Yemen Rocks the Gate of Tears | Pepe Escobar

No less than 25 years after 9/11, the Angel of History once again delivers a powerful kick. Five years ago, we had the astonishing imperial humiliation in Afghanistan, accomplished in a matter of days. Now, we have the astonishing humiliation of Epstein Syndicate vassal Saudi Arabia in Yemen, also accomplished in a matter of days.

» Bab al-Mandab is an international corridor, but it is part of Yemen's territory. « 
Yemeni PM Mohammed Ahmed Miftah, September 10, 2026. Yemen now has the luxury

of installing a toll gate, arguably multi-layered, in the Bab al-Mandab, if they want it. 

Serial humiliations now follow the Empire's path like a plague—and we're not even talking about the impending, stratospheric, twin strategic defeats in West Asia and the black soil of Novorossiya. Emperors' heads used to roll in Ancient "Divide and Rule" Rome for much less.

 

Saudi F-15 engaged Yemeni air defenses,

was hit, and crashed over Marib. 

September 10: Three Saudi brigades and allies, along with their light and heavy weapons, have surrendered to Houthi forces across the Hays, Al-Mokha, Al-Khokha, Taiz, and Al-Jawf fronts. Ansar Allah called it the largest mass-capture operation in modern warfare.

The overall collapse of the Saudi mercenary gangs in Yemen is so swift that even Epstein Syndicate mainstream media has been forced to acknowledge it. The Ansarallah Rolling Thunder is seizing cities; islands; capturing thousands of thugs; liberating all prisoners—and greeting them amnesty; taking control of an untold number of US tanks and weapons—Afghanistan reloaded; and being greeted as liberators of Yemeni land across the whole tribal spectrum.

Barefoot, but with the heart of a lion.

 

And of course Ansarallah from now on, officially, has taken full control of the mega-strategic Bab al-Mandab, or "Gate of Tears". As iconic images go, Mohammed al-Houthi, cousin of Supreme Leader Abdul-Malik Al-Houthi, was spotted in liberated Al-Jarrahi driving one of countless armored vehicles abandoned by mercenary UAE-controlled gangs. 

Footage from the seized Bab el-Mandab coast shows a Houthi fighter at Hisn Murad declaring, "We don't need missiles. We don't need drones." He says artillery along the Murad coast and on Perim island will stop non-compliant vessels and "cut any and all shipping now."

The intel behind the Ansarallah Rolling Thunder—described as the largest mass-capture operation in modern warfare—was carefully coordinated with the IRGC. The Axis of Resistance was fully aware that after devastating Iranian attacks on the Jordan bases, the US was strangled in its capacity to help the Saudis prevent a Yemeni onslaught.

September 11: Saudi Arabia says Iraqi-launched drones struck its East-West 

Abqaiq-to-Yanbu Pipeline. Yanbu storage lasts 5–7 days. The war is going so well!

And onslaught it was, along the entire Yemeni western coast: from Hays to Al-Khokha and Al-Mokha via Al-Wazi'iyah, including the military camps of Khaled and Jabal al-Nar, plus Red Sea islands. Hizam al-Assad, member of the Political Bureau of Ansarallah, interviewed by Al-Mayadeen (English translation here), reaffirmed the "strategic importance" of the whole western coast, "and the region of Al-Khokha, the region of Hays, as well as the region of Al-Mafqa up to Dhabab and Miyyun, as well as the Yemeni islands in the Red Sea."

Col. Muammar Gaddafi in Sana'a on May 22, 1990, the day Yemen reunified North and South, addressing Yemeni officers and praising Yemen as the cradle of Arab civilization and its people's historic role in spreading Arabism—emphasizing their strength and independence beyond oil wealth, American bases, or foreign dependence.

Hizam al-Assad also detailed the attempt by the Saudis "to create a form of social dissociation in these regions, whether through their 'Daeshization,' or through the exacerbation of many regional, sectarian and confessional particularisms." Context is key. In 2015, Riyadh assembled an Arab-style "coalition of the willing" to basically expel Ansarallah/the Houthis from the capital Sana'a. Major fail—even by installing a blockade of Yemeni ports, and bombing indiscriminately (I was shown several targets, some rebuilt, from Sana'a to Sa'ada). Starting in 2022, a sort of unofficial ceasefire was in place, via a memorandum of understanding. The Saudis broke it in July, attacking the runway of Sana'a airport.

