“Belligerent” was how one Democratic lawmaker described a diatribe given by top White House adviser Stephen Miller on CNN Monday evening regarding the Trump administration’s right to take over Venezuela – or any other country – if doing so is in the interest of the US.
To Senator Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), however, Miller was simply providing viewers with “a very good definition of imperialism” as he described the worldview the administration is operating under as it takes control of Venezuela and eyes other countries, including Greenland, that it believes it can and should invade.
“This is what imperialism is all about,” Sanders told CNN‘s Jake Tapper. “And I suspect that people all over the world are saying, ‘Wow, we’re going back to where we were 100 years ago, or 50 years ago, where the big, powerful countries were exploiting poorer countries for their natural resources.’”
The senator spoke to Tapper shortly after Miller’s interview, in which the news anchor asked whether President Donald Trump would support holding an election in Venezuela days after the US military bombed the country and abducted President Nicolás Maduro and his wife.
Miller refused to directly engage with the question, saying only that it would be “absurd and preposterous” for the US to install Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado as the leader of the country, before asking Tapper to give him “the floor” and allow him to explain the White House’s view on foreign policy.
“The United States is using its military to secure our interests unapologetically in our hemisphere,” said Miller. “We’re a superpower and under President Trump we are going to conduct ourselves as a superpower. It is absurd that we would allow a nation in our backyard to become the supplier of resources to our adversaries but not to us.”
Instead of “demanding that elections be held” in Venezuela, he added, “the future of the free world depends on America to be able to assert ourselves and our interests without an apology.”
The Trump administration has repeatedly claimed that Venezuela “stole” oil from the United States. The country is believed to have the largest oil reserves in the world, and the government nationalized its petroleum industry in 1976, including projects that had been run by US-based ExxonMobil. The last privately run oil operations were nationalized in 2007 by then-President Hugo Chavez.
Miller offered one of the most explicit explanations of the White House’s view yet: that “sovereign countries don’t get sovereignty if the US wants their resources,” as Representative Seth Moulton (D-Mass.) translated in a social media post.
Moulton called Miller’s tirade “genuinely unhinged” and “a disturbing window into how this administration thinks about the world.”
Miller’s remarks followed a similarly blunt statement at a UN Security Council emergency meeting by US Ambassador Michael Waltz.
“You cannot continue to have the largest energy reserves in the world under the control of adversaries of the United States,” said Waltz.
Miller’s description of the White House’s current view on foreign policy followed threats from Trump against countries including Colombia, Mexico and Greenland, and further comments suggested that the administration could soon move to take control of the latter country – even though it is part of the kingdom of Denmark, which along with the US is a founding member of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO).
“Greenland should be part of the United States,” said Miller. “The president has been very clear about that. That is the formal position of the US government.”
He dismissed the idea that the takeover of Greenland, home to about 56,000 people, would involve a military operation – although Trump has said he would not rule out using force – and said that “nobody’s going to fight the United States militarily over the future of Greenland.”
The vast island is strategically located in the Arctic Circle and has largely untapped reserves of rare-earth minerals.
Danish and Greenlandic officials have condemned Trump’s latest threats this week, with Denmark’s prime minister, Mette Frederiksen, warning that, in accordance with the NATO treaty, “everything would come to an end” if the US attacks another NATO country.
“The international community as we know it, democratic rules of the game, NATO, the world’s strongest defensive alliance – all of that would collapse if one NATO country chose to attack another,” she told Danish news channel Live News on Monday.
The Danish government called an emergency meeting of its Foreign Affairs Committee on Tuesday to discuss “the kingdom’s relationship with the United States.”
On CNN, Sanders noted that as Trump sets his sights on controlling oil reserves in Venezuela and resources in Greenland, people across the president’s own country are struggling under rising costs and financial insecurity.
“Maybe instead of trying to run Venezuela,” said Sanders, “the president might try to do a better job running the United States of America.
This article, originally published by Common Dreams, is republished under a Creative Commons license.
And , other super powers can do the same!?
U.S. is now completely ripping off the mask. No more hiding. No more fake outs. No more pretexts.
Just openly imperialist.
No different than their parent ,UK that had the fab Empire
What an arrogant know nothing he is, riding on Trump’s coattails.
Trump just stomped on the hypocrisy of western created international rules based orders, and replace it with age of empire based world orders.
what a delusion, US is not super power, there are dozens countries that are strong enough that US can not and will not attack them… they have some left overs from former super power status like main role in world financial system – but from military and hard power status no. Their debt is skyrocketing btw.
Corporate Fascism is a system where corporations use the State to pimp on behalf of their shareholders and stakeholders. Case in point – Zionist billionaire donors using Deep State Donnie as a return on their investment. Expanding feudalism with nepotism, a nifty little racket. 2000 years of banishment and adopting gentile names and not one single example of civilization under their resume. They finally struck it lucky with the US – in late stage of imperial collapse. They hijacked her in her most vulnerable, and degenerate form.
This is true imperialism.
Just wait until gringo has to govern. That’s beyond his capability
Stepehen Miller looks a bit Jewish…..are you getting the picture yet Chumps?
China’s dreams come true. There’s no other way to see this 🤣🤣🤣🤣
Look on the bright side, lower oil prices is very good for China. A pivot to higher volumes of oil from Russia helps Russia too.
Natural resources belong to those that can mine and exploit them.