democratic movements, from Iran to Chile and beyond? Where was it when the US invaded Iraq based on a lie?

NATO did not “keep the peace,” as some neoliberal politicians opine. It managed American imperialism and largely carried out its wishes, while handsomely profiting multinational corporations. It is an organization set up to ensure white, northern countries would always dominate the Global South. Now, that alliance is falling to pieces. But after watching it destroy Libya and turn it into the biggest, modern-day slave trading region on earth, it would be ghoulish to grieve the demise of what amounts to a consortium of white supremacy and violence.

If international law was ever to be evenly applied, it would not only condemn despotic leaders like Vladimir Putin or the brutal, clerical theocracy in Iran. It would have every US president, many Western leaders and every billionaire apprehended and taken to the Hague for crimes against humanity and the planet.

The unwillingness for so many in the West to see their leadership as fundamentally corrupt and deserving of criminal prosecution is not merely hypocritical. It is grounded in a racism that sees Western leaders and billionaires as somehow above the law. As flawed, but redeemable when they speak well or present themselves as stately. Essentially, as too white to be in the same league as some murderous tyrant from Africa, Central America, the Middle-East or Asia. And this racism has been the underpinning foundation for the farce of the “rules based order” for centuries.

Kenn Maurice Orfanos, January 2026

Trump’s ‘Board of Peace’ is Grift on a Global Scale

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The absurdity of our times may best be summed up in the Trump regime’s brand new oxymoronic “Board of Peace.” Established by Trump on January 15, 2026, the board was initially conceived to coordinate the “rebuilding” of Gaza following Israel’s genocide and complete destruction of all infrastructure and most of its buildings and landmarks.

The founding executive members of this farcical board include U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio who is one of the biggest cheerleaders for the invasion and kidnapping of Venezuelan president Maduro, real estate vulture and son-in-law to the president, Jared Kushner, and former U.K. Prime Minister Tony Blair, who is best known for his war crimes in Iraq.

Unsurprisingly, Donald Trump, who possesses an ego with no bounds, appointed himself Chairman for Life. Permanent membership on the board requires an investment of 1 billion US dollars, to be paid in full in the first year.

While leaders in some 60 countries were invited, some have done so only symbolically or with caution. Others, like Russia’s Putin and Hungary’s Orban were eager to join.

But France’s Emmanuel Macron, rejected the offer outright, as it is widely seen as an attempt to subvert the United Nations. Trump, again unsurprisingly, has threatened 200% tariffs on French wine and champagne in an effort to pressure the French president into joining.

To say that the times we are living in are absurd is an obvious understatement. But at the root of this absurdity is a perverse inversion of truth. A “Board of Peace” created by a megalomaniac obsessed with imperial ambitions is the ultimate example of grift on a global scale.

As Palestinians suffer under an ongoing project of apartheid, ethnic cleansing and genocide, perpetrated by Israel and fueled by the United States and other Western countries, its future is being determined by a pack of jackals, salivating over the carcass of Gazan society.

But this “board” won’t stop at Gaza. The nascent consortium, which will include some of the world’s most notorious swindlers, despots and gangster capitalists, see this as the opportunity of a lifetime. A chance to carve up the world as they see fit. Filling their coffers under a noble, yet fetid, cloak of peace.

Trump didn’t win the Nobel Peace Prize, an award already stained with blood and made meaningless when it was given to Henry Kissinger. He has been obsessed with it for years. His “Board of Peace” is a pathetic attempt to exert dominance over the world under the guise of diplomatic cooperation. But, like every other venture and policy he has implemented, this one will be another con job.

Kenn Maurice Orfanos, January 2026

The World Will Never Forget (or forgive) What the Trump Regime has Done

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Last night, while most people in Washington DC were asleep, Trump shared a post that had an AI-altered map with a US flag covering Canada, Venezuela and Greenland, depicting these nations as US territories.

In the photo, Trump can be seen sitting in a meeting with European leaders, including UK’s Keir Starmer, Italy’s Giorgia Meloni, EU chief Ursula von der Leyen, French President Emmanuel Macron, and German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, with the US map in the background. Just a few minutes later, he posted another AI generated meme showing him planting a US flag on Greenland.

