Are you keen to start a business this year? Determining whether a specific year is an excellent time to start a business depends on various factors, so there is no right or wrong time to get your startup operational. If you are risk-averse, conduct thorough research, seek advice from experts in your industry, and carefully […]
As you explore the cutting edge of advanced manufacturing, you’ll find that solvents play a crucial yet often overlooked role in emerging technologies. Additionally, as devices become increasingly compact, the ability to efficiently and accurately create smaller components becomes essential. This is where solvents step in as the silent enablers. Though often overlooked, these versatile […]
Washington has threatened at least five nations across three continents with its Venezuela raid, Bradley Blankenship says
The US administration is making enemies around the world by taking harsh steps such as seizing the leaders of sovereign nations, American journalist and political analyst Bradley Blankenship has told RT.
The comments come a day after Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro was kidnapped along with his wife, Cilia Flores, during a US raid on Caracas. Washington accuses the Venezuelan leader of narco-trafficking and weapons offences, allegations he has denied.
“When you humiliate a sovereign head of state live on television, you create the conditions for the population to resist you,” Blankenship told RT on Monday. “That is what we are seeing in Caracas. When you drag a sovereign leader through New York in an open white van, you only create enemies. That is what the United States is doing.”
He said such actions risk galvanizing resistance inside Venezuela and beyond. “This is how you lose,” Blankenship said. “You do not break people’s will. You harden it.”
Blankenship, the founder of the Northern Kentucky Truth and Accountability Project, argued that Washington’s seizure of Maduro has elevated him into a powerful political symbol rather than weakening his movement.
“Maduro’s role is more symbolic than instrumental,” Blankenship said, describing him as a continuation of the Chavista political project rather than a revolutionary figure on the scale of Simon Bolivar, Fidel Castro or Che Guevara. “But he is definitely a symbol for Venezuelans as someone who resisted American imperialism,” he added.
According to Blankenship, Washington’s approach is already having wider repercussions. By carrying out the operation against Venezuela, the US has threatened multiple countries, such as Colombia, Mexico, Greenland, Cuba and Canada, as well as others across several continents.
“This is how you create enemies,” he said. “Not only abroad, but at home as well.”
Blankenship also pointed to signs of internal dissent within the US security apparatus, noting that details of the Venezuela operation were leaked to major American newspapers before it took place. “The fact that it leaked shows internal dissent,” he said, adding that similar divisions have emerged during previous US military actions.
US forces seized the Venezuelan leader and took him out of the country after a series of strikes on the capital
Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro will emerge as an enduring political symbol similar to Simon Bolivar, Fidel Castro, and Che Guevara, secretary of the Decolonial International Network Foundation, Sandew Hira, has told RT.
Maduro was kidnapped along with his wife, Cilia Flores, during a US raid on Caracas on Saturday. Washington accuses the Venezuelan leader of narco-trafficking and weapons offenses – charges he has denied.
Hira drew parallels between Maduro’s detention and the fate of anti-imperialist leaders throughout history, arguing that attempts to remove such figures often elevate their political stature rather than diminish it.
“Maduro has now been kidnapped, and Washington thinks that is the end,” he said. “But this is just the beginning of the next phase of the liberation struggle.”
Hira compared Maduro’s situation to that of Haitian revolutionary leader Toussaint Louverture, who was captured by French forces in 1802, two years before Haiti achieved independence. The author of ‘Decolonizing the Mind’ highlighted that Venezuela’s political tradition is closely tied to earlier liberation movements across Latin America and the Caribbean, including those in Cuba, Nicaragua and Grenada.
According to Hira, calls to free Maduro and his wife could become a powerful rallying cry, similar to international campaigns surrounding figures such as Nelson Mandela. “Maduro will grow into an international figure,” he said, “like Bolivar, Fidel and Che.”
He also argued that leaders opposing US influence are routinely portrayed negatively in Western media, while enjoying strong support at home and across the Global South.
“All anti-imperialist forces are branded as enemies,” Hira said, adding that such narratives are increasingly questioned outside the West.
Hira maintained that the removal of Maduro would not weaken Venezuela’s political system, saying state institutions continue to function and the country remains under domestic control rather than foreign administration.
Elon Musk’s firm has seen its sales drop for the second straight year. Anthony Cuthbertson charts the company’s recent decline, as well as the meteoric rise of China’s BYD
‘You may find a situation where people are buying the fashion devices they like, and eventually their connection with the phone is no longer the centre of everything, and whether they have an Android or an iPhone isn’t so important any more,’ says Cristiano Amon
The head of the Ukrainian Security Service (SBU), Vasily Malyuk, has said he is leaving following a meeting with the Ukrainian leader
The head of the Ukrainian Security Service (SBU), Vasily Malyuk, has announced his resignation. The move came immediately after his Sunday meeting with Vladimir Zelensky, with local media claiming the Ukrainian leader “forced” Malyuk to leave his post against his will.
Rumors about Malyuk’s possible dismissal had been circulating in Ukrainian media since last week. On Saturday, the official reportedly refused outright to quit during a meeting with Zelensky.
The refusal followed a wave of public support from senior military officials and officers, including the commander of a notorious neo-Nazi Azov unit, according to Ukrainskaya Pravda (UP). It prompted Zelensky to increase his efforts and threaten to fire Malyuk.
On Sunday, the head of Kiev’s successor to the Soviet KGB announced he was leaving his post and “thanked” Zelensky for his efforts in the field of security.
Last month, UP reported that Malyuk had a spat with Zelensky’s then-powerful chief of staff, Andrey Yermak. Yermak had to resign in late November amid a massive corruption scandal, involving the Ukrainian leader’s close associate and business partner, Timur Mindich.
Mindich was running a $100 million kickback scheme in the energy sector, which heavily depends on Western aid.
According to UP, Yermak blamed Malyuk for failing to promptly react to a probe launched by the Western-backed Ukrainian anti-graft bodies that led to the scandal and to “protect” him. Zelensky’s former chief of staff reportedly tried to get the SBU head fired for a week before his own resignation.
Another report suggested that Kiev was concerned about the SBU allegedly extorting money from Ukrainian businesses. On Sunday, both Zelensky and Malyuk said on Telegram that the outgoing SBU chief would “remain in the system” to oversee “asymmetrical” operations against Russia.
Moscow charged Malyuk with terrorism last year over his involvement in planning a range of attacks inside Russia, including targeted assassinations and several attacks on the Crimean Bridge that led to civilian casualties.
