America brought about regime change in Venezuela because it could.

That blunt assessment may sound cynical, but it captures an uncomfortable truth about how global power actually works.

President Donald Trump’s declaration that the United States would effectively “run” Venezuela during a transition period, take control of its oil infrastructure, rehabilitate it, and sell large quantities of Venezuelan oil was not dressed up in the language of humanitarian intervention or democratic idealism. It was transactional, unapologetic, and framed squarely in terms of American interest.

Because he can. And because the United States, under Trump, believes it should.

From one perspective, this is realism stripped of pretence. Trump has never hidden his view that foreign policy is about leverage, advantage, and returns. Venezuela, sitting atop the world’s largest proven oil reserves, crippled by sanctions, mismanagement, and internal division, was uniquely vulnerable. Washington saw an opportunity to remove Nicolás Maduro, a long-standing adversary, while simultaneously gaining strategic and economic benefits. In Trump’s worldview, that is not a moral failing; it is the very purpose of power.

Supporters of this approach argue that the United States is merely looking out for its own interests, something every great power does. They point out that Maduro’s government has presided over economic collapse, mass migration, political........

© The Friday Times