While what is left of his MAGA cult snickers at Trump’s Hitlerian fever dreams, the rest of the world isn’t laughing. They understand that Trump is incapable of joking. He is only capable of mockery, ridicule and threats. But as his mental and physical health wane, he becomes more and more unhinged.

Only days ago, he sent a bizarre message to Norway’s Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre, which sounded more like it came from a grade school bully than a president. In it, he expressed frustration with Norway for not being awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, claiming that he no longer feels obligated to prioritize peace after not receiving it.

All of this happened after far-right, Venezuelan sycophant, Maria Corina Machado, gifted her Nobel prize to Trump in what amounted to one of the biggest suck-ups in the award’s history.

This week, as Danish and other European troops landed in Greenland, he announced plans to impose tariffs on Denmark and other nations if they continue to resist his acquisition efforts of the world’s biggest island (2,166,086 square kilometers).

Trump’s use of tariffs as a punishment will cause more pain for working class Americans than they will the nations he is targeting. American industry simply isn’t capable of producing all of the goods it is getting from trading partners. They will pay a hefty price thanks to Trump’s belligerence, as most of the world rapidly moves beyond US hegemony, signing trade deals and strategies well outside its orbit.

Of course, the Trump regime has no interest in what the people of Greenland want. Thousands flooded the streets of Nuuk, the capital, in the freezing cold of an arctic winter to reject Trump’s aggressive, imperialist ambitions. The whole country has only about 55,745 citizens, so this was a major event in its history.

And why would Greenlandic people want to be a part of the US when they have universal healthcare, free education and other social welfare policies? The US has none of those things. Why would any nation want to be a part of an empire in steep decline, one which is unleashing a reign of terror on its own people?

No matter what happens now, the world order has been forever altered. Alliances and trust between nations takes decades, sometimes centuries to build. But they can be decimated in just months or a few years. And this is where Trump has succeeded.

Even if he is voted out (a prospect that becomes more and more unlikely) or removed from power, the damage is done. This is because Trump isn’t the problem. He is the symptom. It took millions of Americans to put him into power and a cadre of fascists to prop him up. And even if Americans eventually move on, the rest of the world will never forget.

Kenn Maurice Orfanos, January 2026

How to Show Solidarity with Iranians: a Principled Approach

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Since the recent protests in Iran, there have been a plethora of online commentary from various segments of the Western left. Sadly, much of it excludes Iranian voices that do not align with or represent the regime. It is a similar pattern we have seen before, from Syria to Ukraine. It is cynical approach that sees the world as a geopolitical chess game and demands that we automatically side with every state actor which is an enemy of the West or the American Empire over solidarity with the people of that nation.

One can be skeptical about how protests in Iran are going to be used by Western governments to subvert the Iranian government or think they are involved in fomenting unrest. I certainly think, based on history, that the US and Israel will use the protests for their own purposes. I certainly think that it is plausible that there are some agent provocateurs amongst the crowds, as this is a common practice. And US sanctions have definitely led to the economic strife in the country we see today.

But I draw the line at those who say all of the protestors are CIA or Mossad operatives or that they are being duped into protesting. That they are “empire simps,” as one condescending left-identifying writer once put it. Or that it is “undignified” for leftists in the West to express solidarity with people who are literally putting their lives on the line. This is nothing but orientalist racism dressed up as anti-imperialism. And the only thing that is embarrassing is seeing those same voices denigrating people while praising their oppressive governments for being supposedly “anti-imperialist.” Even as these regimes kill leftists and socialists daily.

The Iranians protesting understand their history better than anyone in the West. They know how Britain and the US overthrew the democratically elected, secular government of Mossadegh in 1953 and installed the brutal reign of the Shah. They know how this led to the revolution in 1979. They understand how the US and Israel have continued to meddle in their affairs.

