Wanderings – Two wrongs don’t make a right and might is not right

The actions by the United States military last weekend in Venezuela with the removal of their dictatorial president, Nicolas Maduro, should be viewed with the utmost suspicion. How the U.S. swooped in to seize Maduro, and how U.S. President Donald Trump said the country will be run afterwards should place other foreign leaders on high alert. In fact, this is one of the most destabilizing things Trump has done during this first year of his second term.

International observers have said Maduro rigged past elections to maintain his position. His actions in Venezuela are responsible for millions of people fleeing. Using the might of the U.S. military to oust him was also wrong. It is an overt way of overthrowing a government. Regardless of the rump of Maduro’s regime current in place in that country, it will quickly fall off, ceding control to the American executive branch.

Announcing the capture of Maduro, Trump said that the U.S. would run the country until a transition can take place. There was no time line on that, but he also said Venezuela’s opposition leader and Nobel Peace Prize winner Maria Corina Machado, did not have the “respect” to govern.

The removal of Maduro and sidelining of Machado means the American executive branch, backed by the military, will be in charge for a while. And who does that benefit? Trump and the American oil industry. Trump’s actions had nothing to do with freedom and democracy for Venezuela, and it really didn’t have to do with “narco-terrorism.” These were a cover for what this is really about — oil. That is also a direct threat to Canadian interests.

Venezuela has the world’s largest proven oil reserves, Canada has the third-largest. By seizing Venezuela, and blatantly saying American companies are going to open up the oil industry there, that oil will go to the U.S. market first. So much for Canadian oil.

Trump wants Greenland annexed due to their critical minerals, and strategic military importance in the North Atlantic. Trump’s backing of Ukraine is contingent on critical mineral extraction following that war. His call to make Canada the 51st state was, in part, tied to resources.

It is clearly apparent that Trump’s power grab in the Americas is not going to stop with Venezuela, as he has put Columbia and Cuba on notice. The world is on notice too, because the precedent he is setting is the most destabilizing for other countries.

Using military might to advance corporate gains sounds like something from a Third World dictatorship, as in parts of Africa in the 1970s, rather than the world’s largest superpower and supposed flag-bearer for democracy and freedom.

China wants to retake Taiwan, which it considers a province of that country. Expect that to happen very soon, now that Trump has taken a ‘might is right’ stance with Venezuela. Russia began its attack on Ukraine nearly four years ago. Trump’s actions have retroactively legitimized an illegitimate attack on another country by Vladimir Putin. It’s open season now. Any country that has a stronger military and a need for resources now can act just like Trump. If the biggest superpower can behave like a tyrant, why can’t anyone else?

The second age of Trump is far scarier than that of living in the Cold War, or in the aftermath of it in the 1990s. Countries were armed to the teeth, and opposed to each other. Through mutually assured destruction, all parties kept their proverbial powder dry, and everyone knew where they stood. Now in this destabilized era we live in, that is all thrown out the window.

Some things are clear though. One country’s military force to take out a dictator only to allow corporations to plunder resources is not two wrongs making a right; and using military might to overthrow a leader you don’t like is not using that might properly. Might is not right.

This column was originally published in the January 7, 2026 print edition of The Morrisburg Leader.