"How We Won the Western Coast"

Hizam al-Assad confirmed that "we had estimates that the occupier would fall in these regions from within (…) We estimated that the community would rise up and expel it (…) The withdrawal was in fact rapid and disorderly for the enemy (…) The enemy has no cause in Yemen, especially the local instruments, who carry out Saudi agendas for money."

 

» The curse of Allah is upon the wrongdoers. « Quran (11:18).

 

Western characterizations of Yemeni "aggression" once again don‘t even qualify as pathetic. Hizam al-Assad clarifies that "we have a trajectory within the framework of operations imposing the equation of ‘blockade for blockade’ and 'escalation for escalation,' and this is our primary orientation. And had the Saudi enemy not sought to disrupt this trajectory and break this equation (…) our trajectory is clear: to wrest away the legitimate Yemeni rights, and to break the blockade imposed on our country by the Saudi enemy."

The US Navy was previously de facto expelled from the Red Sea by advanced Yemeni military capabilities—including hypersonic missiles, 100% locally manufactured. Seems like Riyadh did not understand the lesson. The Yemeni Armed Forces confirmed that the Saudis launched dozens of air raids, "across the governorates of Taiz, Hodeidah, Marib, and Al-Jawf", carried out by F-15s and Typhoons taking off from King Fahd base in Taif and King Khalid base in Khamis Mushait. Unflapabble spokesman of Yemeni Armed Forces, Brigadier Yahya Saree—who I had the honor to meet last year in Yemen—confirmed that Made in Yemen surface-to-air missiles forced Saudis and mercenaries to abandon the base in Taiz, one of those specifically designed to harass Yemen.

 

» O you who have believed, if you support Allah, He will

support you and strengthen your footing. « Quran (47:7).

Taiz is key: one of Yemen's largest cities. Ansarallah is now in full control—a massive strategic asset. As strategic assets go, few compare to Mayun island—also known as Perim, smack in the middle of the Bab al-Mandab. There’s a military airfield and a military base built by the UAE with Israeli cooperation, crammed with high-tech weapons. All that is now Ansarallah property. Now that Ansarallah controls virtually the whole western coast, what’s left to conquer is essentially Marib—for the oil and gas fields—and the port of Aden, which congregates the bulk of the mercenary forces regimented against Sana'a.

Saudi Arabia's Lose-Lose Predicament

The Ansarallah Rolling Thunder complicates the chessboard in West Asia—and beyond—to a mesmerizing degree. The price of oil is out of control. The IRGC is warning about launching a new weapon that "will give imperialists a heart attack"—as in shattering the wobbly American naval blockade.

The much-spun Mecca Defense Alliance is facing its first serious birth pangs. Turkjiye is somewhat already embedded in the Saudi war on Yemen—as Turkish drones have been falling like flies inside Yemen for weeks now. Pakistan has meekly warned that the defense pact could become operational—only to backtrack and state that it does not apply to a pre-existent situation (as in the Saudi war started in 2015). MBS should organize a pilgrimage to the Gate to shed his strategic Tears. Anything Saudi, even seagulls, won't cross the Bab al-Mandab under supervision of the Yemeni Armed Forces.

They have no fifth-generation fighter jets, no Patriot batteries, and no billion-dollar defense contracts. What they do have is something no money can buy: warrior hearts that refuse to surrender, refuse to kneel.

The Yemeni army's largest mass-extermination operation of the week, unleashing Soviet Strela-2/3, Russian Igla-S, Iranian Misagh-1/2, and Chinese QW-1 MANPADS against Saudi armored forces and M1 Abrams tanks deployed to invade and occupy Yemen.

Now couple it with the Big Bang: the coordinated multiple strike on the Abqaiq-to-Yanbu pipeline, the last remaining route for Saudi oil exports after the blockade of the Strait of Hormuz, a massive 100 km black smoke column rising to the desert sky captured on Sentinel-3 satellite imagery.
 

A large smoke plume over the desert southeast of Medina, along

the East-West pipeline (Petroline) toward Mahd adh-Dhahab.

