By journalist Sana Al-Ali

The scene of the arrest of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro by the United States, in an operation that constituted a blatant assault on Venezuelan sovereignty, brought back to my memory the arrest of leader Abdullah Öcalan—perhaps because of the similarity in form, or because of the similarity in the imposition of American decisions on the world and its peoples without accountability or oversight.

 

Internal Erosion

For decades, socialist systems have either collapsed or survived in a distorted form. This collapse reached its peak with the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991. With Anwar Sadat assuming the presidency of Egypt, the shallowness of the Nasserist socialist project became evident after the new president cooperated with Islamist movements and submitted to feudal lords and merchants. In Iraq, Saddam Hussein distorted socialism, leaving nothing of the Baath Party’s slogans except Arab nationalism. South Yemen collapsed much earlier, as its surroundings rejected any democratic experiment. Socialism was also distorted in Syria, transforming into a hereditary family rule.

Although China remains resilient thanks to its strong production and economy, it does not apply socialism as such; rather, it has invented a new model based on combining free-market mechanisms, private ownership, strict state control, and Communist Party planning. As for Cuba, it is the second target of American hegemony after Venezuela.

 

The Problem of the Starting Point

These collapses began internally before being finalized by capitalism and Western hegemony through sanctions and invasions. Class divisions re-emerged and penetrated these systems, leading to economic deterioration, the price of which was paid first by the people and then by the socialist project itself.

Perhaps the reason for this internal erosion lies in the flawed starting point of socialism. The core problem is not class struggle, as Marx argued, but rather the “proto-killer” (al-qātil al-zamrawī). Yes, this is a new analysis, meaning that the mentality of masculine domination is the root cause of the destruction the world is experiencing today. This idea was recently presented by Kurdish philosopher Abdullah Öcalan in the Manifesto for Peace and Democratic Society, within the peace project.

In his new analyses, Öcalan states that after deep research he discovered that authoritarianism dates back to the emergence of the proto-killer—more than 30,000 years ago—and that the problem is not, as Engels, Marx, and other socialists analyzed, class division. Accordingly, the solution lies in ending the dominant masculine mentality embodied in the proto-killer.

Since its emergence, the proto-killer has caused immense destruction, and today it continues under the name of capitalist modernity. The “three horsemen of the apocalypse”—capitalism, the nation-state, and industry—are destroying society, nature, and women.

 

Western Thuggery and the War of Sanctions

“We are the ones running things in Venezuela,” said the blunt man Donald Trump openly, after invading the country and arresting President Nicolás Maduro, transporting him to New York to stand trial—as if he were the emperor of our time. He also threatened Cuba, saying that “it will be difficult for it to survive without income from Venezuelan oil,” and that “I don’t think we will need to do anything. It seems it will fall.”

The United Nations did not even condemn the invasion, contenting itself with expressions of concern. This time, UN Secretary-General António Guterres did not even voice that concern himself, leaving the task to his spokesperson—perhaps because he, too, no longer sees any real value in international law.

America justifies its attack by claiming it is rescuing the Venezuelan people who are “eating dog meat out of extreme hunger,” while failing to mention that its own economic sanctions have exhausted the Venezuelan people. There is no time for diplomacy or pleasantries; the goal is clear: oil. Trump, the undiplomatic president, said it from the first day of his operation: “U.S. oil companies will be able to return to Venezuela and invest in the energy sector.” He went so far as to say that Venezuela had “stolen American oil.”

The ambitions are clear. According to the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), Venezuela holds the largest proven oil reserves in the world, exceeding 303.211 billion barrels, ahead of Saudi Arabia (267.200 billion barrels) and Iran (208.6 billion). Yet production is low for several reasons, including the U.S. sanctions imposed by Trump during his first term, in retaliation for Venezuela’s policies under President Hugo Chávez, which stipulated nationalizing the oil sector, making the state the largest shareholder in all operating companies, and preventing the oil economy from being left in the hands of foreign companies—thus depriving American oil companies of substantial profits.

Yes, this is the clear goal so far. America is facing a severe economic crisis that peaked last year, 2025, and continues into 2026. The solution it chose is to steal Venezuelan oil under the name of liberating the Venezuelan people—reminding us of the invasion of Iraq under the slogan of liberating its people from Saddam Hussein.

Capitalism devours itself if it does not feed its economy through wars and control over the resources of countries. Therefore, America has returned to the old colonial approach. After the invasion of Iraq in 2003 and the heavy losses it incurred, it opted for proxy wars—the newest policy of capitalist powers such as Britain, France, and Israel—which they used during the outbreak of the Arab Spring revolutions in 2011. Through local tools—jihadist, fundamentalist, and sectarian groups—they destroyed popular revolutions, in cooperation with regional powers that were not innocent of this conspiracy, acting as executors and financiers. The war and arms lords were Qatar, the UAE, and Turkey.

 

In truth, what Trump has done—without even returning to Congress for his decision—constitutes a blatant violation of national sovereignty and the principles of international law. Arresting a head of state by force without international authorization sets a dangerous precedent that could justify any state’s military intervention in the affairs of others under various pretexts. This is, in fact, what Russia did in Ukraine, America in Iraq, and France in Libya.

The powers that possess nuclear weapons seem to have grown exceedingly arrogant. They attack sovereign states, topple regimes, and wage wars against peoples. It appears that the UN Charter, which enshrines the principle of state sovereignty, no longer has any value—nor do international norms affirming that military aggression against a sovereign state and the arrest of its president constitute a clear violation of international principles, especially in the absence of explicit authorization from the UN Security Council, or even an arrest warrant from the International Criminal Court, as was not the case with the elected Venezuelan president Nicolás Maduro.

Western ambitions are clear in the Middle East, Latin America, and any region that does not submit to its hegemony, regardless of the pretexts or labels—whether democracy, rights, or freedom. In such a situation, the vision may appear confused, foggy, or even dark, but the continuation of the status quo is impossible.