US forces seize oil tanker off Venezuela coast
Guardian1 day
Trump Announces Seizure of Large Oil Tanker Off Venezuela
Is this part of a necessary crackdown on a narcoterrorist regime, or Iraq 2.0 in the making disguised as counter-narcotics?
Above: Donald Trump in a roundtable discussion in the Roosevelt Room of the White House on Dec. 10, 2025. Image credit: Andrew Caballero-Reynolds/AFP/Getty Images
The Spin
Pro-establishment narrative
Maduro runs a narcoterrorist cartel that floods America with drugs, and harbors Iranian drones and Russian military personnel, which has driven eight million refugees from Venezuela while brutally crushing democracy. Regime change in the country isn't optional anymore — it's the only path to ending mass migration, stopping the flow of drugs and removing hostile foreign powers from America's hemisphere.
Establishment-critical narrative
This isn't counter-narcotics — it's Iraq all over again, dressed up in familiar talking points about limited strikes and precision operations. The press is laundering another war just like in 2003, while U.S. military buildup in the Caribbean positions for regime change that'll fracture an already collapsing state and trap America in a new endless conflict nobody voted for.
Metaculus Prediction
Public Figures
Go Deeper
Establishment split
CRITICAL
PRO
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© 2025 Improve the News Foundation. All rights reserved.Version 6.18.1
© 2025 Improve the News Foundation.
All rights reserved.
Version 6.18.1