Is Yemen getting ready to topple the House of Saud? Saudi Arabia has an estimated 5,000 to 15,000 princes—but they don't fight. They rely on foreign mercenaries and Pakistani pilots. Their wealth can buy weapons, but can it buy loyalty? Where is the army willing to die for these degenerates?

Consequences

Expect production costs for nitrogen fertilizer plants from Europe to Asia to go totally out of control. Wheat, rice and maize yields are certified to fall, drastically, in tandem with skyrocketing diesel prices. Irrigation and harvesting will become a privilege for the wealthy. Ansarallah now has the luxury of installing a toll gate, arguably multi-layered, in the Bab al-Mandab, if they want it. Yet no exceptions for Riyadh; the dumb desert bedouins will only get a list of harsh demands.

In a televised address on July 30, 2026, Abdul-Malik al-Houthi, leader of Yemen's Ansar Allah, quoted Trump's own words before the entire Arab world: "Trump himself said Saudi Arabia is a cow; they milk it until not a drop remains, then slaughter it for meat."

Saudi Arabia’s prospects are dire, as it’s entering the worst possible lose-lose configuration: onshore oil infrastructure in tatters, maritime export routes blockaded. The verdict is not pronounced, yet. But it walks and talks, ominously, like Saudi Arabia being set up to fall, reduced to a desert wasteland, to the benefit of the usual suspects.

 

Reference:

Pepe Escobar (September 11, 2026) -  Yemen Rocks the Gate of Tears.

» The Italian intelligence agency knows very well that the catastrophic attack was planned and carried out by the CIA and Mossad, with the help of the Zionist world, to accuse Arab countries and persuade Western powers to invade Iraq and Afghanistan. « — Francesco Cossiga, former President of Italy, Corriere della Sera, 2007.  

25 years ago, on September 11, 2001: The United States Government, working in tandem with Israel and Saudi Arabia, MASSACRED close to 3,000 innocent American citizens IN COLD BLOOD. They used expert-controlled demolition (thermite, fuses, blasting caps) to bring down these massive buildings, which, according to one of the chief architects of the towers, were made to take MULTIPLE impacts from jet planes, then BOLDLY LIED to your face, telling you it was "pancake theory." 

 

See also:

Pepe Escobar (July 30, 2026) - Iran's Methodical Gutting of US Power in West Asia. 

Foad Izadi (July 29, 2026) - "Iran Will Make Sure the US Economy Is Destroyed." 

 TPR (July 21, 2026) - Al-Aqsa Triangle: Hormuz, Bab al-Mandab, and Suez Chokepoints. 

Gerry Nolan (2025) - Yemen Is Where Empires Go to Die. 

Captain Dan Hanley (2025) - The Truth Behind 9/11. 

 

2025 Global Public Sentiment Shift toward China | Pew Research Center

The 2025 global public opinion landscape is no longer a static map of American dominance. While the US maintains a median favorability of 49% compared to China’s 37%, the Pew Research Center’s Spring 2025 survey reveals a significant "closing of the gap." Over the past year, views of the US turned negative in 15 of 24 surveyed countries, while sentiment toward China improved in 15 of 24. This shift is most visible in the "favorability freefall" occurring in North America (Canada, Mexico) and Europe (Poland), contrasted with China’s steady gains in the Global South.

 

Scatter plot showing 24 countries mapped by US vs. China favorability, highlighting the 

dominant "Top-Left" pro-US cluster and the emerging "Bottom-Right" pro-China cluster.

Source: Spring 2025 Global Attitudes Survey, Pew Research Center. 

 

The primary driver of this shift is a historic change in economic perception. For the first time in the tracking series, more people globally now identify China as the world’s leading economic power (41%) than the United States (39%). This is a major departure from 2023, when the US held a comfortable lead in this category.

 

» The US is increasingly cited as a top security threat. «

 

This pivot is most extreme in Mexico, where the sentiment shift has been near-total. Favorability toward the US crashed from 61% in 2024 to just 29% in 2025. Simultaneously, 45% of Mexicans now prioritize economic ties with China over the US, a massive jump from just 15% a decade ago. In nations like Indonesia and South Africa, China is now named as the most important ally, while the US is increasingly cited as a top security threat. 

