Trump, Tanks and Turmoil: Global Order on the Brink as Venezuela Invasion Sparks Outrage

Trump has hallmarks of Hitler

If it wasn’t for the US Congress the world be staring at another Nazi-like dictator like Adolf Hitler was. For US President Donald Trump has all the makings of an autocrat – arrogant, racist, egotistical, ignorant, dangerous, unpredictable and delusional.

He must have been a big bully at school. No sooner had he come into power for the second time, he sent world markets into turmoil with his tariff war. Now he is rattling his sabre again and threatening military action and occupation against smaller nations which cannot defend themselves against the mighty world power.

He tried to intervene in Brazil. He wanted his jailed right-wing ally, Jair Bolosonaro, back in power. When that failed he turned his lustful eyes to oil-rich Venezuela, accusing the South American country of supplying the US with drugs, and had his naval forces seize three oil tankers.

Then he launched a military offensive in the heart of Venezuela, in its capital Caracas, and captured the Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores. Tied and blind folded, Trump had them flown to New York to face trumped-up conspiracy charges of cocaine-trafficking and and engaging with terrorist cartels to stay in power. The real reason for the invasion of Venezuela is oil.

This was an extraordinary event which shocked the world, kidnapping the leader of a sovereign state and trying him in another country. In doing so, Trump was demonstrating to the world how much power he wielded. He had arrogantly tore up the UN’s Charter and broken international law with impunity. No country came to the defence of Venezuela. The toothless UN will of course pass a resolution, condemning Trump’s actions, but nothing will come if it.

As soon as Trump tasted victory in Venezuela. he turned his attention to Greenland, threatening to annex the island in the interests of national security. Greenland belongs to Denmark. If Trump carries out his threat, he would be attacking a Nato country of which the US is a member. Would Nato sit back and allow the US to invade Greenland? He has also threatened to occupy Colombia and warned Iran not kill the protesters.

Like a martyr he has jumped to the defence of Christians in Nigeria, carrying out a series of strikes against Islamic militants persecuting Christians. Chivalrous Trump. All this goes against his election promise to extricate the US from all global conflicts. Empty words.

It’s also strange that Trump is flexing his muscles and putting the US on a war-footing when he brokered a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas. But it’s a fragile peace deal. Since October, the Israelis have killed 422 Palestinians. Trump is also busy negotiating a peace deal between Russia and Ukraine. Trump is showing how ambidextrous he is: A trouble-maker and a “peace-maker” at the same time.

What if, emboldened by his success of military ventures, he turns his attention to mineral-rich South Africa? He firmly believes that the ANC government is committing genocide against the Afrikaners.

Trump is keeping to his election promise of making America great again; not as a paragon of virtue and a leading light to the world, but of sheer military might. But the super power hasn’t had much success in its overseas ventures. It has had a string of failures since World War II: Vietnam, Cuba, Korea, Iraq, Libya Somalia, Afghanistan and Haiti.

How the Americans chose a mad hatter as their president is beyond me. | Thyagaraj Markandan Kloof

Theatre of justice: A property drama

In a small but industrious courtroom, somewhere between a security fence and a settlement brochure, justice is hard at work.

The script is familiar. Palestinian families – some clutching Ottoman-era deeds, others holding Jordanian land registries, all holding their breath – are summoned before the court.

The judge listens gravely, nods solemnly, and then delivers the punchline: eviction approved. Curtain down.This is not improvisational theatre. It is repertory drama, refined over decades. The Israeli legal system, we are told, is independent, impartial, and governed by the rule of law. And it is – so long as the law is applied selectively.

Palestinians in East Jerusalem and the West Bank quickly learn that “due process” is an extended form of suspense entertainment in which the ending is known long before the opening act.

Appeals are encouraged. Encouraged, that is, in the same way one encourages a child to keep pressing a broken pedestrian button. It makes them feel involved. According to data compiled by the Israeli human rights organisation B’Tselem, Palestinian appellants seldom succeed in overturning eviction or demolition orders in Israeli courts.

The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs has repeatedly noted that the legal framework is designed to privilege Jewish settlement while rendering Palestinian residence “temporary,” even when families have lived on the land for generations.

Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International have both observed that Israeli courts routinely uphold property claims based on pre-1948 Jewish ownership, while simultaneously denying Palestinians the right to reclaim property lost in the same period – an elegant legal doctrine known as asymmetrical nostalgia. Memory, it turns out, is admissible only when it wears the right identity.

The pièce de résistance is the eviction order: A document that transforms people into “unlawful occupants” overnight. Homes become “disputed assets.” Displacement becomes “urban planning.” And forced removal is rebranded as “the enforcement of court rulings,” a phrase so soothing it could be sold as herbal tea.

Thus, the legal system functions perfectly – if its purpose is not justice, but choreography. The audience is assured that the law has spoken, the judge has ruled, and the system works.
It does. Just not for Palestinians. | Adiel Ismail Cape Town

A call to action to avert disaster

I pen these lines beginning with a prayer and hope that the world steps away from Armageddon, for that’s what the beast is lumbering towards.

There are many genocidaires operating on the world stage and among the general population with impunity. These individuals must be brought to justice, just as Simon Wiesenthal pursued the perpetrators and enablers of the Nazi holocaust. If justice is not served, the victims’ families will likely resort to extreme measures. Such collateral responses are understandable, but unacceptable.

\We must follow the famous Nazi-hunter Wiesenthal’s example – track them down, hold them accountable. Victims’ families will not hesitate to take matters into their own hands if justice is not served. The time for action, not just words, is nigh.

Remember the atrocities committed in Bosnia-Herzegovina, Rwanda, Armenia, and Gaza. Justice and peace are challenging to achieve, peace and justice especially in light of these examples. For each case, accountability is crucial. In Bosnia, the Hague tribunal convicted many perpetrators, but reconciliation is ongoing.

In Rwanda, the international tribunal convicted key figures, with local trials for others. In Armenia, Turkey’s refusal to officially recognise the genocide hinders justice. In Gaza, the ongoing conflict makes justice and peace elusive, with the ICC investigating alleged war crimes. Peace often requires accountability, yielding significant benefits.

A world on the brink of Armageddon has no other choice. Appeasement is not an option.

The rule of law, premised on the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, adopted on 10 December 1948, must be upheld to prevent repetition of past atrocities.

This is neither the time nor space for platitudes. No compromise. | Saber Ahmed Jazbhay Castlehill

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