US could run Venezuela, tap its oil for years, Trump says

The United States could run Venezuela and tap into its oil reserves for years, President Donald Trump said in an interview published Thursday, less than a week after toppling Nicolas Maduro.”Only time will tell” how long Washington would demand direct oversight of the South American country, Trump told The New York Times.But when asked whether that meant three months, six months or a year, he replied: “I would say much longer.”His assertion of US dominance over Venezuela comes despite its interim leader Delcy Rodriguez saying there is no foreign power governing Caracas.”There is a stain on our relations such as had never occurred in our history,” Rodriguez said of the US attack to depose her predecessor.US special forces snatched president Maduro and his wife Saturday in a lightning raid and whisked them to New York to face trial on drug and weapons charges, underscoring what Trump has called the “Donroe Doctrine” of US dominance over its backyard.”We obviously have maximum leverage over the interim authorities in Venezuela right now” following the capture operation, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said.”We’re continuing to be in close coordination with the interim authorities, and their decisions are going to continue to be dictated by the United States of America.”Trump has said the United States will “run” Venezuela, which has the world’s largest proven oil reserves.”They’re giving us everything that we feel is necessary,” Trump told the Times.But Washington has no boots on the ground, and appears to be relying on a naval blockade and the threat of further force to ensure Rodriguez’s cooperation.- ‘Not just winging it’ -Caracas announced on Wednesday that at least 100 people had been killed in the US attack and a similar number wounded.Among those hurt were Maduro and his wife Cilia Flores, Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello said, though the couple were seen walking unassisted during a New York court appearance earlier this week.According to Havana, the death toll includes 32 members of the Cuban military. Maduro, like his firebrand predecessor Hugo Chavez, employed specialized Cuban soldiers as bodyguards.Trump’s administration has so far indicated it intends to stick with Rodriguez and sideline opposition figures, including Nobel Peace Prize winner Maria Corina Machado. But it has given few details about its plans.Secretary of State Marco Rubio insisted on Wednesday, after meeting lawmakers on Capitol Hill critical of the post-Maduro planning, that the United States was “not just winging it”.But so far, the US plan relies heavily on what Trump said on Tuesday was an agreement for Venezuela to hand over between 30 million and 50 million barrels of oil to the United States for it to then sell.Trump said Wednesday that under the deal Venezuela “is going to be purchasing ONLY American Made Products, with the money they receive” from the oil.That would include agricultural products, machinery, medical devices and energy equipment, he added.Rubio said that in a second “recovery” phase, US and Western companies would have access to the Venezuelan market and “at the same time, begin to create the process of reconciliation nationally within Venezuela”.- ‘Indefinitely’ -Venezuela’s state oil firm PDVSA said it was discussing oil sales with the United States for the “sale of volumes of oil” under existing commercial frameworks.But Washington is looking at longer term control, according to Energy Secretary Chris Wright.”We’re going to market the crude coming out of Venezuela, first this backed-up stored oil, and then indefinitely, going forward, we will sell the production that comes out of Venezuela,” Wright said Wednesday.Trump and his advisors are considering a plan for the US to exert some control over PDVSA, the Wall Street Journal reported.The US would then have a hand in controlling most of the oil reserves in the Western Hemisphere, as Trump aims to drive oil prices down to $50 a barrel, the paper reported.Trump will Friday meet executives from US oil companies, whom he has said will invest in Venezuela’s crumbling facilities, despite no firm having yet made such pledges.

Turkey will help Syria against Kurdish fighters if asked: defence ministry

Turkey’s military is ready to “support” Syria in its battle with Kurdish fighters in the northwestern city of Aleppo if Damascus asks for help, a defence ministry official said Thursday. And Turkey’s top diplomat said Ankara had been working “intensively” with Syrian and American officials in a bid to end the unrest. Deadly clashes erupted this week between Syrian government forces and the Kurdish-dominated Syrian Defence Forces (SDF) after the two sides failed to reach a year-end deadline to merge the Kurdish fighters into the main Damascus military. In Ankara, the defence ministry official framed the clashes as a “counter-terror operation”, saying Turkey fully backed “Syria’s fight against terrorist organisations”. “Should Syria request assistance, Turkey will provide the necessary support,” he said, echoing a long-standing offer by Ankara to extend military support to its allies in Damascus’s new Islamist government. Turkey has long been hostile to the Kurdish SDF that controls swathes of northeastern Syria, seeing it as an extension of the banned Kurdish militant group PKK and a major threat along its southern border. It has repeatedly pushed for implementation of the so-called March 10 deal under which the Kurds’ semi-autonomous administration and military would be integrated into the Syrian military and security apparatus. The Kurds are pushing for decentralised rule, an idea which Syria’s new authorities have rejected, blocking the deal’s implementation and causing building tension. – ‘Uncompromising stance’ -The unrest in Aleppo began on Tuesday with a string of armed attacks that claimed nine lives and prompted thousands to flee, with the two sides trading barbs over who was responsible. The toll now stands at 17 dead. Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan said Turkey had been locked in talks with Damascus and Washington to resolve the deadlock which he blamed on the SDF’s “uncompromising stance”. “Over the past two days, we have been involved in intensive consultations with the Syrian side and the Americans. God willing, this will be resolved without further bloodshed,” he said.”The SDF’s insistence on preserving what it controls at any cost constitutes one of the greatest obstacles to Syrian peace and stability,” he said, urging the force to “abandon terrorism and separatism”. Parliamentary speaker Numan Kurtulmus also warned against Israeli involvement in the standoff after its top diplomat denounced the government operation “against the Kurdish minority in Aleppo” as “dangerous” for Syria’s minorities.  “Let me be very clear: Israel does not love the Kurds of Syria,” Kurtulmus said, warning against efforts “to turn people against each other on ethnic, religious, and sectarian grounds”.