 

Public sentiment has also been heavily influenced by a lack of international confidence in US President Donald Trump compared to Chinese President Xi Jinping.

• The Trump Deficit: In 19 of 24 countries, confidence in the US president is low. In Mexico, confidence in Trump stands at a staggering 8%, while in major European 'allies' like Germany and France, it hovers at 25% or lower.
• The Xi Rise: While Xi's overall confidence remains low (25% median), it has actually increased in 16 countries over the last year. In Mexico, people are now four times more likely to trust Xi (36%) than Trump.
   

» We are ruled by satanic pedophiles who work for Israel. «
Candace Owens, February 1, 2026.

 

Perhaps the most telling sign of a long-term shift is the demographic divide. In nearly every nation, adults under 35 are significantly more favorable toward China than those over 50. Even in the US, younger Americans are 20 points less likely to view China with "very unfavorable" eyes than the oldest generation.

 

» One big dirty club: We are talking about male rape, 

female rape, child rape, ritual killings, cannibalism. «
George Galloway, February 1, 2026.

 

While "fortresses" of pro-American sentiment remain—specifically in Israel (83% favorability) and South Korea (61%), the 2025 data suggests that the world is transitioning from a US-led consensus to a more fragmented reality where China’s economic influence is increasingly welcomed.

 

Well, that was in spring of 2025... now, just imagine the Pew Research Center's Spring 2026 survey results...

 

Reference:

Pew Research Center (July 15, 2025) - Views of the US have worsened while opinions of China have improved.

China, Russia Must Manage 'Orderly' US Decline | Huang J. and S. Karaganov

The year 2026 opened with a series of maneuvers by the United States that continue to unsettle the global landscape. Beneath the surface of international diplomacy, powerful undercurrents are surging. Even as the aftershocks of the military strike on Venezuela linger, Donald Trump has turned his sights toward Greenland, alternating between economic buyouts and martial threats.

 » The Americans are withdrawing to the Western Hemisphere. 

They are transitioning into a "normal" regional power. « 

1941 political cartoon by Theodor Seuss Geisel (Dr. Seuss) satirizing "America First" isolationism. An elderly woman in an "America First" sweater reads "Adolf the Wolf" to two horrified children, remarking: "...and the Wolf chewed up the children and spit out their bones... but those were foreign children, and it didn't really matter."

This predatory posture—where even allies are not spared—raises a fundamental question: Is this the brute assertion of a military hegemon, or the final, desperate thrashings of a superpower in decline? As the rift between the US and Europe widens over the Greenland dispute, and the very foundations of the NATO alliance tremble, what kind of shockwaves will the global order sustain?

Huang Jing: Regarding the abduction of Venezuelan President Maduro and the First Lady—an act of blatant violent aggression—how do you foresee its impact?

Sergey Karaganov: To be clear, we are still operating without full transparency regarding the facts; the abduction is peculiar, appearing almost like a choreographed performance. While clearly the work of US security apparatuses, their local facilitators remain in the shadows. However, the trend is undeniable: Trump and the US are attempting to pivot back to the Western Hemisphere as they retreat from global leadership. This process began 15 to 17 years ago, though it went largely unremarked by the masses. 

Huang: We only truly grasped it about 15 years ago.

Karaganov: Exactly. Circa 2006 or 2007. It was an internal discussion then, but the trajectory was visible. Notably, when Obama took office, his instinct was an "America First" strategy, but he was constrained by the globalist factions surrounding him. The kidnapping of Maduro and the "piracy" of seizing oil tankers are criminal acts. Yet, there is a "silver lining": the Americans are withdrawing to the Western Hemisphere. They are transitioning into a "normal" regional power rather than a global hegemon, shedding the pretense of world leadership. It is a double-edged sword. While we must condemn the incredible crime of abducting an elected leader, we are seeing a strategic retreat. For years, I have argued that we must create the conditions to help the US exit its global role—without triggering a world war.

 

» US decline isn't the problem; the "disorder" of that decline is the catastrophe. «

Aggression as a symptom of decay: POTUS claiming US used classified "Disruptor" 

weapon to paralyze Venezuelan defense systems in order to hijack Nicolás Maduro.

