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- Date published:
10:57 am, January 7th, 2026 - 25 comments
Categories: Donald Trump, International, Keir Starmer, phil twyford, winston peters -
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Regrettably the usual response by western leaders to the brutal invasion of a foreign nation by US forces was to express various levels of concern and an intent to monitor.
Like Winston Peters for New Zealand:
New Zealand is concerned by and actively monitoring developments in Venezuela and expects all parties to act in accordance with international law. New Zealand stands with the Venezuelan people in their pursuit of a fair, democratic and prosperous future.
And so far there has been nothing from leader Christopher Luxon who claimed he was normally back at work on the 3rd or 4th of January.
At least NZ Labour were staunch and to the point:
The New Zealand Labour Party condemns the US attack on Venezuela including kidnapping its president as a blatant violation of international law. For the US to say it is now going to run Venezuela for the purpose of getting access to its oil, and in the same breath to repeat its desire to acquire Greenland, is a fundamental challenge to New Zealand values and our place in the world. Nicolas Maduro’s human rights abuses should have been dealt with in the International Criminal Court. The US action is another step towards a world of violence and instability where might takes precedence over international law.
Anthony Albanese was also pretty weak saying that Australia was monitoring developments and urging “all parties to support dialogue and diplomacy in order to secure regional stability and prevent escalation”.
UK Prime Minister Kier Starmer was also very weak. “We regarded Maduro as an illegitimate president and we shed no tears about the end of his regime” Starmer said. He then reiterated his support for international law but neglected to say if he thought international law had actually been breached.
Starmer’s weakness was followed by much of Europe.
Other statements were more to the point. Like this one:
There were a thousand reasons to condemn the regime of Nicolas Maduro: communist, oligarchic, and authoritarian … [b]ut there is one fundamental reason to oppose the regime change that the United States has just brought about in Venezuela. The sovereignty of states is never negotiable, regardless of their size, their power, or their continent. It is inviolable and sacred.”
This was from far right French politician Marine Le Pen.
Or how about this one:
Regime change, funding foreign wars, and American’s tax dollars being consistently funneled to foreign causes … is what has most Americans enraged”.
Former Trump fan girl Marjorie Taylor Greene said this.
Or how about this?
The American actions in Venezuela overnight are unorthodox and contrary to international law”.
This was from Nigel Farage. In what world is Farage’s response to a unilateral invasion of a sovereign state better than Starmer’s?
And meanwhile Mexico, Columbia, Cuba and how am I even typing this Denmark are living in fear of a US invasion.
We live in strange times …
Appearances must be saved, so a chorus of sanctimonious statements from various political leaders is requisite normalcy. The next light breeze will waft them into oblivion; no worries. Doing is way more influential than posturing, so noticing the lack of effective action in follow-through is the next phase for the commentariat.
For the Europeans , especially Germany and France, its a little delicate .Theyre still hoping for US participation in Ukraine after a ceasefire, they have no wish to go it alone., and can’t afford to offend Trump..So a blind eye is turned. Sometimes when we act to protect and uphold the rule of law sacrifices are necessary.So to uphold international law we have to sacrifice international law.
Its kind of similar when we boost our military spending to protect our way of life.Sacrifices have to be made, eg social spending.So we sacrifice our way of life to protect it
MS I have only (yet) seen a twitter post from Phil Twyford.(and not being on twitter it was linked by someone….)
You might have missed the Greens Marama Davidson calling Luxon out on RNZ ?
Hi it was offered more in relation to Australia and UK Labour whose response was on a par with our Government's. I agree the Greens are staunch on the issue and their statement was good.
Hi MS, thankyou for reply, and yes I could see how that was. Keep up your great Post work : )
A more accurate title for this post would be “Left wing thinker discovers diplomacy exists; is outraged.”
I think there are two (somewhat) contradictory things at play here. First, Maduro’s presidency was only dubiously legitimate, economically shonky, morally bankrupt, and reliant on outright oppression to cling to power. Few people, and fewer still among ordinary Venezuelans, are going to miss him or his regime.
Secondly, in toppling him, the United States has flagrantly violated international law.