The best we can do is to show our support for their justified rage and to protest our own governments in the West when they threaten airstrikes, war or regime change. To oppose all Western interference. To point out the hypocrisy among those who cheered on Israel as it committed genocide in Gaza or, like JK Rowling, didn’t say a word about the atrocities committed against Palestinians with full support of the West. Even though protesting our government and media may seem minimal, it is the only material leverage we have.

But doing this doesn’t mean we support the oppressive theocratic government in Iran either. Supporting them means listening to them. It means acknowledging their struggle. Giving them respect and dignity by refusing the narrative that they are merely geopolitical pawns, and not human beings with legitimate grievances, hope, and agency.

Just as in Gaza, we do not need to understand every single complexity or nuanced geopolitical issue to stand against state violence and oppression wherever it occurs. Solidarity with them isn’t supporting imperialism. It isn’t supporting American intervention either. It is merely taking a principled approach to universal human rights and universal liberation. And this is something I will never stop championing.

Kenn Maurice Orfanos, January 2026

American Imperialism and its Hollow Culture of Mindless Consumerism Explained

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Imagine thinking that Cuba or Venezuela or Greenland would be better off if it had a McDonalds and a Walmart. But this is what American Representative Gimenez thinks about Cuba. And it is the crux of American imperialism. It is imposing a culture of consumerism on other nations. One which is completely in the grip of mega-corporations who produce banal, toxic, useless, disposable products and, of course, guns.

The arrogance of America is in thinking not only that the rest of the world views it as superior, but that the rest of the world wants their way of life. Most Americans who are fortunate to travel abroad, and who do so with a humble curiosity about the world and its peoples, are often shocked to find out how bad they have it at home.

They find cities that preserve history and that are designed for people rather than cars. They eat food that is not hyper-processed, mass produced and laced with chemicals and additives. They encounter people who aren’t rushing through a meal or talking endlessly about money and work. They watch families going to museums or parks or plays or concerts with their children without constantly looking at the time. They see how life can be without constantly worrying about paying for healthcare should they get sick or injured. And quite often, it makes them consider leaving the US for good.

Yet, this desire to impose a thoroughly inhuman and unhealthy way of life on the world persists in much of the populace. In the case of this post, a politician who was born in Cuba apparently thinks the island nation would be better off if it is carved up for wealthy corporations to exploit.

Empires throughout history have imprinted their culture on others through architecture, art, music, language and cuisine. In this regard, America is no different. Except that this culture is rooted solely in mindless consumerism. And it has little to offer the world outside of uninspiring, processed food, oversized cars, sweatshop made clothes and luxury items, and no time to enjoy life away from slavish employment at one of the corporations keeping them distracted and unhealthy.

Kenn Maurice Orfanos, January 2026

Dear Americans, you live in an evil empire.

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Since the Trump regime’s recent assault on Venezuela, a lot of Americans have been talking more about the nature of their country. This is significant because most Americans have been conditioned to see their nation as both a democracy and a superpower. But the two cannot exist simultaneously. These concepts are polar opposites. Yet, this is the contradiction most Americans still hold on to.

Whether through media or Hollywood or branding or subtle messaging, Americans are inundated in the myth of its indispensable role in the world. This works so well because most Americans have never traveled abroad. It works because intellectual curiosity is stunted early. They are conditioned, from birth until death, to accept the concept of their exceptionalism.

And this is not a phenomenon which is limited to conservative sensibilities. Liberals, by and large, are almost as brainwashed as their far-right counterparts in the sense that they see their country as essentially good. This is demonstrated by their overall disinterest in egregious and brutal foreign policies carried out by Democratic administrations, the genocide in Gaza being the most recent and glaring example. While unpopular, how many liberals vigorously opposed it when it was being funded and fueled by the Biden administration? How many insisted on supporting Kamala Harris, despite the fact that she intended to continue supporting Israel as it carried out its campaign of annihilation?

Up until very recently, Americans never considered their nation to be a global empire. Even terms like “superpower” obscure the historic connotations of imperial violence. A superpower doesn’t colonize, rape natural resources, destabilize other nations or subvert democratic movements. It simply exists. As if it has always been there as a force of nature and not by ruthless intent and violence.

