EUROPE - Once you are reliant on a foreign force for safety and a foreign power for prosperity, you are no longer completely sovereign. “The rest of the world”, Tony Blair’s foreign policy advisor Robert Cooper wrote two decades ago, “reacts to America, fears America, lives under American protection, envies, resents, plots against, depends on America. Every other country defines its strategy in relation to the United States”; and in turn, the United States defines its foreign policy aims as effective “invulnerability”.

VENEZUELA - Heavy gunfire in Caracas, anti-aircraft artillery firing non-stop – armed groups moving through the city, clashing with government troops. Monday night erupted in heavy firefights in Caracas, more specifically in areas of Miraflores, where the presidential palace is located. This comes mere hours after the interim president, Delcy Rodríguez, was formally sworn in. Rumors have been circulating that Maduro’s right-hand man, Diosdado Cabello, was planning a coup d’état against Rodríguez. Apparently, her first decisions were not to the liking of the generals of the highly ideological Bolivarian Armed Forces of Venezuela. Diosdado controls many of the ‘colectivos of Venezuela’, far-left, heavily armed paramilitary groups operating independently of the Government.

(This is a breaking story – watch for developments.)

GREENLAND - Donald Trump has set his sights on a US takeover of Greenland after capturing Nicolas Maduro and saying he would run Venezuela. “We do need Greenland, absolutely,” the US president told The Atlantic magazine, adding that the Danish territory was “surrounded by Russian and Chinese ships”. He said officials in his administration would decide what happened to Greenland, which Mr Trump has claimed the US must annex for its security. “We need it for defence,” he said of Greenland. Responding to the latest threat from Mr Trump, Jens-Frederik Nielsen, Greenland’s prime minister, said: “That’s enough now.” “No more pressure. No more insinuations. No more fantasies of annexation,” he wrote on Facebook late on Sunday. “We are open to dialogue. We are open to discussions. But this must happen through the proper channels and with respect for international law.”

COLOMBIA - Donald Trump has issued a stark warning against the President of Colombia after he spoke out against US strikes on Venezuela, which saw President Nicolas Maduro captured and taken to the States. Speaking at a press conference in his Mar-a-lago residence in Florida, the President announced that the United States would "run" Venezuela until a "proper transition" could take place. He also declared that US oil companies would "start making money" for the country, and warned detractors that the US was poised to stage a "much larger" second attack if it was needed. The attack, which took place in the early hours of January 3, has drawn condemnation from allies of Venezuela, including Iran and Russia, as well as nearby Colombia. In an official statement, the Government of Colombia said that they had "deep concern" about the "escalation of tension" in South America.

IRAN - US President Donald Trump threatened on Friday to come to the aid of protesters in Iran if security forces fired on them, days into unrest that has left several dead and posed the biggest internal threat to Iranian authorities in years. "We are locked and loaded and ready to go," he said in a social media post. The United States bombed Iranian nuclear facilities in June, joining an Israeli air campaign that targeted Tehran's atomic programme and military leadership. Responding to Trump's comments, top Iranian official Ali Larijani warned that US interference in domestic Iranian issues would amount to a destabilisation of the entire Middle East. Iran backs proxy forces in Lebanon, Iraq and Yemen.

VENEZUELA - Venezuela has entered one of the most volatile chapters in its modern history following the dramatic removal of President Nicolás Maduro by US forces, an event that has sent shockwaves through Latin America and the international community. According to reporting by the Daily Mail, the sudden power vacuum has resulted in Vice President Delcy Rodríguez stepping forward as Venezuela’s interim leader, triggering fierce debate over legitimacy, sovereignty, and foreign intervention. Rodríguez, a longtime ally of Maduro and a central figure within the Bolivarian government, addressed the nation shortly after the operation. In a defiant televised speech, she rejected any suggestion that the United States now holds authority over Venezuela and reaffirmed her loyalty to the detained president.

CHINA - President Donald Trump’s capture of Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro sparked widespread discussion on Chinese social media, with many users saying the operation offered a template for how Beijing could handle tensions with Taiwan. Trump’s operation against the Venezuelan strongman shot to the top of China’s Weibo late Saturday, with the topic gaining some 440 million views on the X-like platform. Many commentators were quick to make comparisons between the fate of the South American nation and that of the self-ruled democracy Beijing has vowed to claim. “I suggest using the same method to reclaim Taiwan in the future,” one user said in reply to a post with more than 700 likes. “Since the US doesn’t take international law seriously, why should we care about it?” said another user.

