Putin's Amigo

December 14, 2023

Putin’s biggest ally in the Western Hemisphere, except for a few Republicans in Congress, is Venezuela’s President Nicolas Maduro. He has destroyed his country’s economy over the years despite the existence of massive oil reserves. He has let loose Russian oil and mining companies and hosted Wagner Group mercenaries, allowing them to mine gold illegally and guard his regime, oil refineries, and Russian corporations. This spring, Maduro and Putin signed a deal to enhance economic and military cooperation and, on December 4, Maduro aggressively laid claim to most of the territory in its oil-rich neighbor, former British colony, Guyana. He threatened to invade even though his ownership claim is far-fetched and has languished for years before the International Court of Justice in The Hague. Naturally, Guyana is taking the matter seriously and has placed its military on alert. Neighboring Brazil has also deployed troops along its border, and the U.S. is carrying out joint military exercises with tiny Guyana. Most consider the threatened land grab as merely a stunt by Maduro to distract from his economic failures, but a British expert commented that “the Maduro government has pulled the trigger on something and we don't know where it's going to go.”