 

Huang: Agreed. I recall your work on "Disorder," suggesting that a chaotic US decline is a threat to us all. This hegemonic fatigue began because the US simply could not sustain the post-1991 international system. You cite 2006; I would argue the definitive cracks appeared by 2008.

Karaganov: The decline of Western hegemony actually dates back to the 1960s. The signs were there, but ignored. When the USSR achieved nuclear parity, the foundation of a 500-year-old Western dominance began to crumble. After the Soviet collapse, the West—and the US specifically—fell into a state of "euphoria," believing they had reversed the tide of history. This lasted barely 15 years before Russia began to reconstitute its position and China emerged as a titan. Blinded by their "victory," the American elite made massive strategic blunders. They essentially subsidized China's rise, naively believing that capitalism would inevitably lead to a "democracy" that would act as a US satellite. When reality failed to meet their visions, they doubled down on failed invasions—Afghanistan, Iraq. By 2008, the internal decision to begin a long-term withdrawal had already taken root.

 

» Russia and China should work together to facilitate an orderly decline for

the United States. This is in everyone's interest, including Washington's. « 

 August 2021, managing 'disordered' collapse: US troops at Kabul Airport use

rifles to deter Afghan civilians attempting to flee during the withdrawal.

 

Huang: I agree, though I’d add a nuance: China’s rise wasn't merely a gift from the US. It was the result of correct internal policies and a desire to integrate into the global system to reform it from within. The US "vision" of a peaceful evolution into a Western-style state was indeed a profound miscalculation.

Karaganov: I don't disagree, but consider this: China’s development was facilitated by the Soviet/Russian security umbrella. Even when China was militarily weaker, the US never dared a direct strike. Furthermore, the US committed the ultimate strategic error. Through their actions, they pushed Russia and China—natural neighbors—into an unbreakable de facto alliance. Over the last 15 years, this "quasi-alliance" has effectively doubled the strategic weight of both nations. It is an monumental failure by Western competitors.

 

» The US will never come to the rescue of Europe. « 

 

Huang: From a historical perspective, we remember how the USSR helped build China’s industrial base. Yet the USSR also suffered from overexpansion—Afghanistan being the fatal error—which led to the fragile US-China cooperation of the 1980s to contain Moscow.

Karaganov: Indeed. But it wasn't just overexpansion; it was arrogance. Khrushchev’s arrogance toward Mao in the 50s and the refusal to aid China’s nuclear program were grave miscalculations.

Huang: Yet China succeeded regardless.

Karaganov: Yes, and that autonomous development secured China’s strategic autonomy for decades. Had we helped then, the rapprochement with Nixon might never have been necessary. History would be unrecognizable. But today, the US is committing the greatest error of the modern era. Post-1991, they mistook their moment for permanent "Globalist" dominion. They tried to export "universal values" through Color Revolutions and the Arab Spring—all of which failed. Now, they are retreating into the Western Hemisphere because they must, not because they want to. 

  

Huang: As you famously said: US decline isn't the problem; the "disorder" of that decline is the catastrophe. Does the invasion of Venezuela reflect a managed exit or a chaotic one?

Karaganov: Let’s put it this way: Russia and China should work together to facilitate an orderly decline for the United States. This is in everyone's interest, including Washington's. The US was an "accidental" global hegemon. Before WWII, they were an economic powerhouse but a geopolitical non-factor. They became the world leader with very little capital investment because Europe collapsed and the USSR was exhausted.

Now, as the "Global South" and China rise, the West realizes it can no longer control the very system of free trade and international law it created. So, they have begun to sabotage their own system—using sanctions and breaking trade rules—because they can no longer win by the old rules. In Ukraine, the Biden administration initially thought they could isolate Russia from Europe. They succeeded in creating a rift, but now that they see Russia is willing to escalate—even to the nuclear level—they are looking for the exit. Trump is vocal about withdrawal, but Biden started the process. I saw it myself: Biden's 2022 New York Times piece, where he set "red lines" for the US (no direct entry, no regime change), was the first signal of the American retreat.

 

 » The source of all ills and evil in the history of humanity. «
 Zelensky, Starmer, Macron, and Merz, December 8, 2025.