VENEZUELA - President Maduro’s abduction puts a question mark over his country’s oil reserves and suggests a return to US realpolitik that will make leaders from Iran to Denmark nervous. Venezuela is a member of Illiberal International, the club of autocratic and sanctions-busting states that work together to restrict American influence in their respective regions. It is an axis of sanctions busters — Russia, China, North Korea and Iran as well as Venezuela — and they smirk every time a tanker of banned oil slips past western monitoring networks and transfers its cargo. The countries share military intelligence, are protected by Russian and Chinese vetoes at the UN security council, reach defence and trade agreements outside international scrutiny and see themselves as immune from western criticism of human rights abuses.

GERMANY - The German military has characterized hybrid measures such as cyberattacks and disinformation campaigns as preparatory stages leading up to a military conflict, Politico has claimed, citing a classified document. Since the escalation of the Ukraine conflict in February 2022, Berlin has pursued rapid militarization, citing a perceived Russian threat. Moscow has consistently denied harboring aggressive plans toward its Western neighbors. In a piece on Tuesday, the media outlet reported that the assessment was contained in the Operational Plan for Germany (OPLAN), which presumably lays out the steps the country would take in the event of war. According to Politico, the confidential document says that hybrid attacks “can fundamentally serve to prepare a military confrontation,” as distinct from being mere background operations. In May, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz vowed to make the country’s military the “strongest conventional army in Europe.”

USA - President Donald Trump railed against alleged social services fraud in Minnesota during remarks at his New Year’s Eve celebration at Mar-a-Lago on Wednesday. "Can you imagine they stole $18 billion," Trump said. "That's just what we're learning about. That's peanuts. And California is worse, Illinois is worse and sadly New York is worse." Trump continued, "We're going to get to the bottom of all those. It was a giant scam." Trump added that he saw Representative Tom Emmer, Republican for Minnesota, on television earlier Wednesday talking about the alleged fraud involving the Somali community. White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt issued a stark warning Wednesday that "people will be in handcuffs" as fallout expands from widespread fraud allegations under Minnesota Governor Tim Walz. On Tuesday, the US Department of Health and Human Services said it would freeze all childcare payments to Minnesota, amid mounting scrutiny over accusations of fraud involving child daycare centers across Minnesota.

NIGERIA - At least 42 people have been killed and several others kidnapped by terrorists in Nigeria. Many more are feared dead after the “cruel and nefarious terrorist attack” on the market in Kasuwan Daji, in the northern state of Niger, the government said. President Tinubu of Nigeria ordered police, military and department of state services to hunt down the terrorists responsible for the attack, who are believed to be hiding out in the area’s forests. The attack came days after the US struck camps in northwestern Nigeria believed to be linked to the Islamic State group. President Trump said the airstrikes on Christmas Day targeted Isis militants [which had been] killing “primarily” Christians, but the country is facing a broadly deteriorating security situation.

VENEZUELA - It is easy to imagine that the lightning raid in the Venezuelan capital has caused deep unease in Moscow and Beijing, Mr Maduro’s principal foreign backers. After all, the US has apparently just severed the chief South American tentacle of the global anti-US nexus with unexpected ease. There will certainly be those in Moscow and Beijing who conclude that the Caracas operation is further evidence that Mr Trump is more interested in projecting power regionally than globally – that he is, in other words, a backyard bully but a centre-stage coward.

VENEZUELA - Donald Trump’s decisive action against Maduro could temper any aggressive ambitions President Xi Jinping has towards Taiwan. It was swift, lethal and, so far at least, very successful. The overnight US strike on Venezuela, and the capture of its president Nicolas Maduro, may have focused on a country in what the US regards as its own back yard. But no one should be under any illusions about the real target. By securing vital energy resources, and demonstrating the ability of the US to project military power, President Trump has delivered a blow to a far more formidable adversary – China.

CHINA - China has called for the immediate release of Nicolas Maduro after he was captured by American forces. China, a key ally of Venezuela, condemned the operation as a “clear violation of international law”. “China calls on the US to ensure the personal safety of President Nicolas Maduro and his wife, release them at once, stop toppling the government of Venezuela,” the Chinese foreign ministry said in a statement on Sunday. A source close to the Trump administration claimed on Saturday that the operation to remove Maduro would “devastate” China. Nicolas Maduro met with Qi Xiaoqi, China’s special envoy to Venezuela, the day before his capture by US forces in Caracas. The two countries are close allies, with Beijing having poured billions into the South American country’s oil infrastructure.

VENEZUELA - Venezuela was a founding member of the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC). During its peak in the 1970s, the country produced about 3.5 million barrels of oil a day, in a market largely controlled by American companies including Exxon, Gulf Oil and Mobil. In 1976, the oil industry was nationalised, although foreign firms still worked in Venezuela at times through joint ventures. Then, in 1999, President Chávez came to power and began to exert more control over the oil industry. Firms that didn’t agree to his terms faced having their assets expropriated. Infrastructure aged and production slowed.