Max Blumenthal documents the U.S. Government’s bipartisan rape of Venezuela.

5 January 2026, by Eric Zuesse. (All of my recent articles can be seen here.)

The great investigative journalist Max Blumenthal has extensive personal experience and contacts in Venezuela (including with top figures in its Government), and provides in the following video interview of Blumenthal by Mario Nawfal, a breathtaking backgrounder for Trump’s current efforts to grab Venezuela for the benefit of America’s billionaires. It’s a description of, for example, how Barack Obama (in 17:40-19:40) had John Kerry arrange a deal in 2012 with the Saudi royal family for the U.S. to support (as being what the U.S. Government called “moderate rebels” in Syria) their jihadists in Syria, such as Al Qaeda (who were fighting to overthrow Assad’s Government, which the U.S. Government was then aiming to do), in exchange for the Sauds flooding the oil market to drive oil prices down low enough to impoverish Venezuela (the country with the world’s costliest-to-extract and refine oil; Venezuelans are cursed with that high-cost oil, not blessed with it, but the oil-obsessed U.S. regime nonetheless demands to plunder it). The aim was to get Venezuela’s people to overthrow their Government and allow U.S. firms to sell their oil. So, this presentation from Blumenthal is a brilliant behind-the-scenes history and explanation of the U.S. Government’s project to grab Venezuela’s oil for the benefit of America’s billionaires:

“Max Blumenthal On Maduro Capture, Vice President, Resources & More”

4 January 2026, Mario Nawfal

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Here is the view of the Trump Administration contrary to that of Max Blumenthal:

“Secretary Rubio’s joint press availability with Ecuadorian Foreign Minister Sommerfeld”

U.S. Department of State, 4 September 2026

16:52

SECRETARY RUBIO: You’re wrong in your question. Number one, Venezuela is a major [narcotics] source, and the reason why is the following – and I’ve seen a lot of this reporting,

16:59

and it’s fake reporting and I’ll tell you why. It says that somehow Venezuela is not involved in the drug trade because the UN says they’re not involved in the – I don’t – the UN – I don’t care

17:07

what the UN says. The UN doesn’t know what they’re talking about. Maduro is indicted by a grand jury in the Southern District of New York. That means the Southern District

17:15

of New York presented the evidence to a grand jury, and a grand jury indicted him. And then a superseding indictment came out that was unsealed about a year and a half ago that

17:24

specifically detailed Maduro’s actions. So number one – let there be no doubt – he, Nicolás Maduro,

17:30

is an indicted drug trafficker in the United States, and he’s a fugitive of American justice.

17:35

…

And then he repeated it a few minutes later:

19:01

You say, oh, the UN don’t agree. I don’t care what the UN says. I don’t care. They are – he is a fugitive of U.S. justice. He’s not the legitimate leader of

19:14

Venezuela. We never recognized him. He is an indicted fugitive causing trouble in the region,

19:22

and he was indicted by a grand jury in the Southern District of New York. The second question is whether we’ll have similar actions to what we had a few days ago

19:31

with narcoterrorists with allied countries. And I can tell you that in these countries perhaps it

19:36

won’t be necessary, because these countries will cooperate with us. They’ve been – will be working with us in those actions. For Venezuela, they can’t cooperate with us

19:45

because they’re part of terrorism. They’re not a government. That is clear. Nicolás Maduro is

19:51

not a government or political regime. They are a terrorist organization and organized crime

20:00

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MY REPLY TO RUBIO’S STATEMENT:

So: At 17:06, Rubio says “I don’t care what the U.N. says.” And then he backs that up by “Maduro is indicted by a grand jury in the Southern District of New York.” However, the U.N. doesn’t relate to domestic laws and domestic courts, but is instead responsible ONLY for international laws and international courts. So, Rubio evidently doesn’t even know the difference. Is he really that stupid? Then, at 19:12, he says against Maduro “He’s not the legitimate leader of Venezuela. We never recognized him.” He says that AS-IF it’s the U.S. Government that is responsible for international laws and for determining whether or not a government is “legitimate.” However, yet again, Rubio is wrong, and is so in the very same way, because those judgements are supposed to be made by the U.N., and NOT by the U.S., and also because Maduro’s Government represents Venezuela at the U.N. The U.N. recognizes Maduro’s Government as BEING legitimate — and has the authority to do so, which America’s Government does NOT (despite what Rubio merely assumes). Venezuela’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations in New York is Ambassador Samuel Moncada, a prominent diplomat who frequently speaks on behalf of Venezuela at the UN, especially concerning matters with the United States, and recently served as a Vice-President for the UN General Assembly’s 80th session. So: Is Rubio misinformed? Or is he simply stupid and bigoted? And what kind of Government does the U.S. itself have, for it to be represented at its State Department by such a person as HE is? Would THAT Government be fairly called “fascist”? If not, then WHY not? Is it not, by far, the leading fascist regime in the world today? Blumenthal has documented it, and so have I, and so have many other honest commentators, despite what America’s constantly lying Government (and its stenographic ‘news’-media conveying those lies to the public) alleges.

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Investigative historian Eric Zuesse’s latest book, AMERICA’S EMPIRE OF EVIL: Hitler’s Posthumous Victory, and Why the Social Sciences Need to Change, is about how America took over the world after World War II in order to enslave it to U.S.-and-allied billionaires. Their cartels extract the world’s wealth by control of not only their ‘news’ media but the social ‘sciences’ — duping the public.