“Americans do not want another Iraq. If we intensify hostilities in Venezuela, we have no idea what we’re walking into,” McGovern said. “At least George Bush had the decency to come to Congress for approval in 2002. Don’t the American people deserve that respect today?”
Bush in 2002 sought and received a formal authorization for his attack on Iraq. Without taking any similar steps, Trump has massed thousands of American service members in the Caribbean without formal approval.
(December 12, 2025)
President Nicolás Maduro of Venezuela and his predecessor, Hugo Chávez, have for decades sent oil to Cuba at highly subsidized prices, providing a crucial resource at low cost to the impoverished island.
In return, the Cuban government over the years has sent tens of thousands of medics, sports instructors and, increasingly, security professionals on assignments to Venezuela. That exchange has assumed special importance as Mr. Maduro has leaned on Cuban bodyguards and counterintelligence officers to protect himself against the U.S. military buildup in the Caribbean
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Sunday voiced readiness to drop his country’s bid to join NATO in exchange for Western security guarantees, but rejected the U.S. push for ceding territory to Russia as he held talks with U.S. envoys on ending the war.
Zelenskyy sat down with U.S. President Donald Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff and Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner.
In a readout provided by Witkoff, the U.S. special envoy said that a „lot of progress was made“ during the meeting, without providing details.
Speaking ahead of the meeting, Zelensky signaled that Ukraine seeks NATO-like security guarantees as part of a peace deal to prevent future Russian aggression, as full membership is opposed by the U.S. and other partners.
Ahead of the meeting, Axios reported, citing a senior U.S. official, that the Trump administration may be willing to provide Congress-approved NATO-like security guarantees.
„There were no specific ultimatum dates. The fact that everyone wants to finish as soon as possible is a fact. The United States wants to finish faster – we hear that from them. I think they really wanted, or maybe want to have a full understanding of where we are with this agreement by Christmas,“ Zelenskyy said during a meeting with journalists on Thursday.
„They committed a criminal and illegal act when they carried out a military assault, kidnapping, and robbery—like pirates of the Caribbean—of a merchant, commercial, civilian, private vessel. A ship of peace, which was attacked almost upon reaching the Atlantic, not off the coast of Venezuela. It was further north, beyond Trinidad and Tobago, towards the island of Grenada.“
Regarding the crew, he said, „As I speak to you now, the crew of that ship, which was carrying 1.900.000 barrels of oil to international markets—oil that was paid for in Venezuela, because everyone who extracts oil pays for it first—are being held captive, they‘ve disappeared, nobody knows where they are. The crew was kidnapped. The ship was stolen, and a new era has begun: that of criminal naval piracy in the Caribbean.“
The U.S. is preparing to intercept more ships transporting Venezuelan oil following the seizure of a tanker this week, as it increases pressure on Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, six sources familiar with the matter said on Thursday.
The seizure was the first interdiction of an oil cargo or tanker from Venezuela, which has been under U.S. sanctions since 2019. It came as the U.S. executes a large-scale military buildup in the southern Caribbean and as U.S. President Donald Trump pushes for Maduro‘s ouster.
“I’m reminded of what my mother would tell me when I was a kid, ‘Ten wrongs don’t make a right,’ so the fact that 10 presidents have done it doesn’t make it right. Our Founding Fathers were united to a person — all those who signed, all those who debated over the Constitution, the Federalist Papers — were unanimous that Congress should declare war, no president should on his own. Now we have disobeyed that, but we do have the ability, if Congress rose up in a clear two-thirds majority and said ‘no,’ we could overturn any veto.”
The U.S. Supreme Court could ultimately decide the issue.
Last week, Paul and Democratic Sens. Tim Kaine (Va.), Adam Schiff (Ca.) and Chuck Schumer (N.Y.) filed a war powers resolution to prevent the administration from engaging Venezuela in conflict without congressional approval.
The Kentucky Republican reiterated he and his colleagues’ push on Wednesday, saying that “if you want war, the president should come to Congress, like the Constitution dictates, and he should ask Congress for a declaration of war.
“That’s what should be going on right now.”
President Trump did not offer any detailed explanation for the move, saying only that the vessel was seized “for very good reason.” Asked what would happen to the oil the tanker was transporting, Trump said, “We keep it, I guess.”
