On January 20, 2025, U.S President Trump signed an executive order that paved the way for criminal organizations and drug cartels to be named “foreign terrorist organizations.” They included Tren de Aragua, a Venezuelan street gang. Trump claims that Venezuela’s President Maduro’s administration was working with Tren de Aragua and orchestrating drug trafficking and illegal immigration into the U.S. – https://www.nydailynews.com/2026/01/03/us-venezuela-boat-attacks-timeline

The U.S increased the reward for information leading to the arrest of Venezuela’s President, Maduro, to $50 Million on August 7, 2025. This was a clear indication that the U.S meant business. If there was any doubt about the U.S acting on a threat under President Trump, The bombing of Iran’s Nuclear Sites should serve as a reminder – https://www.state.gov/reward-offer-increase-of-up-to-50-million-for-information-leading-to-arrest-and-or-conviction-of-nicolas-maduro.

The DEA or other U.S Law enforcement agencies have a history of arresting suspected drug traffickers and arraigning them before court but the U.S changed tact with Maduro, President Trump’s administration declared boats suspected of trafficking drugs out of Venezuela as Narco-Terrorist and authorized military strikes against these boats. Here’s a video of one of these strikes against boats suspected of trafficking drugs out of Venezuela.

Maduro must have been able to tell that the authorization by U.S President Trump for the Military to “kill” suspected drug traffickers can’t possibly end in diplomacy. I’m writing about 2 topics in this post, Maduro’s calm and what a perfect relationship with communist states can be defined as.

Maduro’s Calm

Venezuela’s President Maduro responded to U.S Strikes against boats off the Venezuelan coast with videos such as this.

Don’t worry, be happy from someone who is aware of the U.S strike against Iran under President Trump. The U.S was willing to use majority of its weapons arsenal with reports claiming that it’d take a while for the U.S to restock the weapons it used in the Iranian nuclear sites attack.

I watched Maduro in awe when he responded comically to U.S threats and strikes. I discussed with someone about this issue and the person claimed that Maduro might be able to prevent a regime change or U.S invasion with Russia’s and China’s support. This didn’t work well with Former Syrian President Assad but there’s no clarity on how Assad was deposed. Gaddafi’s deposition was understandable due to U.S support in destroying tanks advancing from Tripoli but there’s no clarity on how Assad was deposed and if the opposition forces had support. If there’s a lesson to learn, Trusting Russia to defend Venezuela when Syria fell under Russia’s defense is a complexity – The reasons may not be an unwillingness to defend Syria as reports indicate that Russia was dealing with its own War with Ukraine and requires its resources for that war. The war with Ukraine is still ongoing so common sense indicates that Russia still has no spare resources for the defense of Venezuela. Why then was Maduro not worried ?.

The U.S arrested President Maduro on January 3, 2026, in an attack against Venezuela that was evidently going to happen – https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/loud-noises-heard-venezuela-capital-southern-area-without-electricity-2026-01-03

The image above showing a destroyed anti-aircraft unit during the attack to capture Venezuela’s President Maduro shows that he put up a fight or at least prepared for one. The countries able to defend against a U.S attack are not many, some of these countries posses Nuclear capacity as a deterrence. Venezuela reasonably depended on Russia but with Russia’s inability to defend Syria, I think Maduro should definitely have been worried.

President Trump shared the video below on TruthSocial, he shows Maduro daring him and he accepting the challenge.

A perfect relationship with communist states

What is a perfect relationship with communist states ?. This is a difficult question for a non-communist. Russia, China, North Korea, Vietnam, are all countries that have successfully argued against the U.S and continue to survive. They’re communist countries too. Is their survival tied to communism ?. Biafra’s Ojukwu was said to have refused communism during the Nigerian-Biafran war. I found it hard to understand given the alternative was starvation and losing the war but recently when discussing with a communist, I found myself referring to incidents such as Kim Jong-nam’s murder and how that gives me the impression that going against a communist state can be life threatening. The realization is not that going against a communist state can be life threatening but that i’m informed by Western Media and when discussing with a communist, the discussion by default agues that the actions of the communist state are wrong – This is a problem for someone who desires a relationship with communist states. Was Ojukwu faced with such challenges ?. I wanted to explore the failure of Russia to defend Syria and Venezuela as a consequences of they not being communist states but Venezuela seems to be a communist state with strong communist influence.