Geopolitical Economy Report

Donald Trump claims he will "run" Venezuela, after he bombed it and abducted President Nicolás Maduro. However, his plan makes no sense -- and will likely blow back on the USA. Acting President Delcy Rodríguez is still independent, and not cutting off China. US sanctions devastated Venezuela's oil infrastructure, and its heavy crude is expensive to produce -- and US companies do not see it as profitable enough, amid a global supply glut. Ben Norton explains. VIDEO: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GbpdfPK8jVE Topics 0:00 US attack on Venezuela 0:49 (CLIP) Trump: USA will "run the country" 1:31 Two main US demands for Venezuela 2:20 Chavista government is intact 3:21 Oil corporations are skeptical 4:57 Trump's oil deal with Venezuela 7:44 US oil industry benefits rich elites 8:27 China, Russia, Iran, Cuba ties 10:08 USA wants heavy crude 10:46 Economic war 11:53 Marco Rubio targets Cuba 12:24 China and Venezuelan oil 13:02 Pete Hegseth threatens China & Russia 13:44 US seizes Russian-flagged tanker 14:16 Trump wants $1.5 trillion military budget 14:58 Trump bombed 7 countries in 2025 15:20 China's oil imports by country 17:43 Imperialist Monroe/Donroe Doctrine 18:21 Desperation of declining US empire 19:12 International law & UN Charter 20:19 China: South America's top trading partner 21:17 Forcing Venezuela to buy US products 22:07 Latin America exports 23:56 US is trade competitor with Latin America 25:24 US National Security Strategy 26:03 Pressure to cut ties with China 27:30 Geopolitics vs trade 28:45 USA threatens Venezuelan officials 30:30 Opposition leader María Corina Machado 32:56 Acting President Delcy Rodríguez 35:03 Delcy Rodríguez reaffirms China support 36:02 Trump will not have a US colony 37:40 Chevron deal in Venezuela 40:38 Sanctions exemptions in oil sector 41:53 US sanctions devastated oil industry 44:02 US purchases of Venezuelan oil 45:14 US imports heavy crude 46:25 US oil refineries want heavy crude 47:50 Oil companies say it's "uninvestable" 48:37 Oil deal possible, but not colonialism 49:42 High cost of Venezuelan crude 52:34 Global oil supply glut 53:34 US oil companies want gov't benefits 54:13 Destructive US interventions 56:47 Outro

To justify bombing Venezuela and abducting President Nicolás Maduro, Donald Trump falsely accused him of leading the so-called "Cartel de los Soles". But the US Department of Justice was forced to admit that this "Suns Cartel" doesn't exist. The USA lied -- while the CIA actually has trafficked drugs in Latin America. Ben Norton reports. VIDEO: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=44c0jf5ygyE Topics 0:00 US attacks Venezuela 0:21 (CLIP) Trump wants Venezuela's oil 1:12 Trump's colonial war on Venezuela 2:08 US DOJ admits it lied about Maduro 3:25 92-year-old judge oversees show trial 3:53 "Cartel de los Soles" doesn't exist 5:05 WMD lie 5:46 Venezuela does NOT produce fentanyl 6:28 Cocaine-producing countries 7:12 (CLIP) Biden official admits truth 8:21 CIA trafficked drugs in Venezuela 11:01 (CLIP) 60 Minutes on CIA drug trafficking 11:42 DEA agent accuses CIA of trafficking 12:58 CIA, cocaine, Nicaraguan Contras 14:47 Trump pardoned Hondura drug trafficker 16:13 (CLIP) Juan Orlando Hernández 16:39 Ecuador's drug-linked President Noboa 17:42 Colombia's drug lord Álvaro Uribe 18:50 USA armed Mexican cartels 19:34 US allies in Mexico are narcos 20:23 Drug links to Argentina's Javier Milei 20:43 Marco Rubio's links to cocaine trafficking 22:52 US Special Forces links to drugs 23:55 Trump attacks Colombia President Petro 24:37 Afghanistan opium production 25:59 Opioid epidemic in USA 26:34 Purdue Pharma and Sackler family 28:55 US imperialism based on lies 29:42 Outro