The problem for geopolitical actors that aren’t global superpowers is that trying to hold the US to account is, at best, tricky. International law exists, but there is no world police or global court capable of meaningfully punishing a US president for acting illegally.
It’s a bit like trying to beat the All Blacks with a team of 11–12 year olds. Especially when half the kids are also reliant on the All Blacks to protect them from being bullied and to make sure their parents can keep paying the mortgage.
Which is why we’re seeing such a mixed and muted response from Western leaders. On one hand, Maduro was an authoritarian strongman with a miserable record. On the other, states like ours rely on international law for protection, or at least as a shared framework that allows us to trade, cooperate, and exist without brute force deciding everything.
What is interesting, though, is that we’re starting to see some hardening of positions around MAGA’s increasingly explicit flirtation with annexing Greenland. Venezuela can be framed, however cynically,as regime change in a distant state with a contested democratic mandate.
Greenland, by contrast, is unambiguously part of a sovereign democratic country: and a US ally to boot. That’s a much harder precedent for other Western governments to quietly swallow.
That opposition figures and fringe populists find it easier to issue absolutist condemnations than governments tasked with managing alliances and consequences isn’t hypocrisy; it’s simply geopolitical reality.
Many states, including New Zealand, can’t afford to seriously antagonise the United States. Especially when it's lead by someone as genuinely unpredictable as Trump.
And while I generally abhor our current government, in this instance discretion is likely the better part of valour as a matter of pragmatic foreign policy.
So I guess, credit where it’s due. It’s a sign that Cabinet at least has the basic good sense to listen to the advice it’s getting from MFAT. Which, given the arc of this current coalition, is a somewhat pleasant surprise.
Canada has claimed that the NWP is in the inland sea of Canada. And it is buying tech to gather intell from the area – that takes it out of interoperability with the USA.
All of NATO and the entire foreign/defence establishment of the USA is in shock as well.
It is increasing their defence spend to 5% by 2035. So it can meet the task.
Note that the 6 nations standing up for the defence of Greenland – they do not include Canada (for why, look at the subtext of the statement, NATO solidarity in the the Arctic)(the USA has controlled the NATO position in north Arctic facing Canada till now).
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cwyg1jg8xkmo
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cpwn2wjzwndo
SPC re your comments 3.1 and 4. I have followed much of what has gone previously re North West Passage and also the Alberta situation from an Environmental perspective. Tar sands/fracking etc..(however they even have maple MAGA : (
Anyway I did see this re the NWP… (interestingly now that
VenezualanAmerikan oil is getting ready to ship…)And Maple MAGA..
And complete scumbag Jeffrey Rath…
From an environmental perspective, Greenland is also related to GW.
Denmark's environment regulation constrains American corporate interests – as per access to rare earth minerals etc.
The Diplomat (TV series) covers this obliquely.
Absolutely this government being spineless over this is an exercise in hypocrisy; not the first example either.
I sure as hell hope so! No government of a liberal democracy is going to risk its relationship with this batshit-crazy US government over a dictator who was busy "progressing" his country from mafia state to failed state, but it shouldn't be possible to just ignore said batshit-crazy US govt invading a fellow liberal democracy. Not to mention, what does NATO do if a NATO member attacks a fellow NATO member? You can't get away with "We're closely monitoring the situation" if that's the situation.
This article by Melanie Phillips makes claims about Jason Kenney (she has claimed that truth is a right wing concept)
https://www.thepost.co.nz/world-news/360926816/it-was-right-rip-rulebook-venezuela
https://archive.li/qj2gz#selection-1703.0-1703.116
Jason Kenney served as Canada's Minister of National Defence from February to November 2015.
After leaving federal politics in 2016, he became leader of Alberta's United Conservative Party (UCP) and served as Alberta's Premier (2019-2022), focusing on economic renewal and energy policy
There is currently an attempt to secure Alberta independence by seeking US support for the cause.
Murdoch media – is The Times running disinformation ops rather than just the outright lies of Fox News.
PS Phillips was the McSweeney of her day (at the Guardian)
Apparently he was Immigration Minister at the time he received the briefing: https://x.com/jkenney/status/2007610150345933142.