L’ex-patron de la DGSE, Bernard Bajolet, condamné à un an de prison avec sursis pour complicité de tentative d’extorsion

Bernard Bajolet, directeur de la DGSE de 2013 à 2017, a été condamné jeudi à Bobigny à un an de prison avec sursis dans une affaire de tentative d’extorsion à l’encontre d’un homme d’affaires qui, selon les services secrets, les aurait arnaqués.Aujourd’hui âgé de 76 ans, l’ex-directeur de la Direction générale de la sécurité extérieure a été reconnu coupable par le tribunal correctionnel de complicité de tentative d’extorsion et d’atteinte arbitraire à la liberté individuelle par personne dépositaire de l’autorité publique.Les faits qui lui sont reprochés remontant au 12 mars 2016, c’est presque 10 ans de procédure qui auront été nécessaires pour aboutir à cette condamnation, plus lourde que les six à huit mois d’emprisonnement avec sursis requis par le parquet.Ce jour de mars 2016, Alain Dumenil, homme d’affaires franco-suisse impliqué dans pléthore d’affaires judiciaires et de litiges commerciaux, est arrêté par la police aux frontières à l’aéroport Roissy-Charles de Gaulle alors qu’il doit se rendre en Suisse.Les policiers l’emmènent sous prétexte de devoir vérifier son passeport et le conduisent dans une salle.Deux hommes en civil, appartenant à la DGSE mais jamais identifiés, entrent dans la pièce et informent M. Dumenil qu’il doit rembourser 15 millions d’euros à la France. Les services de renseignement estiment qu’il les a escroqués au début des années 2000, lorsqu’ils l’ont appelé à la rescousse pour sortir la DGSE d’investissements infructueux. Ceux-ci avaient été réalisés avec un fonds secret confié par l’Etat, il y a des décennies, dans une volonté d’indépendance de l’institution en cas d’occupation étrangère ou de disparition du gouvernement. Les agents menacent M. Dumenil, notamment en lui montrant un album de photographies de ses proches, et l’homme d’affaires s’emporte et annonce porter plainte. Les agents s’éclipsent.Au cours du procès, qui s’est tenu en novembre et a parfois semblé devenir celui des services secrets, Bernard Bajolet a toujours reconnu avoir validé le principe d’une rencontre mais sans avoir jamais imaginé, a-t-il assuré, que cela se ferait avec “une forme quelconque de contrainte”.”Les choses ne se sont pas passées comme elles auraient dû”, avait toutefois reconnu M. Bajolet qui, avec ses avocats, n’a pas souhaité faire de commentaire jeudi après la décision du tribunal.

Spanish PM open to sending troops to maintain peace ‘in Palestine’

Spain is ready to send troops to Palestine for peacekeeping “when the opportunity presents itself,” just as it is willing to deploy forces to Ukraine, Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said Thursday.”I will propose to parliament, when the opportunity presents itself, that we send peacekeeping troops to Palestine, once we can see how to advance this task of pacification,” he told a gathering of Spanish ambassadors in Madrid.”Of course, we have not forgotten Palestine and the Gaza Strip… Spain must actively participate in rebuilding hope in Palestine. The situation there remains intolerable.”Sanchez also reaffirmed Spain’s willingness to deploy troops to Ukraine in the event of a peace deal, calling the current moment “critical” and “decisive” for achieving peace there.”If Spain has sent peacekeeping troops to many regions far from our country, how could we not send peacekeeping troops to Ukraine, a European country?” he added.Russian President Vladimir Putin is against having any foreign peacekeeping troops on Ukrainian soil.The Spanish government, which recognised the State of Palestine in 2024, has been one of Europe’s most vocal critics of Israel’s offensive in Gaza, launched following the Hamas attack on southern Israel on October 7, 2023.At the end of last year, Sanchez called for raising awareness about the “dramatic situation” of Palestinians during a meeting in Madrid with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas.