As US forces deployed in the Caribbean have zoned in on tankers transporting sanctioned Venezuelan oil, questions have deepened about the real motivation for Donald Trump’s pressure campaign on Caracas.Is the military show of force really about drug trafficking, as Washington claims? Does it seek regime change, as Caracas fears? Could it be about oil, of which Venezuela has more proven reserves than any other country in the world?”I don’t know if the interest is only in Venezuela’s oil,” Brazil’s leftist President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, who has offered to mediate in the escalating quarrel, said last week.The US president himself has accused Venezuela of taking “all of our oil” and said: “we want it back.”What we know:- Oil ties -Companies from the United States, now the world’s leading oil producer, have pumped Venezuelan crude from the first discoveries there in the 1920s.Many US refineries were designed, and are still geared, specifically for processing the kind of heavy crude Venezuela has in spades.Until 2005, Venezuela was one of the main providers of oil to the United States, with some monthly totals reaching up to 60 million barrels.Things changed dramatically after socialist leader Hugo Chavez took steps in 2007 to further nationalize the industry, seizing assets belonging to US firms.- And now? – Down from a peak of more than three million barrels per day (bpd) in the early 2000s, Venezuela today produces about a million barrels per day — roughly two percent of the global total. US firm Chevron extracts about 10 percent of the total under a special license.Chevron is the only company authorized to ship Venezuelan oil to the United States — an estimated 200,000 barrels per day, according to a Venezuelan oil sector source.The South American country’s domestic industry has declined sharply due to corruption, under-investment and US sanctions in place since 2019.Analysts say the high investment required to rebuild Venezuela’s crumbling oil rigs would be unappetizing for US firms, given the steady global supply and low prices.According to Carlos Mendoza Potella, a Venezuelan professor of petroleum economics, Washington’s actions were likely “not just about oil” but rather about the United States “claiming the Americas for itself.””It’s about the division of the world” between the United States and its rivals, Russia and China, he added.Venezuela exports about 500,000 barrels per day on the black market, mainly to China and other Asian countries, according to Juan Szabo, a former vice president of state oil company PDVSA.- Blockade – Trump on December 16 announced a blockade of sanctioned oil vessels sailing to and from Venezuela.Days earlier, US forces seized the M/T Skipper, a so-called “ghost” tanker transporting over a million barrels of Venezuelan oil, reportedly destined for Cuba.Washington has said it intends to keep the oil, valued at between $50 and $100 million.Over the weekend, the US Coast Guard seized the Centuries, identified by monitoring site TankerTrackers.com as a Chinese-owned and Panama-flagged tanker.An AFP review did not find the Centuries on the US Treasury Department’s sanctions list, but the White House said it “contained sanctioned PDVSA oil” — some 1.8 million barrels of it.On Sunday, officials said the Coast Guard was pursuing a third tanker, identified by news outlets as the Bella 1 — under US sanctions because of alleged ties to Iran.The PDVSA insists its exports remain unaffected by the blockade.This was critical, according to Szabo, as the company only has capacity to store oil for several days if exports stop.- Impact -Whatever Trump’s goal with Venezuelan oil, the blockade, if it continues, is likely to scare off shipping companies and push up freight rates.Szabo expects Venezuela’s oil exports will fall by nearly half in the coming months, slashing critical foreign currency income from Venezuela’s black market sales.This would asphyxiate the already struggling economy of Venezuela, piling more pressure on Nicolas Maduro.The Trump administration has tip-toed around explicitly demanding for Maduro to leave.While Trump has said he does not anticipate “war” with Venezuela, he did say Maduro’s days “are numbered.”US Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem told Fox News on Monday that the oil tanker seizures send “a message around the world that the illegal activity that Maduro’s participating in cannot stand, he needs to be gone.”