Yup. We can guess which "one" agency was involved.
There is speculation that he will roll PP.
He is (actually a) critic of Alberta independence, he calls it a dead parrot that cannot live on (so many electoral failures).
The US government has always treated Canadian inshore waters as if they were part of the United States territorial domain. Prime example – all of the Arctic Archipelago from 70 degrees north latitude for 1000 miles to the Arctic circle at 85 degrees North.
A long way away, you'd say. True! And who cares?
But when you fly Air New Zealand direct from Auckland to Vancouver, as you approach the West Coast of Canada, flying over Vancouver Island, you can see the narrow channel known as Johnstone Strait, separating the island from the coast of British Columbia.
In parts this channel narrows down to only one or two kilometers wide.
This Channel provides the favoured route for US Nuclear submarines leaving their base in Puget Sound, off the coast from Seattle heading for Alaska. Very convenient – they don't have to venture out from the Strait of Juan de Fuca into the open ocean.
You can see why the US government has no qualms about sailing through the 100 mile-wide Taiwan Strait, between the island of Formosa and the mainland of China. It's what they do, because they can.
Cheer
Nations put up with the USA placing power before sovereignty on the grounds of mutual security.
But the USA is now acting more openly MAGA.
While demanding its "partners" be self-reliant, but expecting they buy MIC kit.
Miller runs the anti-foreigner line internally (that HUAC era talk moves onto war on blue states) and otherwise the American power over sovereignty line – he is normalising fascism at home and abroad. He, Rubio and Benny run the vanity of vanities that is POTUS 47 and white race nation GOP USA (while Roberts the Christian dominionism and Vought the disabling of government provision), while Vance (the Thiel plant in the White House) awaits inheritance of power on earth.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/world-news/360921564/world-governed-power-trump-aides-stunning-claim-seizing-greenland
Trump is perfectly capable of saying, “Gimme Greenland or I walk away from Ukraine.”
Even… “Gimme Greenland AND I walk away from Ukraine.”
A must watch:
Alistair Campbell suggests a part of the Venezuela incursion was due to the US tanking economy plus the Epstein saga, Trump's ratings and the imminent mid-term elections. Nobody is talking about them now. If Greenland is added to the mix 'nobody' will continue talking about them. Also there is a very interesting parallel developing over Russia and Moldova.
It makes one wonder… what the hell are these two despots, Trump and Putin planning behind armoured doors.
I agree that on a political and ethical level what the US did was completely wrong. And their could be huge global implications for this. So, I definitely don't approve.
But, on a practical level for the Venezualian people, is this a bad thing? Their current situation is really bad already. With their oil reserves they should be one of the richest countries in the world. But diabolically bad government has turned them into one of the poorest. I could make a poke at socialism. But, I think it is more to do with the ineptitude and corruption of the governance more than anything else.
So, if US oil companies etc get involved and start investing in the local economy, that will pour a lot more money in, and should start lifting the living standards for the average person there.
Is this an ideal situation? No. If their own government had done the job better, then they wouldn't be in this situation now. But, I don't think things will get worse for them, and probably will improve a lot.
Could be?!
But..you had a however. Which is always interesting…And as a hypothetical not too far removed (slightly paraphrased)…
See how that works?
You don't think Venezuelans might have their ideas about that?
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/f2H6y1a-SNg
"But, on a practical level for the Venezualian people, is this a bad thing?"
On the face of it, no. Maduro losing the opportunity to push Venezuela further into 'failed state' territory can only be a net gain for the local population.
That said… Trump isn't doing this for the benefit of the Venezuelan people. If we have a situation in which the rest of Maduro's administration remains in charge but they're obliged to cut ties with Iran and China, give up the drug trafficking and cut back on their privatising the country's income into their own bank accounts (ie so that there's enough money available for things like maintaining the oil production infrastructure), the US government would in all likelihood be quite OK with that. In which case, all the locals get is "New boss is just like the old boss, but at least now your currency isn't worthless."
Notice how since all this stuff started happening, including the talk about Greenland, there has been very little said about the Epstein files.
If you forgot about those you probably need to go for your monthly annual cognitive test.