Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1542413
7 maltatoday | WEDNESDAY • 7 JANUARY 2026 ANALYSIS Deciphering Trump's gangster method nerstone of US foreign policy first articulated in 1823—first applied to ward off European intervention in the newly in- dependent continent and then applied to turn the entire American hemisphere into the United States' backyard. This suggests that, unlike his predecessors, Trump is not particularly interested in jus- tifying foreign wars and in- terventions through flimsy or deceptive claims anchored in universal values, democracy, or global security. Of course, this is hardly the first time the US has intervened to remove a government deemed non-com- pliant with its interests. In this sense, Trump's inter- vention is explicitly articulated as an expression of 'America First'. This exposes a contra- diction in Trump's rhetoric about peace. For Trump peace is nothing but submission to the national (and personal) in- terest. The most disturbing aspect, however, is the emerging pat- tern in US foreign policy—one that increasingly resembles the methods of a mafia boss strong-arming other leaders in- to submission. If you refuse to play his game, you are doomed; if you comply, you might just survive. In Venezuela, Trump appears to have calculated that Ma- duro—too difficult to tame or too embarrassing to accommo- date—was expendable. It was preferable to abduct him and then strong-arm a weakened regime, backed into a corner, into doing Washington's bid- ding, rather than embark on full-scale regime change that would inevitably require Amer- ican boots on the ground. To achieve this, Trump re- portedly threatened Delcy Rodríguez with paying "a very big price"—perhaps even big- ger than Maduro's—if she failed to comply. The message was unmistakable: Submit, or face elimination. This raises an obvious ques- tion: Why did Trump not go a step further and install a far-right government in Ven- ezuela? The answer likely lies in his fear of backlash. Despite rampant corruption, incompe- tence, and human-rights abus- es, Chavismo—named after former Venezuelan strongman Hugo Chavez—remains a force to be reckoned with, particu- larly within the armed forces and among segments of society that experienced upward mo- bility between 1999 and 2013. During that period poverty fell from 49.4% to 23.9% due to the redistribution of oil revenues. What followed was undoubt- edly a tragedy, for which Madu- ro bears heavy responsibility. But even within the Venezue- lan opposition, not everyone would accept a total surrender to US interests. All this suggests that Trump wants to get what he wants at the lowest possible cost. Whether this will be sustain- able in the long term remains very doubtful. In the long term, this ap- proach is bound to generate greater instability not just in Venezuela and Latin America but in the entire world. The "new world order" engineered by Trump is one in which might is right; where the US can use force with impunity to achieve its objectives. But this also grants implicit licence to other strongmen and powers to do the same in their own backyards—particularly those powerful enough to deter US intervention. Having toppled Maduro, Trump can hardly expect China not to impose a friendly regime in Taiwan, or Russia to act similarly in Ukraine. To complicate matters fur- ther, Trump has also suggest- ed that Greenland—currently under Danish sovereignty, and thus part of both NATO and the EU—belongs within the American sphere. This makes a recent US State Department post on X declaring "this is our hemisphere" even more dis- turbing. One reason we have reached this point is the eagerness of politicians worldwide, includ- ing in the EU and the UK, to appease Trump by showering him with praise and honours. Malta's foreign minister even went so far as to nominate him for the Nobel Peace Prize de- spite Trump's direct complic- ity in genocide in Gaza. Faced with the travesty unfolding in Venezuela, most EU leaders, including European Parliament President Roberta Metsola, have played along, refraining from criticism and retreating into vague platitudes about in- ternational law instead of joint- ly condemning its blatant vio- lation. This has also been the stance of both the government and Opposition in Malta. Some argue the EU must now, more than ever, unite and speak with one voice to protect its own interests. Yet this remains implausible as long as Europe remains tethered to Washing- ton and continues policies— such as unconditional support for Israel—that alienate the global south. If the EU is to as- sert itself on the world stage, it must cultivate broader allianc- es, particularly with regional powers such as Brazil, Mexico and South Africa. It has also to learn to deal with China and Russia on its own terms. In this respect, Spain has shown leadership by signing a joint declaration condemning US military action in Venezue- la alongside five Latin Amer- ican countries: Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Mexico and Uru- guay. This is undoubtedly the hard- er path forward amid doubts whether the current generation of career politicians is either willing or capable of pursuing it. Perhaps they will only grasp the absurdity of their plati- tudes when Trump sets his sights on Greenland. But even then, some may still argue that this is a price worth paying to keep the gangster president satisfied. Barely 48 hours after US forces took Nicolás Maduro and his wife from a compound in Caracas, the Venezuelan leader stood in a New York court and pleaded not guilty to conspiracy charges brought by the US government Unlike his predecessors, Trump is not particularly interested in justifying foreign wars and interventions through flimsy or deceptive claims anchored in universal values, democracy, or global security.