But one thing that the Trump regime has done which differs from its predecessors is dismantling this myth, bit by bit. The attack on Venezuela and kidnapping of its president and first lady while Trump openly boasts about running the country and taking its oil has been a wake up call. His fever dream of doing the same to Greenland, Columbia, Nigeria, Iran, Cuba and Canada have added to this.

Many who are coming to understand this now are falsely linking it to one man or to his regime. That this is just an aberration in the American project. That all will be returned to normal once he and his cohorts are removed from power. But this kind of toxic naivety is not only wrong, it is reckless.

The history of the United States is one steeped in violent conquest and expansion. But this is seldom addressed by Americans as it relates to its nature today. The annexation of Hawaii and the imprisonment of its Queen. The possession of Puerto Rico while restricting it from statehood. Or the military occupation of the Philippines. These things are rarely, if ever, discussed in the mainstream.

America was founded upon land stolen from Indigenous nations. It was built by enslaved Africans and indentured servants. Its belligerent foreign policies not only echo that of the great European empires, it expanded on them. It has interfered with, toppled, and installed proxy governments which have done its bidding or, more accurately the bidding of its ruling class. And it has 800+ military bases all over the planet. This is the very definition of empire. Yet, there are few Americans who would ever use that term to describe their nation.

Outrage among liberal Americans over the Trump regime’s crude imperialistic rhetoric and actions is welcome. But if it stops there, it is useless. Americans need to face the painful truth that they are subjects of a deadly and brutal imperial power. One which is jostling with the other imperial houses of Russia and China for control over its “sphere of influence.” One which is now in a state of decline and decay, yet still powerful enough to destroy the biosphere and end all organized human civilization on earth. Trump did not create it, he has merely demolished the benevolent facade it has hidden behind for far too long.

Kenn Maurice Orfanos, January 2026

The End of Pax Americana

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Trump: “Colombia’s very sick too, run by a sick man who likes making cocaine and selling it to the United States. And he’s not going to be doing it very long. Let me tell you…He’s got cocaine mills and cocaine factories.”

Reporter: “So there will be an operation by the U.S. in Colombia?”

Trump: “It sounds good to me.”

The Trump regime is not finished. Not by a long shot. Its imperialistic rampage is targeting Columbia, Cuba, Mexico and Greenland. And if you think he will stop there, you haven’t been paying attention to his Hitlerian rants and the support he has received from his sniveling sycophants and even Democrat dolts like Debbie Wasserman Schultz and John Fetterman. Canada, I am looking at you.

Of course, what Trump is doing isn’t very different than any other project of the American Empire. Republican or Democratic, both arms of the empire do their part at the behest of its ruling class and their capital investments.

But Trump has ripped the veil off of the “Pax Americana” brand and showed it for what it really is. He has legitimized its gangsterism. And he is ramping it up to grab whatever is left for him and his wealthy friends on a planet that is on the brink of ecological devastation and climate chaos.

The American corporate media doesn’t know what to do with any of this, other than wring their hands about “legality” or worry about how it sounds rather than what it is. They are more concerned with preserving the old narrative of a benevolent and ethical, if not flawed, America, even though it is a complete lie.

And political leaders in Europe have demonstrated their complete subservience to American hegemony by couching their language in cautious “observatory” terminology. Except for Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen, who warned Trump to stop threatening the takeover of Greenland, which is part of the Kingdom of Denmark.

The latter is significant for several reasons, since Denmark is a member of NATO. Any attack on Greenland would be an attack on it, on NATO, and on Europe itself.

Trump’s actions are in keeping with American imperialistic aggression. The difference now is that under Trump its scope has expanded beyond the Global South to include white, Western nations as well. It is a clear signal that the old order of relations and allies is over.

But the Trump regime isn’t saving American Empire. On the contrary, he is stealing as much of the resources he can on behalf of its ruling class who know all too well that the party is almost over.

