The US’ Capture Of Maduro Exposed The Reality Of Great Power Geopolitics

Trump 2.0 boldly explained how the US intends to restore its “sphere of influence” over the Americas in accordance with the new National Security Strategy, thus representing a Hyper-Realist approach in the sense of explicitly embracing the pursuit of power as a goal instead of denying it like before.

The US’ astoundingly successful “special military operation” in Venezuela, which aimed only at regime tweaking at this stage and not regime change like some mistakenly believe, has prompted a flurry of reactions from governments across the world. Venezuela’s strategic Russian and Chinese partners predictably condemned the US’ capture of President Nicolas Maduro while the US’ EU junior partner released a statement that lacked any criticism of the US but also didn’t endorse its actions either.

Therein lies the hypocrisy that was just exposed by the US’ “special military operation” in Venezuela since the EU would have certainly condemned Russia’s hypothetical capture of Zelensky in the harshest language possible. Their implied excuse for these double standards towards the US’ capture of Maduro is that he’s illegitimate, but Russia now deems Zelensky to be illegitimate too, so third parties’ assessments of other leaders’ legitimacy is ultimately subjective and this leads to the reality that was just exposed.

At the end of the day, Great Powers like the US (which is arguably still a superpower even if it was hitherto in decline till Trump’s return to office) always pursue their perceived interests but cloak them in the language of international law or norms, which is more palatable for the global public. The US previously relied on the “rules-based order” concept to justify its actions abroad, but this was eventually exposed by Russian media as pure hypocrisy, ergo why Trump 2.0 didn’t employ it this time.

Rather, it boldly explained how the US intends to restore its “sphere of influence” over the Americas in accordance with the new National Security Strategy (NSS), thus representing a Hyper-Realist approach in the sense of explicitly embracing the pursuit of power as a goal instead of denying it like before. As the NSS portrays it, this “sphere of influence” is meant to ensure the US’ national security interests and prosperity, which is similar to what Russia aims to achieve in Ukraine through its own special operation.

Without the power that comes from the US restoring its “sphere of influence” over what it calls its “backyard” or Russia restoring its own over what it calls its “Near Abroad”, they’d remain exposed to a panoply of threats from their rivals, including economic ones that could reduce their people’s prosperity. Correspondingly, Great Powers therefore also try to undermine their rivals in their respective “sphere of influence”, which they perceive as a means towards giving them leverage or at least an edge over them.

This is the reality of Great Power geopolitics, which has up till now been covered up with rhetoric about “democracy”, “international law”, and/or the “rules-based order”, but the US is no longer playing these mind games. Ideally, it’ll finally behave as a “benign hegemon” that still profits from those within its sphere (but not as excessively as before) and also genuinely provides for their security, since this Putin-pioneered model is the most sustainable way to ensure stability within a Great Power’s region.

The US’ history of “malign hegemony” led to the anti-hegemonic movements that arose in the Americas so repeating the same policy will inevitably lead to the same result and consequently harm the US’ Great Power interests. It’s premature to predict whether Trump 2.0 will take a page from Putin’s model of “benign hegemony”, but regardless of one’s opinion about Venezuela, it’s still refreshing that the US just exposed the reality of Great Power geopolitics since no one needs to keep up the charade any longer.