By Mahmud Jega
UN Security Council approval be damned. On Saturday, after weeks of heightened naval, aerial and military pressure, without Security Council approval, US forces attacked Venezuela, destroyed air bases, “captured” President Nicholas Maduro, his wife and his son, and said it will bring them to trial in a New York court over drug and weapons charges.
President Donald Trump then said the US will take over the running of the South American country, send US oil firms to take over its huge oil reserves [the world’s largest proven crude oil reserves, bigger than even Saudi Arabia’s].
UN Secretary Antonio Guterres said he was deeply disturbed by the unilateral US action and that it sets “a dangerous precedent.” It very well might, within this year. Russian President Vladimir Putin, a good copycat, would likely abandon all negotiation efforts, send in commandos to capture Volodymyr Zelenskyy, roll over and capture the whole of Ukraine.
Peoples Republic of China will likely end 66 years of patience, send the People’s Liberation Army across the Taiwan Strait, capture Formosa Island [self-styled Taiwan] and reintegrate it with the Chinese mainland, from which it broke away in 1949 when Marshal Chiang Kai-shek fled there at the head of the Kuomintang after losing the Chinese civil war to Mao Zedong and the Communists.
North Korea’s King Jong Un would accomplish the mission of his grandfather Kim Il-Sung and his father Kim Jong-Il, send the Korean People’s Army across the Demilitarised Zone [DMZ] and reunite North with South Korea, as the Korean Peninsula had been united before 1945.
The 70-year-old tangle over Kashmir should end this year. Either India or Pakistan, whoever is stronger, should seize the whole place and unify it.
Japan has been huffing and puffing over Russian occupation of the Kurile Islands since the end of World War Two. While Russia is engaged in Ukraine, the Japanese Self-Defence Forces should launch a blitzkrieg, complete with kamikaze volunteers shouting “Banzai!” and snatch back the Kurile Islands.
Turkish President Recep Tayyib Erdogan is not known to be patient with domestic opponents, so why should he uphold Turkish patience since 1974? He should send his troops to capture the rest of Cyprus and reunite it with the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus, Greek objections be damned.
French Foreign Legion should quickly annex Monaco; Belgium should snatch Luxembourg; Indonesia should snatch back East Timor. If not because the formidable Egyptian Army is looking over its shoulder in Gaza, it should move and end Sudan’s civil war agony by conquering it and resuscitating the old Anglo-Egyptian Condominium, which ended in 1956.
Azerbaijan should end the old conflict over Nagorno Karabakh this year by annexing the whole of Armenia.
Donald Trump set a very good precedent for the world to follow.
Ace syndicated columnist and wordsmith, Mahmud Jega, is Publisher of 21st Century Chronicle and former chairman of Daily Trust Editorial Board
