THE statement of Mr. Mike Waltz, the United States (US) Ambassador to the United Nations (UN), shows true (and dirty) colours of America -- that the US would no longer tolerate hostile powers (particularly in the Western Hemisphere). The reference was to the growing influence of Russia, China and Iran. Mr. Waltz has said that the American operation in Venezuela sent a clear message to the global rivals that Washington would never tolerate hostile powers embedding themselves in the Western Hemisphere. Thus, it is clear that the US -- particularly under President Mr. Donald Trump -- wants to establish itself as the world’s biggest superpower unmindful of the contravention of the international ethos of multilateralism and globalisation.

 

Though it has always been like that, the United States of today wants to start issuing open threats to its potential rivals to the pole position. And, with the Venezuelan oil in its control (which amounts to nearly 20% of world reserves), Washington appears sure that it can make any other nation dance to its whims. This is sheer arrogance. But that is threatening to push the world to the next level of the current chaos caused by various players. Obviously, the United States has carried in its head a terribly wrong opinion of its own strengths and appears willing to take on the world like German strongman Adolf Hitler did 80-90 years ago.

 

There is no doubt that the US is the world’s biggest superpower -- unmatched by anybody on most parameters of that status. Yet, it possibly is failing to realise that alone, it would not be able to outmatch the collective power of a few nations such as Russia and China -- and India (if the proverbial R-ussia-I-ndia-C-hina grouping really gets formed under duress and geopolitical need). Single-handedly as well, Russia and China are powerful enough to stand up to the US and give a tough fight on all fronts. In its own way, India of today also has enough capabilities to be a serious confronter if its interests are threatened. Unfortunately, the US under Mr. Donald Trump does not seem to realise these realities. If autocrats such as Adolf Hitler saw no end of themselves, Mr. Donald Trump, too, appears to be walking the same, dangerous path -- unmindful of historical reality that no despot is ever born with supernatural powers to hold the world to ransom -- which is what Washington seems to be doing at present.

 

In addition to what it has done in Venezuela, the US has threatened to tear down the power-pyramid in the neighbouring Cuba and Mexico. A few smaller nations may succumb to the American hooliganism -- for a while. Then would come a global retaliation that may even push the international community to something akin to a World War. If such a confrontation really takes place, then it would cause unprecedented devastation from which the world may take over a hundred years to emerge. It is not possible that the Americans do not sense this danger in the distance.

 

Their futurologists must have cautioned them against the possible implications of any escalation of conflict or launch of new hostilities. Despite that, President Mr. Trump appears to have been blinded by his megalomania. And to make matters worse, his close team, too, appears to have been similarly afflicted with mental disorder -- reflected so pronouncedly in Mr. Mike Waltz’s arrogant statement. Venezuela, thus, would act as a heralder of the dark times that threaten to engulf the world in their ugly folds. The developments there in the past some months (when the US wove an elaborate network to take over the country in the midnight-to-pre-dawn hours and capture the leader and his wife) would reverberate in the world. For Mr. Trump, the Venezuelan drama may end in some time, all right, but its global implications may linger on and harm the American interests in the long term -- which the psychotic Trump may never realise.