Even if Fox News flunkies believe that climate change is a hoax, they do not. Why else would they spend billions of dollars to suppress the science and silence the scientists? They know. They just care more about their wealth than they do about a livable biosphere. Because in some daft way, they think their wealth will insulate them.

And if the genocide in Gaza has taught us anything, it is that this class is thoroughly capable, without reservation, to annihilate anyone who might hamper their investments. Israel is, after all, one of the most important colonial assets of the American Empire. It has invested billions into what amounts to the biggest US military base in the world. They have shown us what they are more than willing to do or to justify. Only the willfully blind and toxically naive would not see that now.

We are entering a new phase of the resource wars. The old imperial houses and gangster capitalists are preparing to scrape up the last bits of fortune at our expense, even if that means burning it all to ash. Trump is merely accelerating that inferno.

Kenn Maurice Orfanos, January 2026

American Imperialism and the Mad Fantasies of Donald Trump

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Trump has said that he intends to “run Venezuela.” That should come as a surprise to the thousands of Venezuelans who have taken to the streets to denounce the American assault on its capital. Regardless of Trump’s fantasies, he can barely run the US, except by driving it further into the abyss.

No matter how US media or American politicians try to spin this, the American Empire is in steep decline. Its tourism industry is collapsing as more people choose not to spend their holiday in a fascist police state. It lost any moral standing it may have once had after enabling the genocide in Gaza. And it no longer possesses the soft power it once had to influence countries to do its bidding. As BRICS rises, the US only has threats, bluster, sentimental patriotism and fire power. But there are limits to this, as every empire throughout history has found out.

As millions of Americans struggle to pay for basic necessities and continue to lack things other industrialized countries take for granted, such as universal healthcare, labour protections and quality education, its ruling elite are living in a bubble of privilege that is ready to burst at any moment. America’s infrastructure is in shambles. And its unhoused population continues to grow exponentially. So, to think that this husk of empire is any way able to rule Venezuela when it can barely rule itself is rather absurd.

This doesn’t mean that the Trump regime cannot cause significant pain. It has, it can, and it will. And it isn’t just him and his cadre of ghouls. We have entered into a new phase of imperial conquest as the planet becomes more unstable due to climate change. And Gaza should be an example of how the powerful are fully capable of doing the most heinous things imaginable to human beings in order to maintain their power. The old imperial houses will continue to carve up the world, rape its resources, and assert control over their “spheres of influence” even as it crumbles under the weight of ecological devastation.

It just points to its glaring incompetence. The Trump regime will not be successful with “running” any territory they conquer with military force. They are incompetent idiots. And they will likely cause enormous chaos and untold misery for millions of people despite this. But having a malignant narcissist as leader is a dangerous gamble for any empire. What happens when that narcissist is losing his mind? When the long shadows of his past transgressions indelibly stain any prestige he thought he had? When his ratings continue to tank and daily life for millions of Americans becomes a struggle for survival?

The attack on Venezuela and other threats of aggression will never translate into tangible benefits for ordinary Americans. They aren’t meant to. This is a resource grab for the ultra rich. For the corporations and war profiteers. And this isn’t a new phenomenon. Every military foray the US has entered into against the Global South has been at the behest of its ruling class and to fill their coffers. But each one has cost the empire more than it has profited it.

What we are seeing isn’t merely about Trump, although I am sure he would like everyone to believe that it is. What this is about is the last chapters of American Empire. That is why the rhetoric is no longer full of flowery platitudes. It has nothing real to offer ordinary people. It can only cling to the image of its imperial power. Of its domination of others through violence or the threat of it. It has also demonstrated that the old order of international law, which really only applied to white, Western nations, is finished for everyone. It is rule by gangsterism, imperial jostling and sheer brutality by any means and without any meaningful opposition from established leaders.

Rome is burning and those who have benefitted the most from its years of glory are now trying to scrape every last coin out of its downfall.

Kenn Maurice Orfanos, January 2026

The Weeks Where Decades Happen

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“There are decades where nothing happens; and there are weeks where decades happen,” attributed to Vladimir Lenin

Since the regime in Washington’s barbaric assaults on Nigeria and Venezuela, Trump has been threatening Iran, Cuba, Mexico and Columbia. He has also ramped up imperialistic rhetoric regarding Greenland. And if you think Canada is immune to this Hitlerian posturing, think again.