The seizure occurred in international waters, a senior US official said, and proceeded without incident or casualties either among the US personnel or the tanker’s crew.
The ship, which was headed to Cuba, was ultimately destined for Asia after being brokered through Cuban sellers, the senior official said, adding that additional seizures are possible in the coming weeks as the US applies pressure on Maduro.
(December 9, 2025)
Adm. Alvin Holsey, who was pushed out of his post as the top U.S. military commander overseeing operations in Latin America, spoke privately with several lawmakers on Tuesday, according to three people familiar with the meeting — an indication that Congress is quietly pursuing a bipartisan inquiry into the Sept. 2 boat strike in the Caribbean Sea.
(…)
Also on Tuesday, House and Senate leaders known as the „Gang of Eight“ are hearing separately from President Donald Trump‘s national security team: Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, CIA Director John Ratcliffe and Gen. Dan Caine, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
(December 2, 2025)
Calls for international protection are not new, Aboudi told The Electronic Intifada.
In April 2025, “we called for international protection and we called for international forces to come, forcefully impose a ceasefire and guarantee the opening of all crossings to Gaza for the flow of humanitarian aid and personnel to save the population of Gaza,” Aboudi said.
Following a PNGO statement in August, specifically calling on the UNGA to adopt the Uniting for Peace resolution, Colombia wanted to push the idea forward.
“We already had a draft proposal by the Colombian government,” Víctor de Currea-Lugo, Middle East advisor to Colombia’s President Petro, told The Electronic Intifada. That proposal was “ready to be presented” in the General Assembly.
“We organized a strategy to visit different countries and to mobilize our embassies, our consulates and our mission before the United Nations [meet] in New York. The problem was, at that moment, Trump presented his plan for the pacification of Gaza,” de Currea-Lugo said.
Adding to the obstacles, according to Aboudi, “the Palestinian Authority weren’t really pushing for it.”
“They still were betting on US intervention and involvement: that it would end the genocide, that it would give them the path for a Palestinian state and for the recognition of Palestinian rights. This gamble did not pay off,” he said.
(December 2, 2025)
According to Richard Falk, former UN Special Rapporteur on human rights in the occupied Palestinian territories, Washington acted out of “unhappiness” over the possibility of Uniting for Peace, adding that heavy pressure was exerted on member states.
He described the arrangement as “perverse,” noting that “the perpetrator of genocide and its principal supporter are rewarded by presiding over a supposed peace process.”
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov commented that the changes in U. S. strategy reflect Russia’s perspective. He noted that the U. S. commitment to prevent NATO from expanding continually was encouraging but mentioned that the U. S. “deep state” might have different views from Trump.
Experts SAN spoke with agreed it‘s not exactly clear what the words will mean when it comes to actual policy and implementation.
„My first reaction is that this is kind of like a Truth Social post,“ Sexton said. „It‘s a lot of bluster and bombast. It‘s an administration that really likes to invoke national symbols.“
Sexton acknowledged that this could be the signal of something real to come. The U.S. continues its military buildup in the Caribbean following the bombing of alleged drug boats and threats from Trump of military action in Venezuela.
(December 5, 2025)
The National Security Strategy, released overnight, described Trump‘s vision as one of „flexible realism“ and argued that the U.S. should revive the 19th century Monroe Doctrine, which declared the Western Hemisphere to be Washington‘s zone of influence. It also warned that Europe faces „civilizational erasure“ and must change course.
The commission has long been a way to challenge human rights abuses in the Western Hemisphere, but the U.S. hasn’t ratified the enforcement treaty and does not consider its findings legally binding. Still, an adverse finding is an embarrassment to a nation that has customarily been seen as an advocate for the rule of law.
The family of a Colombian man believed to have been killed in a US strike in the Caribbean has filed what’s believed to be the first complaint against such attacks with the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR).
The petition, filed Tuesday by US human rights attorney Dan Kovalik, alleges that Colombian fisherman Alejandro Carranza was killed when the US struck his boat off the coast of Colombia on September 15.
The family of a Colombian fisherman who died in a U.S. military boat strike in September has filed a formal complaint with the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights alleging the U.S. government illegally killed him.
Alejandro Carranza was killed in a strike in the Caribbean on Sept. 15, according to the petition, filed on Tuesday.