After the US military bombed Venezuela and abducted President Nicolás Maduro, Donald Trump said "we're going to run the country", potentially for years. "We're in the oil business", he added, boasting that US corporations will exploit Latin America's natural resources. Ben Norton reports. VIDEO: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XZHOuHUboeY Topics 0:00 (CLIP) Trump: USA will "run" Venezuela 0:48 US coup attempts in Venezuela 1:55 Trump bombs Venezuela 2:44 Trump boasts of taking Venezuelan oil 3:17 Colonial Monroe Doctrine 3:46 Trump: "we're going to run the country" 4:23 Oil in Venezuela 5:08 Trump press conference 6:00 (CLIP) Trump's colonial plan 6:32 Years of US occupation? 7:23 (CLIP) US plan to pillage Venezuela 8:43 (CLIP) Boots on the ground 9:22 (CLIP) US oil corporations 10:00 Critical minerals & rare earth elements 10:37 Wall Street vultures 11:41 Venezuela's oil belong to Venezuelans 13:18 (CLIP) Trump: "They stole our oil" 13:55 Trump threatens more attacks 14:41 Casualties of US strikes 15:18 (CLIP) Trump threatens officials 15:47 Trump supports drug trafficker 16:42 (CLIP) Pardon of Juan Orlando Hernández 17:32 US Special Operations forces & drugs 18:32 US imperial plans for Latin America 18:57 (CLIP) Asserting US "dominance" 19:27 Monroe Doctrine to Donroe Doctrine 20:16 (CLIP) Trump invokes Monroe Doctrine 21:11 China & Cold War Two 23:39 Threats against Cuba 25:11 (CLIP) Marco Rubio threatens Cuba 25:49 Colombia's President Gustavo Petro 26:22 (CLIP) Threats against Gustavo Petro 26:34 US sanctions Colombian president 27:15 War Secretary Pete Hegseth 28:04 (CLIP) Hegseth threatens the world 28:48 (CLIP) Hegseth: Oil and dominance 29:15 (CLIP) "Peace through strength" 29:33 General Dan "Razin" Caine 30:16 (CLIP) US military threatens the world 30:31 Invader invokes "self-defense" 31:18 (CLIP) US military claims "self-defense" 31:37 Trump's Freudian slip 32:03 (CLIP) "Precise attack on sovereignty" 32:16 Marco Rubio, warmonger 33:11 (CLIP) Do what USA says, or else 33:40 Rubio wants to pick foreign leaders 34:33 (CLIP) "President of peace" 35:02 Trump has bombed 10 countries 35:40 US empire intervenes across planet 36:32 Outro

The US government bombed Venezuela, and Donald Trump abducted President Nicolás Maduro and flew him out of the country to be tried in a show trial on politically motivated charges. Ben Norton explains the real reasons behind the USA's imperialist war on Venezuela. VIDEO: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YnD0p5F7MNs Topics 0:00 USA kidnaps Venezuela's President Maduro 1:07 Trump bombs Venezuela 2:01 Reasons for US war on Venezuela 5:00 Marco Rubio's crusade in Latin America 7:02 Political balance in Latin America 8:04 Venezuela's oil 9:43 (CLIP) Trump vows to take oil & ships 10:14 (CLIP) Trump wants oil & land 10:58 Coup leader María Corina Machado 11:24 (CLIP) Machado offers $1.7 trillion in assets 13:02 (CLIP) Corporations will "make a lot of money" 13:56 Critical minerals & rare earths 15:37 Colonial Monroe Doctrine 16:20 US National Security Strategy 17:26 'Trump Corollary' is imperialism 18:26 US colonialism in Latin America 19:57 USA seeks control over Latin America 20:31 Trump targets Brazil 21:07 Sanctions on Colombia's Gustavo Petro 22:10 Trump threatens to attack Mexico 22:46 US meddling in Latin America 23:25 Argentina's Javier Milei 24:14 Electoral coup in Honduras 25:00 Trump frees drug trafficker 25:36 USA supports drug traffickers 27:10 "Cartel of the Suns" doesn't exist 27:40 Lies about drugs & Venezuela 28:13 (CLIP) Biden official debunks drug lies 29:23 WMD: Weapons of Mass Destruction 30:38 USA plans show trial against Maduro 31:31 China & Latin America 33:09 Trump targets China in Venezuela 34:29 China partnership with Venezuela 36:36 Why Latin America prefers China 37:05 Venezuela-China relations 37:47 Russia partnership with Venezuela 38:20 Iran partnership with Venezuela 38:42 Global South unity 39:04 Palestine 39:16 Africa (Burkina Faso) 39:47 Latin American regional unity 41:19 US imperialism vs humanity 42:04 Outro

De-dollarization is growing around the world. Central banks are buying tons of gold, which overtook US Treasury securities in reserves in 2025. Even private investors are diversifying out of dollar assets, as risk rises. Ben Norton explains how Washington's sanctions, Trump's tariffs, and the weaponization of US-dominated international financial institutions have backfired. VIDEO: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hVjy1Hlh5zc Topics 0:00 Dedollarization increases 1:36 US sanctions backfire 2:20 Donald Trump threatens BRICS 2:49 Central bank holdings of US Treasuries 3:59 China de-dollarizes 5:29 US trade war on China failed 7:10 Foreign holdings of US bonds 8:09 Government vs private investment 9:53 Central banks buy lots of gold 10:51 No return to gold standard 13:30 Gold as neutral reserve asset 14:28 Gold overtakes US Treasury holdings 15:07 Gold price skyrockets 16:18 Nixon Shock to Trump Shock 17:08 This is not just about Trump 19:04 2008 financial crisis: turning point 20:48 Western seizure of Russia's assets 22:26 Ukraine war fuels gold purchases 23:21 Central bank undeclared gold buying 26:04 Uruguay dedollarizes 27:48 Argentina's Javier Milei 28:40 Sovereignty vs imperialism 29:09 Investors de-risk out of US assets 33:37 Decline of US dollar dominance 34:14 Global South de-dollarizes trade 35:35 New BRICS payment systems 36:25 Internationalization of renminbi 37:15 Financial multipolarity 38:48 Outro