Nicki Minaj long reigned as pop’s unruliest shape-shifter — a hyper-sexual, neon-bright provocateur whose latex-clad persona, explicit lyrics and affinity with outsiders made her a global icon.Today, she commands a different spotlight — conservatively dressed, warmly received by Republican activists and increasingly fluent in the language of Donald Trump’s “Make America Great Again” (MAGA) movement.In just a few years, Minaj, 43, has moved from condemning the US president’s immigration policies to praising his leadership, trading memes with his vice president and appearing under US government auspices at the United Nations.She has mocked Democratic officials, echoed Republican messaging on transgender youth, and emerged as an unlikely darling of the MAGA right — a turn that has jolted fans, particularly within the LGBTQ community.The shift has recast Minaj as a lightning rod — particularly over rhetoric viewed as dismissive or hostile toward trans people — while making her an improbable guest at political events few would have linked to the artist behind “Super Freaky Girl” and “Trollz.””Nicki Minaj has always been about dominance, independence and answering to no one,” celebrity branding expert Jeetendr Sehdev told AFP.”Aligning with the energy around Donald Trump isn’t about policy — it’s about freedom of expression, resisting cancellation and asserting autonomy.”Minaj’s transformation was on full display at Turning Point USA’s weekend conference in Arizona, where she shared the stage with Erika Kirk — the widow of the group’s slain founder, Charlie Kirk — and hailed Trump as a “role model.” She mocked California Governor Gavin Newsom, using nicknames popularized by Trump.The contrast is jarring — not only politically, but culturally. Hip-hop, though never monolithic, has largely leaned progressive. Stars like Cardi B, Megan Thee Stallion and Lizzo have backed Democratic candidates, while a smaller cohort — including Lil Wayne and Kodak Black — stand out as Trump-friendly exceptions.- ‘Childish’ -Gone was the shock-and-awe star in latex and wigs when she sat down in Phoenix. In her place sat a composed figure steeped in conservative grievance and moral certainty.Her remarks drew fierce backlash for comments on transgender youth that critics say mirror Republican framing of gender-affirming care as a threat to children.”For boys: boys, be boys… There’s nothing wrong with being a boy,” she told the crowd, urging a return to traditional gender norms.It was a sharp departure from the artist who once celebrated fluid identities and cultivated one of pop’s most queer-friendly fan bases.Her evolution did not happen overnight. Minaj has long resisted tidy labels, cloaking herself in alter egos and irony. She once rapped about voting Republican, then brushed it off as sarcasm. She called Trump “childish,” even as she admitted finding him entertaining.During Trump’s first term, she condemned family separations at the US–Mexico border — invoking her own arrival in the United States as an undocumented child from Trinidad and Tobago — and later celebrated Joe Biden’s election victory. But the shift towards MAGA gathered pace during the Covid-19 pandemic, when she questioned vaccine safety in ways that echoed conservative skepticism and drew public rebukes from health officials.- ‘The cool kids’ -From there, her rhetoric hardened and Minaj has increasingly aligned with administration messaging — reposting White House videos set to her music and appearing alongside senior officials.She has also appeared under US diplomatic auspices at the United Nations, speaking about violence against Christians in Nigeria — an issue experts say is more complex than often portrayed.The aesthetic shift rivals the political one — the artist who once weaponized excess now favoring restraint, sitting comfortably among Republican operatives and conservative influencers. At the Arizona conference, she joked that she and her allies were “the cool kids.”Supporters say Minaj is simply exercising independence, refusing to be boxed in by expectations tied to her gender, race or fan base.Critics counter that independence does not excuse language that marginalizes vulnerable groups — especially from an artist whose career was built on challenging norms, not reinforcing them.”She will polarize people, but that won’t weaken a brand like hers — it will likely amplify it,” Sehdev, the Hollywood branding expert, told AFP. “It filters out passive fans and deepens loyalty among those who admire strength over approval.”

Russia on Monday expressed “full support” for Venezuela as the South American country confronts a blockade of sanctioned oil tankers by US forces deployed in the Caribbean.The pledge from Moscow, itself embroiled in the war in Ukraine, came on the eve of a UN Security Council (UNSC) meeting Tuesday to discuss the mounting crisis between Caracas and Washington.In a phone call, the foreign ministers of the allied nations blasted the US actions, which have included strikes on alleged drug-trafficking boats and more recently the seizure of two oil tankers.A third ship was being pursued, a US official told AFP on Sunday.”The ministers expressed their deep concern over the escalation of Washington’s actions in the Caribbean Sea, which could have serious consequences for the region and threaten international shipping,” the Russian foreign ministry said of the call between Sergei Lavrov and Venezuelan counterpart Yvan Gil.”The Russian side reaffirmed its full support for and solidarity with the Venezuelan leadership and people in the current context,” it added in a statement. US forces have since September launched strikes on boats that Washington claims, without providing evidence, were trafficking drugs in the Caribbean and eastern Pacific Ocean.More than 100 people have been killed — some of them fishermen, according to their families and governments.US President Donald Trump on December 16 also announced a blockade of “sanctioned oil vessels” sailing to and from Venezuela.Trump claims Caracas under President Nicolas Maduro is using oil money to finance “drug terrorism, human trafficking, murder and kidnapping.”He has also accused Venezuela of taking “all of our oil” — in an apparent reference to the country’s nationalization of the petroleum sector, and said: “we want it back.”Caracas, in turn, fears Washington is seeking regime change, and has accused Washington of “international piracy.”Moscow’s statement said Lavrov and Gil agreed in their call to “coordinate their actions on the international stage, particularly at the UN, in order to ensure respect for state sovereignty and non-interference in internal affairs.”Russia and China, another Venezuela ally, backed Caracas’s request for a UNSC meeting to discuss what it called “the ongoing US aggression.”- Russia’s ‘hands full’ -On Telegram, Venezuela’s Gil said he and Lavrov had discussed “the aggressions and flagrant violations of international law being perpetrated in the Caribbean: attacks on vessels, extrajudicial executions, and illicit acts of piracy carried out by the United States government.”Gil said Lavrov had affirmed Moscow’s “full support in the face of hostilities against our country.”Last week, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio brushed aside Moscow’s stated support for Caracas.Washington, he said, was “not concerned about an escalation with Russia with regards to Venezuela” as “they have their hands full in Ukraine.”US-Russia relations have soured in recent weeks as Trump has voiced frustration with Moscow over the lack of a resolution to the Ukraine war.Gil on Monday also read a letter on state TV, signed by Maduro and addressed to UN member nations, warning the US blockade “will affect the supply of oil and energy” globally.