After their visit to Brussels, the two Ukrainian officials will begin preparations for talks with Trump‘s envoys, Zelensky said, without providing additional details.
(December 02, 2025)
Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro has repeated calls for peace and pledged “absolute loyalty” to his people at a rally attended by thousands in Caracas, as tensions escalate over potential military action by the United States.
The rally on Monday came as US President Donald Trump met with his national security team at the White House to discuss the “next steps” on Venezuela, according to media reports.
(December 1, 2025)
US President Donald Trump delivered a blunt ultimatum to Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro during a recent phone call, telling him, “You can save yourself and those closest to you, but you must leave the country now,” according to the Miami Herald.
PARKS: How big of a deal are these congressional investigations?
GARRETT: So legally, Congress does have real powerful levers and tools at their disposal. You know, they can call hearings. They can ask for documents, and even, you know, they have the subpoena power. But we‘ll have to wait and see how aggressive these inquiries are.
“Obviously if that occurred, that would be very serious, and I agree that that would be an illegal act,” Representative Mike Turner, Republican of Ohio and a former chairman of the Intelligence Committee, said on “Face the Nation” on CBS.
Senator Tim Kaine, Democrat of Virginia, said on CBS that if the report was accurate, the attack “rises to the level of a war crime.” And on CNN, when asked if he believed a second strike to kill survivors constituted a war crime, Senator Mark Kelly, Democrat of Arizona, answered, “It seems to.”
(November 25, 2025)
“Because they know that Donald Trump will be gone and they will not have that protection,” he added. “They’re going to have to do the safest thing possible, which is follow the Constitution of the United States, and you’ll be fine.”
Gallego then looked directly into the camera and gave a message to Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth. On Monday, Hegseth said the Pentagon would conduct a “thorough review” of allegations against Kelly, who first heard of the investigation in Hegseth’s post on the social platform X.
“You will never, ever, ever even be half the man that Sen. Kelly is,” Gallego told Hegseth. “You, sir, are a coward. And the fact that you are following this order from the president shows how big of a coward you are. And I can’t wait till you no longer are the secretary of Defense.”
(November 24, 2025)
Dear Attorney General Bondi and Secretary Hegseth:
We are writing to request expeditious declassification and public release of the Department of Justice Office of Legal Counsel’s written opinion, dated September 5, 2025, concerning the domestic and international legal basis for recent military strikes of certain vessels near South America and the Caribbean, with appropriate redactions necessary to protect military personnel and sensitive intelligence matters.
Significant and noteworthy precedent exists for the public release of OLC opinions related to overseas military action. After the United States carried out military strikes in Libya in 2011 and in Syria in 2018, the Department of Justice released the applicable OLC opinion justifying each operation.
Few decisions are more consequential for a democracy than the use of lethal force. We therefore believe that the declassification and public release of this important document would enhance transparency in the use of deadly force by our Nation’s military and is necessary to ensure Congress and the American people are fully informed of the legal justification supporting these strikes.
Sincerely,
Richard Blumenthal
United States Senator
Jack Reed
United States Senator
Jeanne Shaheen
United States Senator
Kirsten Gillibrand
United States Senator
Mazie K. Hirono
United States Senator
Tim Kaine
United States Senator
Angus S. King, Jr.
United States Senator
Elizabeth Warren
United States Senator
Gary C. Peters
United States Senator
Tammy Duckworth
United States Senator
Jacky Rosen
United States Senator
Mark Kelly
United States Senator
Elissa Slotkin
United States Senator
There is no U.S. law that explicitly authorizes the U.S. Navy to attack or sink ships at sea outside of a congressionally authorized war or valid self-defense situation, legal experts and Democratic lawmakers say.
The strikes began in September, but Trump administration discussions about them began soon after Trump moved back into the White House in January
Amid a buildup of U.S. military forces near Venezuela and strikes on alleged drug boats, President Donald Trump told U.S. troops on Thanksgiving that the military operation will soon include strikes on land.
“In recent weeks, you’ve been working to deter Venezuelan drug traffickers,“ Trump said during a call with military service members that alluded to the boat strikes, adding: „We’ll be starting to stop them by land also. The land is easier, but that’s going to start very soon.“
Venezuela‘s communications ministry, which handles all press inquiries for the government, did not immediately reply to a request for comment on Trump‘s post.
The U.S. Defense Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment.