Banner and flag in Cuba -- Taymaz Valley from Ottawa, Canada, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons By Vijay Prashad In January 2026, US President Donald Trump declared Cuba to be an “unusual and extraordinary threat” to US security—a designation that allows the United States government to use sweeping economic restrictions traditionally reserved for national security adversaries. The US blockade against Cuba began in the 1960s, right after the Cuban Revolution of 1959 but has tig

Portraits of Chavez, Bolivar and Maduro in Venezuela -- Guaiquerí, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons By Celina della Croce U.S. President Donald Trump has not shied away from admitting his thirst for Venezuelan oil. On 16 December 2025, in the leadup to the 3 January bombing of Caracas and kidnapping of the country’s president and first lady, Nicolás Maduro and Cilia Flores, he claimed ownership over Venezuela resources, stating that “America will not… allow a hostile regime to tak

Trump, January 20, 2026 -- public domain image By Richard E. Rubenstein – TRANSCEND Media Service When Donald Trump was first elected U.S. president almost ten years ago, part of his appeal to many voters were his promises to reduce the level of US involvement in international conflicts and to avoid the costly “endless wars” fought by his predecessors. But his recent attack on Venezuela on the heels of U.S.-financed genocide in Gaza, as well as US air strikes in Somalia, Yeme

Board of Peace signing ceremony -- public domain image By Milkaela Nhondo Erskog Khaled Abu Jarrar, a 58-year-old Palestinian from Beit Hanoon, now shelters in Gaza City’s former Legislative Council building—one of thousands of structures repurposed as displacement camps after Israel’s genocidal assault reduced entire neighborhoods to rubble. His wife was recently diagnosed with liver cancer. She needs urgent treatment abroad, but the Rafah crossing remains sealed.  As intern

Chibichiri cave in Yomitan village, Okinawa. A place of mass suicide of Japanese soldiers and Okinawan civilians during the Battle of Okinawa -- Vitalie Ciubotaru, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons By Tings Chak and Atul Chandra We descended into Chibichibi Cave in southern Okinawa with the heavy feeling that this was not a site of distant history, but a warning. The cave is low enough that you have to bend forward as you walk. The air is damp, the light disappears quickly,

Trump in the hangar bay of Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS George Washington, October 28, 2025 -- public domain image By Atul Chandra The year 2025 witnessed escalated threats from the United States on the Global South. In the span of months, Washington declared Venezuelan airspace “closed in its entirety,” threatened to invade Nigeria “guns-a-blazing” to protect Christians from an alleged genocide, and demanded that the Taliban return Bagram airbase with warnings of uns

Maduro -- Image via X By Manolo De Los Santos The US government has revived its campaign to label Venezuela a “narco-state”, accusing its...