US Attack on Venezuela: Story of the Last Week
In the early morning hours of January 3rd, 2026, the United States attacked Venezuela and captured its president, Nicolás Maduro. What led to this? And what does it mean for us? What exactly happened in Venezuela? Around 2AM local time on January 3rd, the US airstriked against Venezuela. The main target was Venezuela’s capital Caracas and surrounding areas: Miranda, Aragua and La Guaira. During this operation, US forces captured Venezuelan president Nicolás Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, and took them to the US, where they were charged with drug trafficking. At the same time, US President Donald Trump announced that the US would “govern Venezuela until a safe transfer of power is possible.” The official pretext for Trump’s invasion was the alleged involvement of Maduro and his wife in drug smuggling from Venezuela to the US. Drugs do indeed flow from Latin America to the US, where they cause significant problems. Over 100 000 Americans die from overdoses each year. Still, although being part of this drug route, Venezuela is more of a transit country. Neighboring Colombia is a much larger source of drugs. This isn’t the first time Trump has used drug-smuggling claims to justify his controversial (and costly) projects. He previously used the same argument to defend building the US-Mexico border wall and his mass deportations of undocumented immigrants. The drug narrative is his way to rebrand geopolitical issues as domestic issues for his “America First” voters. And it is no different in the case of Venezuela. A more realistic reason is Venezuela’s oil reserves – the largest in the world. Trump had been pressuring Venezuela since his first term, but during his second term, he escalated. In March 2025, he raised tariffs on countries importing Venezuelan oil. Since September 2025, the US has been attacking Venezuelan ships that were allegedly smuggling drugs. For the same reason, the US have deployed a large fleet to the Caribbean, which was then used in the invasion. What´s the deal with Venezuela? After World War I, huge oil reserves discovery in Venezuela, led to an economic boom. Until the 1970s, Venezuela was the second largest oil producer in the world (after the US). At that time, Venezuela was ruled by dictator Juan Vicente Gómez (1908 – 1935). Although he managed to attract foreign investors (like Shell) with favorable business conditions (for them – not so much for Venezuela) and bring money for the modernisation of the country and building infrastructure, he was also very repressive (which attracted the investors, because a tough political regime = a stable regime). In the end, Venezuela earned only a fraction of what foreign companies earned from its oil. And most of this fraction ended up in the hands of a few – leaving most people poor. Venezuela’s economy also became too dependent on oil, which later backfired. Although Gómeze’s democratic successor, Rómulo Betancourt increased taxes on oil production to bring more profit for Venezuela, the dependence on oil remained. In 1973 Venezuela changed this dependence on profit. Together with other OPEC countries they deliberately fabricated so called “Oil crisis” by reducing oil production. This lead to higher oil prices and therefore bigger profit for themselves (supply determines demand) What is OPEC? OPEC = Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries was founded in 1960 by Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, and Venezuela. Its goal was to control oil prices and prevent Western companies from exploiting oil-rich countries. Today, OPEC has 13 members and decides how much oil is sold – and thus how much we pay for gasoline. In 1975, president Carlos Andrés Pérez (1974-1979, 1989-1993) nationalized the Venezuelan oil industry by creating PDVSA (Venezuela’s state oil company). This brought in more money,but also led to reckless spending, debt, and corruption. When oil prices crashed in the 1980s, Pérez implemented money-saving measures: cutting social spending, privatizing state companies, and raising prices. This led to the “Caracazo” protests, which Pérez brutally suppressed (killing hundreds). It backfired politically and helped his opponent, the charismatic Hugo Chávez (1999–2013), who promised to fix social inequality, rise to power. Chávez indeed reduced extreme poverty by introducing social programs like free healthcare, food subsidies, or low-income housing. But he also weakened democracy by centralizing power, changing the constitution to rule indefinitely, silencing opposition media… Like his predecessors, he relied on oil revenues – so when prices collapsed, Venezuela had nothing else to fall back on. But instead of adjusting spending in these times (like his predecessors), Chávez just printed more money. This seemingly covered up the problem and allowed him to continue spending on his populist projects. But it gradually plunged Venezuela into hyperinflation… After Chávez died, Nicolás Maduro came to power in 2013 – mainly due to the residual charisma of Chávez, who recommended him as his successor. Maduro himself did not have any of that charisma that would delude naive people to support his populist promises despite the ever-worsening economic situation. Imagine Chávez’s rule, but remove all the policies that had even a slight positive impact. What’s left is an authoritarian government, corruption, human rights violations (the UN reported 5,287 people killed for “resistance to authority” in 2018), rigged elections (2018), shortages of food and medicine, rising unemployment and crime, and millions fleeing the country. Given this, it’s not surprising that many Venezuelans currently welcome the US intervention. It has rid them of a dictator. But we shouldn’t forget to ask: Which person rid Venezuela of this dictator? Because that person is Donald Trump, who is far from a democratic leader himself. Since last year’s election, Trump has made a number of controversial decisions that undermine US democracy, both at home: and abroad: Moreover, Trump is a convicted felon for falsifying business records (making him the first convicted president in US history), and his name appears in the Epstein files. Does Trump have the (legal) right to do this? The short answer is: no. According to the United Nations Charter, “All Members shall refrain in their international relations
PHOTOREPORTAGE: Solidarity Visit to Ukraine
In July 2023, I took part in solidarity visit to Ukraine organised by Ukrainian Leadership Academy. We spend one week visiting Kyiv, Lutsk, and Lviv, and exploring local humanitarian aid organizations.
