Challenge the dollar, and the battlefield finds you

The US-Venezuela conflict is based not on the check cashing story of democracy or narco-terrorism but on the great-power competition. Venezuela holds the highest proven oil deposits in the world, with a reserve of about 303 billion barrels, or about 17 per cent of world reserves, far surpassing Saudi Arabia as well as more than five times the reserves of the United States. However, with this gift, its production has collapsed to fewer than 1 million barrels per day or about 0.8 per cent of world production, because of decades of mismanagement, corruption, sanctions and under-investment. This is the paradox of the situation- a massive potential with minimal output, that highlights the reasons why Venezuela is an attractive target and […]