The US military campaign on Venezuela risks spilling into wider geopolitical conflicts, two prominent analysts argued.
The Trump administration has for weeks struck vessels in the south Caribbean it argued were trafficking drugs to the US, and recently imposed a blockade on Venezuela including seizing oil tankers off its coast.
The moves could undermine Washington’s capacity to drum up international support against a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan, which Beijing claims as its own, China expert Craig Singleton told Reuters. “When Washington blurs terms, it weakens its ability to call out coercion elsewhere,” he said. Meanwhile, the White House’s campaign against Caracas may really be about regime change in Cuba, which relies heavily on Venezuelan oil imports, Fareed Zakaria argued on CNN.