European Parliament in Nutshell: December 2025
Every month, the European Parliament plenary session takes place in Strasbourg. And every month, IR Media follows it closely. These are the highlights of the last plenary session taking place from 15th to 18th December 2025: European Parliament supported “My voice, my choice” initiative for safe and accessible abortion On Wednesday 17th December, eurodeputies supported the European Citizens´Initiative “My voice, my choice” for safe and accessible abortion. A European Citizens’ Initiative is a tool for people from the EU to ask the European Commission to propose some new legislation. To be considered, the initiative must collect at least one million signatures in 7 member states. In this case, the initiative calls for creation of some financial mechanism that would be available to all member states that choose to take part and would allow them to finance abortion care for women who cannot access it in their own country. The European Commission now has time until March 2026 to explain how it will respond to this initiative. Gradual ban of Russian gas The main point of the European plenary session this month was the Russian gas imports. On Wednesday 17th December eurodeputies voted to gradually move away from Russian LNG (= liquified natural gas) and pipeline gas. This comes in response to Russia’s weaponisation of energy supplies, which was happening for the last two decades and escalated with the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022. The ban will come gradually. First on the short-term supply contracts for LNG in April 2026, then on the short-term supply contracts for pipeline gas in July 2026, then on the long-term LNG contracts in January 2027 and lastly on the long-term pipeline gas contracts in September 2027. Sakharov prize 2025 As every year, the European Parliament awarded the Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought during its December session. This year, to journalists Andrzej Poczobut and Mzia Amaglobeli. Who are currently imprisoned by the political regimes in their countries because of their work. Andrzej Poczobut, a member of the Polish minority in Belarus, was sentenced to 3 years in prison in 2021 for allegedly insulting the President of Belarus and inciting ethnic hatred. In 2023, he received an additional sentence of 8 years for what authorities described as actions harming Belarusian national security. Mzia Amaglobeli was arrested at the beginning of this year for taking part in protests against the Georgian government who is trying to pull the country away from its pro-European course and bring it closer to Russia. Amaglobeli is Georgia’s first female political prisoner since Georgia´s independence in 1992 after the fall of the Soviet Union. Did you know? The Sakharov Prize bears the name of Andrei Sakharov, a Soviet scientist and dissident. He spoke out against political repression and became a symbol of the fight for human rights and freedom of expression. The next sitting will be held from 19th to 22nd January 2026 in Strasbourg
One day I was a refugee with no country to return to, the next day I was a Syrian in France : AnnaTalks with OMAR
When the refugee crisis began in 2015, I was 14 years old. Back then, I wasn’t yet interested in politics – all my opinions in that regard were adopted from the “trusted adults” in my life (a.k.a. my parents and teachers). I vividly remember the moment when I was cooking in the kitchen, and listening to my dad’s warnings about those “dangerous migrants coming to Europe on boats”. Perhaps at the same moment, a few hundred kilometers away, Omar’s boat was approaching the Greek border… I met Omar in 2023, when we both worked at Radio WNE and when Syria was still under the dictatorship of Bashar al-Assad. When he told me the story of his arrival in Europe, the story you’re about to read, I was shocked – it sounded like an action movie. And yet it is the reality – and quite often the only way for tens of thousands of people to preserve their morals and escape prison or even death. My dad’s words came to mind again: Would he change his opinion about refugees if he heard Omar’s story? Would others change theirs as well? The thing is that while alarmist stories about refugees frighten us on a daily basis, the testimonies from the actual refugees are not as common. This is often due to the language barrier – for example, Omar doesn’t speak English – but also to the fact that people simply tend to stay in their national communities – even though there are many foreigners in France, I know from my own experience that the French and the foreign communities rarely meet in real life… But that’s exactly why podcast AnnaTalks exists and why, in March 2025 I interviewed Omar for it. And because the interview is in French and I don’t want to deprive those of you who don’t understand it, you can find an English translation below. Enjoy reading! What happened in Syria? To begin, could you describe what it was like growing up in Syria for you ? I grew up like most Syrians who were born in Syria, I went to school there and stayed until 2013, when I was about 17 or 18 years old. I lived in a town called Douma, around 15 km from Damascus. We were ordinary people living in their city. How would you describe Syrians as a nation? Is there some trait that all Syrians have in common? My view of Syria is that we actually didn’t know each other before the revolution. In Syria there are around 20 different ethnic and national groups, so there is not a single national identity shared by everyone. I think most Syrians feel like some second-class citizens because we don’t really have this concept of “citizenship” – you never hear it in Syria. But the one thing we did all share was the fear of the secret intelligence services and the feeling that this country does not belong to us. I think the dictatorship we lived under is the only thing that the 24 millions