Huang: You warned the Americans in 2012: "You are pushing us into a corner, and you will end up in one yourselves." In 2020, you argued that the goal wasn't just defeating Ukraine, but dismantling the Western international system itself—a system used as a tool for hypocritical hegemony. Do you still stand by that?

Karaganov: Absolutely. And we are succeeding. By raising the stakes, we have essentially pushed the US out of the war. We made them realize that Russia would risk nuclear conflict over Europe. Biden never explicitly promised to fight for Europe if it were attacked; he only spoke of "support." Now, Russia’s objective is to break the will of the European elites. Europe has historically been the source of the world's greatest troubles—colonialism, racism, world wars. They are currently drifting toward a Third World War. Our strategic long-term goal should be to push Europe to the periphery of the global stage, creating systemic conditions where their current "sinister" elites are rendered obsolete.

Huang: On that point, you and Trump seem to be in total agreement.

Karaganov: (Laughs) I said it first.

 

[Continue from 27:00 in the video above—highly insightful and well worth the watch.] 

 

Quoted from:
Huang Jing and Sergey Karaganov (January 27, 2026) - Russia and China’s Role in Overseeing an ‘Orderly’ US Decline.

[中俄应该携手合作，帮助美国实现“有序衰落.”]

 

"How can you discuss anything with Kaja Kallas? Neither we will ever discuss anything with her, 

nor will the Americans, and this is obvious. We can only wait until she leaves," Peskov said.

See also:
Pierre-Antoine Plaquevent (January 26, 2026) - The Return of Great Spaces: The end of the globalist world order. 

Huang Jing is a Distinguished Professor at Shanghai International Studies University and a globally recognized authority on Chinese politics and US-Asia relations. Formerly a Senior Fellow at the Brookings Institution and Director at the National University of Singapore, he specializes in the US-China-Russia strategic triangle. He is a prolific author and advisor known for his realist analysis of great power competition and global governance.

Sergey Karaganov is the Honorary Chairman of the Russian Council on Foreign and Defense Policy and a presidential advisor to both Boris Yeltsin and Vladimir Putin. He currently serves as the Academic Supervisor of the Faculty of World Economy and International Affairs at Moscow’s Higher School of Economics. A primary architect of the "Greater Eurasia" concept, he is a leading realist thinker on Russian grand strategy and the transformation of the global order.

The Return of Great Spaces | Pierre-Antoine Plaquevent

One century ago, the continentalist school of geopolitics proposed a world-system organized into pan-regions (Haushofer): an international order divided into large, autonomous continental spaces (Carl Schmitt), each polarized around a core power. This third way—between the nation-state nationalism rendered obsolete after the First World War and the globalism of the League of Nations—is once again presenting itself today as an updated alternative to a declining globalism.

One's utopia is the other's dystopia: A world divided among five superstates.
Austro-Japanese aristocrat Richard von Coudenhove-Kalergi's 1923 world map.

 

Regional imperialisms that restrain one another, rather than a hypocritical, monopolar planetary imperialism. Logically, if the United States were truly to accept a division of the world into autonomous great spaces, it would have to leave eastern Ukraine to Russia and Taiwan to China, in exchange for the abandonment of Sino-Russian influence in Latin America. Above all, it would have to restrain Israel in its posture towards Iran.

China, Russia, and Iran are the strategic powers that dominate the Eurasian heartland. A stabilized world order is possible only if the United States recognizes the respective spheres of influence of the Eurasian powers. This is the logical corollary of the updated Monroe Doctrine to which the Trump administration refers. Yet the history of the previous century shows that a thalassocracy of inherently globalist character does not accept a US retreat to the Western Hemisphere alone. The near future will tell us whether what is currently unfolding in Latin America marks a genuine US acceptance of a new post-globalist division of the world or the prologue to a broader conflagration.

» "Great North"—Russia, the United States, and Europe, forming a common sociocultural space. «
Vladislav Surkov, 2023.

 

The realistic scenario would thus be a division of the world into longitudinal corridors of influence among the powers of the “Global North” (Surkov), coupled with the construction of a multipolar world order of great powers that would definitively replace the faltering project of global governance. The pessimistic scenario, by contrast, would be that the move against Venezuela foreshadows an attack on Iran, after having seized control of the principal ally of political Eurasia in the southern part of the Western Hemisphere.

