Venezuela's interim president announced a historic 25-year energy accord with the United States. This agreement targets increasing crude output to 1.5 million barrels daily. It aims to revive the nation's economy and boost government revenue significantly. The deal preserves Venezuela's sovereignty over its vast natural resources. Several companies, including US firms, are expected to sign new oil rights next week.
Yup, and I expect that at least some people in Trump admin must understand that this isn’t going to help them materially, so they’re also just doing it as theatre to divert attention from the looming energy crisis.
It’s interesting how both Trump and Zelensky have this in common, always chasing the next media headline. The PR is more important than the reality because their political survival depends on headlines, whereas reality can be hidden (for a time, until it can’t anymore…).
For Ukraine, it’s inevitable since the regime there is a proxy entirely dependent on continued support from the west. Every decision there is centred on ensuring that their sponsors keep investing in them. Meanwhile, Trump is ruling over a collapsing empire, and he has to keep doing PR stunts to keep people distracted. And in both cases the only goal is to keep kicking the can down the road. Once Ukraine falls, the junta will run to the west and it won’t be their problem. They just need to stay there long enough so that the west declares them the government in exile. If they run too soon, then a new government will form and they become irrelevant. In case of Trump, he just needs to make it till the end of his term, after that it’s not his problem anymore.