of Syrians share. Could you explain what happened in Syria? Give some context about Assad’s regime and about what happened in 2011? I’ll be very simple: In 1970, Hafez al-Assad, the former Syrian president and the father of Bashar al-Assad, took power through a coup and he ruled for 30 years. When he died in 2000, the Syrian parliament modified the constitution so his son Bashar could take over – just to keep power in the hands of the family. Bashar al-Assad promised us to make political and economic reforms. And he partially did – things got a bit better in the economy. But the political violence in Syria was the same as during his father’s time. In 2011, after the Arab Spring revolutions started first in Tunisia, then in Egypt, it arrived in Syria. In March 2011, a group of boys, between 13 and 15 years old, wrote on the walls of the city of Daraa in the south of Syria “It’s your turn now, Doctor”. “Doctor” referring to Bashar al-Assad, because he used to be an ophthalmologist. That’s when the revolution really started. At first, it was not a military revolution, just peaceful demonstrations, demands for political freedom, freedom of expression. City after city joined. Until we arrived at a moment when the whole of Syria was demonstrating. I was 15 at that time and I joined the demonstrations in my city Douma. And I saw the Syrian army shoot at peaceful people with my own eyes. We weren’t even calling for the fall of the regime at first, nor for the condemnation of Assad – we were too afraid to do that. But the regime escalated the violence. By the end of 2011, they were bombing entire cities. In 2013, they committed the first chemical attack. It was in my city. It was 21 August 2013. At that moment we understood that even if we did not participate in demonstrations or in military actions, we would be killed. Since, we had lost our house, and my parents had lost their jobs, we couldn’t leave so easily. We had to sell our car, and take a bus to the north of Syria, to the Turkish border. We spent 11 or 12 hours on the bus. On that journey, for the first time, I saw Daesh and all the armed groups active in Syria at the time. Can you explain what Daesh is for those who don’t know? Daesh is a jihadist military group that wants to apply Sharia to the entire world. For them, democracy, the concept of citizenship – it doesn’t exist, that’s for the West, for Christians, for people who don’t resemble them. They try to apply the Quran to the people no matter where they are. Daesh is an international group. They are not Syrians, they are not Iraqis, they are not Tunisians. Members of Daesh come from all over the world : France, Belgium, Europe…
Story of the Last Week: Ceasefire in Gaza
On January 15, 2025, Qatar confirmed the successful negotiation of a ceasefire in Gaza, bringing hope to a region devastated by ongoing violence. This agreement promises a temporary halt to hostilities and humanitarian relief for millions of affected civilians. But can this fragile peace lead to lasting resolution? The Roots of the Conflict After WWI, the Ottoman Empire which contained nowadays Israel and Palestine, collapsed. The victorious Allies ( decided to divide it into so-called mandates and administer them until they were able to self-govern. The part with current Israel and Palestine was administered by Great Britain as Mandatory Palestine. In 1947 the United Nations decided to end the British administration and divide Mandatory Palestine into Israel and Palestine. At this time there were already tensions between Jews and Arabs, once the British withdrew, war broke out at the end of which Israel controlled 2/3 of the Palestinian territory. However, the conflict continued. Between 1947 and 2023, various conflicts took place between Israelis and Palestinians, some of which even escalating into wars. The Recent Developpement On October 7, 2023, Hamas attacked Israel, killing approximately 1200 people and taking 252 hostages. In response, Israel initiated a large-scale military operation in Gaza. Killing around 49,000 Palestinians, many of them being children, destroying local infrastructure, forcibly displacing 1,9 millions of people (so almost 90 % the population of Gaza) and creating a humanitarian crisis as these people lost an access to medical aid, clean water, food or education. Ceasefire in Gaza The ceasefire in Gaza was negotiated with significatn international involvement, particularly from the United States, Egypt, and Qatar. Qatar’s Prime Minister and Foreign Minister, Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, officially announced the breakthrough on Wednesday, 15th of January 2025. The ceasefire came in force on 19 January and its terms include: This agreement offers a much-needed respite for Gaza’s civilian population, thowever it remains fragile, and its success depends on the commitment of both parties and sustained international pressure. Challenges Facing the Ceasefire in Gaza While the ceasefire is a welcome development, it is far from a resolution. Historically, ceasefires in this conflict didn´t last long, often collapsing into renewed violence. Key challenges include: What Does It Mean for the World? While it may seem that the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is resolved now – the months of violence finally come to an end and people from both sides return to their homes – it’s too early to celebrate. So far, only the first phase of the ceasefire has begun. The second phase is still under discussion. Plus the key question of how will Israelis and Palestinains coexist in the future remains unanswered… As much, as we would like to give you a happyend, we can´t (yet). What we can give you, however, are some predictions. It’s not ideal, but that’s the way it goes in history – sometimes you have to wait a long time for definitive results. In the case of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, we’ve been waiting since a 1947…