The US is being led by the most openly fascist and criminally insane regime in its history. And that is saying a lot, since virtually every US presidential administration, Republican and Democrat alike, has committed horrendous war crimes and crimes against humanity. This includes the previous one which greenlighted and fueled the current genocide in Gaza.

But the current arrangement of power has not only continued and expanded upon these crimes, it is thoroughly disconnected from reality. It is a death cult. And its cult leader is like a trapped animal. A malignant narcissist whose crimes against children, rampant greed and corruption, and a life built upon lies are finally collapsing in on him. And that makes him even more dangerous and destructive than ever before.

The next few weeks may be the most harrowing ones in the 21st century. What the Trump regime does in this time could lead to an unimaginable catastrophe. Regardless of how histrionic this might sound, the choices made by this regime could decide the course of history for generations to come, perhaps even the fate of organized human life on earth.

The wars to come will solely be resource wars and they will echo imperialist wars of the past. As the American Empire struggles to maintain its waning soft hegemony, it will attempt to grab every single resource in its “sphere of influence” by force. And that latter term is important, because it is the contemporary parlance of empire in the 21st century.

If anyone thinks this sounds hysterical after everything that has happened thus far, their head is buried in sand far deeper than any ostrich could ever hope to plumb.

The attached photo is a post from Stephen Miller’s wife, Katie Miller.

Kenn Maurice Orfanos, January 2026

In Targeting Venezuela, the Trump Regime has Ripped the Mask Off American Imperialism

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If there is one thing that the Trump regime has succeeded at, it is in ripping off the mask of American imperialism and smashing it into a million pieces on the ground. The era of lofty platitudes about the “rule of law” or “liberating” the people of (insert name of nation to be plundered) is over.

Trump’s racism allows no space for Venezuelans to have agency over their own lives. Indeed, as he talks about taking their oil, he demonizes those Venezuelans who seek a better life in the US. This is a regime that has murdered scores of civilians, many of them fishermen, in the Caribbean on the basis of a lie. Now it is using the term “terrorism” to justify any act of military violence. So, it is abundantly clear what this is all about to all but those still brainwashed by the cult of MAGA and American exceptionalism.

In this post and others, Trump is open about the American doctrine of ownership over all the resources in its “sphere of influence.” He uses the grammar of a mob boss, but none of it is a departure from official American foreign policy. There is no attempt to veil this. No flowery words about democracy or human rights. No bromides or vagaries to cloud intent. It is the naked theft of another sovereign country’s land and natural resources said in no uncertain terms.

Venezuela poses no threat to the United States. It does not produce fentanyl. It has not attacked the US or any of its strategic interests. Like Cuba, its crime is its rejection of US hegemony. Its sin is choosing a government which is at odds with the power and interests of the wealthy elite and American capital investment.

We cannot expect establishment Democrats to offer any meaningful opposition to the regime’s aggression. They have played handmaiden to American imperialism and more often champion its projects of expansion and aggression. And the corporate-owned US media will likely whitewash this as well.

This is an industry which has been complicit in every other war of conquest launched by every other administration throughout US history. Its role will be merely to sugarcoat the regime’s most belligerent talking points while stoking American nationalism. It relies on a public which has been conditioned to reject critical thinking. A public that is struggling to pay mounting debt, rent, food expenses, healthcare and costs of daily living under the worst predations of late capitalist exploitation.

The United States has been the primary engine of Israel’s genocide in Gaza. The colonial-settler ethnostate being its most important colonial asset. One which the US has invested billions of dollars in, year after year. But it is also one that gives it constant grief, especially in the last 2+ years. And with little payout. Venezuela offers a new opportunity for capital investment and enormous gain. And, without a doubt, the Trump regime is aggressively steering the entire hemisphere toward an all out war to obtain it for its wealthy shareholders.

Kenn Orfanos, December 2025