A-Infos (en) Italy, FAI, Umanita Nova #1-26 - Beyond the Backyard. Venezuela and Greenland - US Aggressive Policies and Capitalist Interests (ca, de, it, pt, tr)[machine translation]

It seems appropriate that a reflection on the events in Venezuela should 
go well beyond the traditional "backyard" view, which for over a century 
has clearly demonstrated the nature of US capitalism's interests and its 
actions to defend its investments in South America. The Venezuelan 
events not only concern relations between North and South America, but 
must be evaluated for their global impact. Intervening in Caracas 
actually conceals the intention to strike much further afield; the true 
objective is far more substantial than a South American "caudillo," the 
real scenarios at play lie thousands of kilometers away. In March of 
last year, an article published in issue 6 of Umanità Nova outlined 
considerations on the strategic importance of the Arctic region and the 
interest the US administration had publicly expressed in the region at 
that time. This interest has been forcefully renewed by Trump and 
reiterated just after the military intervention in Venezuela, sparking 
international outcry and concern. What was observed almost a year ago in 
the columns of U.N. remains highly relevant today for geoeconomic and 
geopolitical analyses regarding US interests in new Arctic routes, rare 
raw materials, and the strategic position of the Greenland and Canadian 
platforms for intercepting nuclear missiles. However, reviving the issue 
of Arctic control in conjunction with the operation launched in 
Venezuela is no mere coincidence. The military raid in Venezuela is not 
"just" a demonstration of US power expansion, as has been commonly 
interpreted by the media, but an action that is part of broader scenarios.

Let's proceed in order. First, it's important to emphasize that the 
issue of drug trafficking is completely misleading and based solely on 
propaganda. The operation in Venezuela was downgraded to an 
international police intervention against drug trafficking under the 
pretext of defending the national interest, thus avoiding the necessary 
Congressional authorization for extraterritorial military operations. 
Above all, a shortcut was tested for possible follow-up to similar 
operations, such as potential interventions in Colombia or Cuba 
(although in this case, the option is likely to fall more towards 
internal destabilization than direct intervention). This choice is 
extremely dangerous from a political standpoint for a liberal democratic 
system, even a presidential one like the United States, as it exposes 
the government-that is, the President-to complete arbitrariness, with 
the potential for repeated military interventions disguised as police 
operations defending the national interest. It's worth remembering, 
among other things, that events like those in Libya, Iraq, and 
Afghanistan, where a regime, often a hostile dictator, an international 
symbol of opposition to US policy, was overthrown, have over time 
triggered a scenario far worse than the previous one, far more 
complicated even for American interests, where the U.S. often ended up 
on the losing end. Having successfully overthrown the "dictator" with 
media hype and subjected his eternal enemy to the pillory of a 
"democratic process," it is then discovered, once justice has been 
served, that he has left behind a complete political and social vacuum 
that is inexorably being filled by a myriad of improvised "gang leaders" 
and "militias," effectively a fragmentation. Current Libya is a striking 
example of this, with a situation that makes even American interests 
difficult to defend and subject to constant negotiations.

We will soon see if the Venezuelan situation reproduces similar 
scenarios. Meanwhile, to understand what is happening, we must move 
beyond the most banal interpretation and look beyond the strategic 
horizon of our own backyard, seeking to understand the international 
consequences of what happened in Caracas. First, we must broaden our 
perspective to China's position in the global economy and, above all, to 
the economic dimension Beijing could achieve if it were to add the 
logistical and commercial advantages of the new Arctic routes to its 
current levels.

From this perspective, Trump's statements, such as "We need Greenland 
for national security," have real merit and can only be linked to the 
Venezuelan operation. Both objectives are based on the shared desire to 
deprive China's production machine, the true competitor of US 
capitalism. From this perspective, it is important for the US to 
directly manage the world's largest oil reserve, Venezuela, while 
simultaneously overseeing the Arctic routes, the shortest and safest 
route for Chinese and Eastern goods in general. In short, it controls 
the world's largest oil reserves, Venezuela's, and what will be one of 
the most important logistics routes for global trade between East and 
West, the Arctic.

It is clear that the anti-Maduro operation is aimed at exploiting the 
world's largest oil reserves, which are currently Venezuela's; 
furthermore, Trump himself has stated that US industries will extract 
directly there. At stake, then, is the material possession of what will 
be available in the future, and the precise objective of the operation 
is to curb the expansion of China's manufacturing machine and its global 
commercial influence. Controlling future Arctic routes, which primarily 
benefit Chinese trade, therefore becomes a geostrategic priority. It 
goes without saying that a potential "Greenland operation" would not 
enjoy the media and propaganda benefits of the anti-Maduro operation, 
but would encounter obvious geopolitical contradictions. It would, in 
fact, constitute the first internal territorial violation within NATO, 
difficult to resolve and unlikely to be welcomed by Western public opinion.

At present, US military supremacy is undisputed, but China's undoubted 
technological and scientific advances, while not allowing us to make 
predictions, make it highly likely that the gap between China and the US 
will be bridged in the not-too-distant future. The underlying issue is 
that Beijing is faster in innovation: it is here that global capitalism 
will essentially take stock of the role individual countries will have 
on the global stage. Today, global market competition is being played 
out between two rivals. On one side, Trump is appearing with tariffs, a 
gunboat policy, and above all, cutting public funding to its best 
universities. He severely hinders the circles and minds that should be 
at the forefront of the intelligentsia and research, whether foreigners 
or fellow countrymen who are not "aligned" with his policies, reneging 
on the sacred principle of capitalism according to which business comes 
first; first you have to prove you can make money, then you can tell me 
what you think. On the other side, Beijing is showing another side: a 
fiercely selective school system that selects "its best minds" and 
places them at the service of the state and its ruling classes, engaged 
in unprecedented exploitation, winning the challenge for innovation and 
the future. Chinese capitalism is more pragmatic; it has learned this 
for millennia. During the "Great Leap," Deng Xiaoping, the father of 
modern China, revived the ancient Mandarin saying, more relevant today 
than ever: "It doesn't matter whether the cat is black or white, as long 
as it catches the mouse." This means that business deals are concluded 
with all governments or private parties, regardless of their color, 
because the important thing is that the deal goes well. Unfortunately, 
those who pay the price are always the exploited, and the oppressor is 
always the state.

Daniele Ratti

https://umanitanova.org/aldila-del-giardino-di-casa-venezuela-e-groenlandia-politiche-di-aggressione-usa-e-interessi-del-capitale/
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