Quoted from:
Pierre-Antoine Plaquevent (January 26, 2026) - The Return of Great Spaces: The end of the globalist world order.

 

 

See also:

Vladislav Surkov (2023) - Рождение Великого Севера. (The Birth of the Great North.)

Alain de Benoist (2023) - The Time of the Civilisational States.  

Pierre-Antoine Plaquevent (born 1976) is a French geopolitical analyst, specializing on the intersection of infowarfare and the evolution of political philosophy. He is the founder of Strategika, a think tank and editorial platform that provides prospective analysis on international security and metapolitics.

Why a US War with Venezuela Would Benefit Russia | Dmitry Seleznyov

As cynical and crude as it may sound, a US war with Venezuela would benefit Russia. Venezuela could become America's "Ukraine," diverting US attention and resources away from our own conflict in Ukraine. The United States risks getting bogged down in a war it starts—especially if it launches a ground operation. In that case, Venezuela could turn into a second Vietnam for the US. Either way, South American countries would likely rally in solidarity to support it, uniting the continent in a fight against the "gringos." 

 

 » Uniting the continent in a fight against the "gringos." «

It won't be possible to tear the country apart with impunity; there won't be an easy walkover, and the US could face unacceptable losses. On the international stage, Russia and China would provide support—both politically and through hybrid means. On one hand, we'd be whispering sweet nothings to those Witkoffs or whoever's in charge in that administration, while on the other, quietly fueling Maduro's fire. Why not? If others can do it, why can't we? Of course, we'd offer help with the constraint that we're still tied down in Ukraine, but we'd do what we can.  

 

» Why not? If others can do it, why can't we? «

 

If things in Venezuela escalate to a hot phase and body bags start flowing back to Trump's "Great America," the MAGA electorate won't like it. Trump was elected to do the opposite. Fighting a war in Venezuela isn't just getting involved for Israel's sake or bombing Iran on the other side of the world—this one's right in America's backyard, with short supply lines. Not to mention that Trump would permanently lose his carefully cultivated image as a "peacemaker," the one he wants to be remembered for in history. A war in Venezuela would brand him forever as the man who tied a bloody ribbon of a second Vietnam around America's neck. Does Trump want that? Doubtful.

 

But Trump is pushing hard—he always plays the bluff game. Recently, Mr. Twitter declared a no-fly zone, and just the other day, he went even further with a full blockade. In effect, that's already a declaration of war. Will Maduro escalate? Sure, a direct conflict could end in different ways, but if Trump has already sentenced the Venezuelan president, what does he have to lose? Escalation often leads to de-escalation. Remember how young Kim Jong-un told Trump to get lost on surrendering nuclear weapons—and nothing happened; he ended up as a "good guy."
 

But for now, our friend Maduro is acting unconvincingly. Chanting "peace, peace, peace" won't stop an inevitable war. "You're only guilty of making me hungry," as the fable goes—red-haired Donnie's intentions are clear. So why wait? Look at the "barefoot" Houthis—they drove off American ships from clustering near their coast. And they're still standing strong. 

Or what—surrender?

Quoted from:
Dmitry Seleznyov (December 18, 2025) - Why a US War with Venezuela Would Benefit Russia.

(Чем выгодна России война США с Венесуэлой.) 

 

» The Pathetic Empire. «

Caracas, December 18, 2025: Venezuelan naval forces have begun escorting non-sanctioned oil tankers carrying petroleum derivatives, reportedly destined for China, in direct response to US President Donald Trump's December 16 announcement of a "total and complete blockade" targeting sanctioned vessels entering or leaving Venezuela. The escalation follows the US seizure on December 10 of the tanker Skipper, carrying approximately 1.9 million barrels of Venezuelan crude, which Trump indicated the US would retain. 

 

Venezuela has condemned these actions as aggression, requesting an urgent United Nations Security Council meeting to address perceived violations of international law. Domestically, PDVSA workers staged protests across multiple states in defense of national sovereignty, while Vice President Delcy Rodríguez reaffirmed the uninterrupted operation of the hydrocarbons sector. Amid the tensions, President Nicolás Maduro reported that Venezuela achieved 9 percent GDP growth in 2025 despite sanctions, with projections of at least 7 percent for 2026.