AS THICK AS THIEVES

There are some common English sayings like – “As thick as thieves”, “Birds of a feather flock together” and “Fools seldom differ”. By now an intelligent reader like you would have guessed where this is going. It’s pointing to Trumpeting Trump and his coterie. Does it surprise you that those whom Trump has called his friends in recent times include Vladimir Putin, Benjamin Netanyahu and Narendra Modi? August company.

On the other hand Trump has a long list of dislikes that include Blacks, Hispanics, migrants, EU leaders, Zelenski of Ukraine, Iran, the Palestinians, Gaza, Mexico and all “left lunatics”. It’s an unending list.

A new year is usually filled with hope and expectations; but 2026 dawned ominously with Trump’s attack on the sovereign state of Venezuela and kidnapping its President Nicolas Maduro together with his wife. From the time Trump assumed the US presidency the world has been in turmoil; be it though his irrational tariffs, threats or deportations of those who don’t fit into his myopic view of what makes America great again. His obstinate denial of climate change and blatant support for polluting non-renewable fuels like petroleum and coal are literally adding fuel to the fire (pun intended).

I have consistently held that a mad dog is more dangerous than an enemy. This is because, to some degree, you can anticipate the moves of an enemy or opponent, as in a game of chess or war games. But what do you do with somebody who makes his own rules as the game progresses? Precious little. One cannot reason with a mad dog, for it is devoid of reason. The only solution, short of shooting it, is to quarantine it, from where it cannot harm others. Easier said than done. It is up to world leaders in the USA’s geographical proximity to start encircling him – Canada, Mexico, South America and trans-Atlantic Europe.

What happened in Venezuela has emboldened Trump. It has gone to his head. Dictators need to justify their immoral or irrational behaviour. Adolph Hitler is the prime example. The purity of the Aryan race was his justification for the horrific extermination of millions of Jews. Trump uses “national security” as his excuse for attacking Venezuela, allegedly for pushing drugs into his country.

Here in India we know that drugs are peddled across the border from Pakistan to Punjab or from Myanmar into Manipur. Would that justify our blatantly attacking them and kidnapping their leaders? It would only result in more retaliatory violence. As Newton’s third law of motion states, “For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction”.

Remember how greenhorn Rajiv Gandhi sent the Indian Peace Keeping Force (IPKF) into Sri Lanka to liberate it from the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE)? These subversives were allegedly trained by the Indian army in secret camps like Chakrata now in Uttarakhand. The ultimate irony was that Rajiv Gandhi was assassinated by those very same LTTE cadres. As the Prophet Hosea said 2500 years ago, “When you sow the wind you reap a whirlwind” (Hos 8:7). “Ghus ke maroonga” (Hit and run) is a tactic in kabaddi, not in modern warfare, where there are no winners, only losers.

The same goes for Operation Sindoor. Nuclear armed neighbours cannot afford to go to war. They can only have limited engagements to prove their heroics to their ultra-nationalistic domestic audiences and to field test their weapon systems. This again is where Trump’s grandiose plan got unstuck. India resolutely denied any American role in the ceasefire; though Pakistan lauded it and got a generous financial package as a quid pro quo.

Trump was well aware that Barak Obama, his predecessor in office, had been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize shortly after assuming the presidency. How could he be left behind? He desperately wanted that prize, just as one of his “good friends” wanted to be declared the Vishwaguru. I am now reminded of another adage, “Hell hath no fury like a women scorned”. Replace the word “woman” with “politician” and all hell breaks loose.

If the opposition leader from Venezuela stole the prize from under his nose then the scorned Trump needed to give that country a bloody nose. That’s what he did, all under the garb of “national security”. Subsequent events have also established that Trump’s primary motive was oil; as Venezuela reportedly has the largest oil reserves in the world. So post the invasion he is busier with oil oligarchs than with his generals. Readers may be forgiven if they thought that Venezuela’s only export was beauty queens. 

Like a man-eating tiger that has tasted sweet human blood and found them a soft target, Trump now wants to go for the jugular. Greenland is now firmly in his sights. Here again the justification is “national security”, though his real motive is their rare earth mineral deposits. Getting his hands on that would reduce his dependency on supplies from China, resulting in more lethal electronic warfare that is heavily dependent on those minerals.

As of now Russian, Chinese and Iranian warships are sailing around the Cape of Good Hope (what an irony for a name) entering the Atlantic Ocean. This may deter Trump for just some time.

Attacking or conquering Greenland would serve another strategic purpose for Trump. It would divide or destroy NATO, thereby rendering both Canada and Europe more vulnerable. The game plan is crystal clear. This would result in a tri-polar world, the USA, Russia and China. Ukraine, Gaza and Taiwan be damned. They are geographically too far away from the USA and can be sacrificial pawns in the international grand masters (Musketeers) game of chess.

Trump has forgotten 9/11 when the Trade Towers were brought down. He has also forgotten past American misadventures in Vietnam, Iraq and Afghanistan.

A small aside. Shortly after the Venezuelan invasion I was asked if it was a Christian country. How could a staunch Christian like Trump attack it? I had to say that though both countries may have a sizable Christian population they are not theocratic states. Besides, Trump can hardly be described as a good Christian, bearing in mind his 38 felony convictions, three marriages and his proclivity for vulnerable young women a la Epstein.

One may further add that Pope Leo XIV, the first American to hold that position, has been firm in his criticism of Trump’s policies on migrants and now on the Venezuelan invasion.

Today it has become au currant to denigrate the country’s first Prime Minister, Jawahar Lal Nehru. However, in the post World War II bi-polar world he had the sagacity and foresight to spearhead the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM). Today, more than ever, we need NAM in a new avatar, that is not subservient to the new power blocs – the USA, Russia and China.

I shall end with another adage, “Pride comes before a fall”, and a parody on the nursery rhyme “Humpty Dumpty”.

“Donald Trump sat on the high Mexican wall

To invade Venezuela he had the gall.  

He imposed absurd tariffs on all.

Then came the crushing fall. 

All the President’s missiles and drones

Couldn’t put together his scattered bones”.

Also read “All Fall Down”