Over the past few months, several important political and cultural events have occurred. To name a few, there has been the continuation of the Palestine and Israel war, an American bombing in Nigeria, and, most recently, the invasion of Venezuela. I am going to focus heavily on the last event but it is still important to note and remember the events that took place before those that are currently dominating every single news channel there is. In America, it is common for prolific stories to be drowned out by the ever-flowing onslaught of new happenings in this beloved country. It is crucial that society be able to process and respect each new event as it happens while continuing to care about the ones slowly losing coverage.
An example of this is the current disregard towards the bombing of an “Islamic State” in Nigeria on Christmas Day, 2025. An article by the BBC titled US launches strikes against Islamic State in Nigeria references the bombing as being a joint attack by both Nigeria and the United States on Sokoto. Although the two countries may have been working together, leaders disagree about several aspects of the bombing. Trump reportedly said that the bomb was a “Christmas gift,” and Nigerian Foreign Minister Yusuf Maitama Tuggar adamantly disagreed with this saying that the bomb had been previously planned for another date. With the total death count being unknown, all that’s been commented on so far was that several militants were affected.
As far as bombings go, the Palestine-Israel war currently dominating the Gaza Strip must be mentioned. For those who are unaware, since October of 2023, Israel has been at war with the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas. In May of 2024, the first attempts to reach a ceasefire began when Israel offered a three-step plan. Although the announcement gave many hope, peace has yet to be seen. An article by CNN featured an interview with a woman who was deadset on never leaving her country but now feels she has no other choice because of the seemingly endless violence. What most want is simply an end to the danger and to return to their lives. Those with power are now more than ever realizing that something must be done. BBC released an article earlier this month stating that seven more countries have agreed to join the American-led Board of Peace in order to reach a solution. As of now, there are no hostages, and cooperation is becoming more apparent; however, no peace agreement has been reached.
On the other side of the world in Venezuela, shortly after the first of the year, Trump announced that the President of Venezuela, Nicolás Maduro, and his wife, Cilia Flores, were successfully captured while in their home in Caracas (the capitol city) and removed from power by the US in the middle of the night. Maduro was considered by many to be a socialist dictator, the people of Venezuela praised and cheered upon hearing the news that he was no longer in power. It is always a good thing when a bad person is removed from power, but where many people are concerned is the motive behind the American attacks and what will happen next. There are plenty of people out there who predicted this military move would happen sooner rather than later after several seizures and bombings of alleged Venezuelan “drug boats” in the Pacific Ocean. Whether you believe the bombing of these boats was necessary to prevent narco-terrorism or simply a man-made, government-sanctioned excuse to finally nab Maduro, it’s hard to tell what will happen next. There are several theories floating around about the motivation behind the attack, and they are only gaining traction with the threatening remarks Trump has made regarding the now temporary leader of Venezuela, Delcy Rodríguez. In The Atlantic’s article, Trump Threatens Venezuela’s New Leader With a Fate Worse Than Maduro’s, he says “if she doesn’t do what’s right, she is going to pay a very big price, probably bigger than Maduro,” referring to the New York City jail where he’s being kept along with other infamous criminals such as Sean “P Diddy” Combs (set to serve four years) and Luigi Mangione who will stand trial starting in early September of this year. It is believed that Trump made such threatening comments to secure Venezuela’s oil reserves through fear, as he also stated that Venezuela is now, for the time being, under American control, as the US government has started retrieving and selling said oil according to the US Department of Energy.
Since all of these events have taken place, Trump has now also started talking of invading Greenland, although no action has been taken. Overall, there has clearly been an influx of presidential military orders against foreign countries. No one can be certain what comes next as the future of America grows increasingly shaky. One can only hope that all truths are revealed as peace becomes attainable.
Articles Referenced (in order of mention/usage):
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cj69j8l918do
https://www.congress.gov/crs-product/R47828
https://www.cnn.com/2025/12/30/middleeast/israel-moving-to-the-gaza-border-heres-why-intl
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cn8jek4vv8ko
https://www.npr.org/2026/01/05/nx-s1-5666331/trump-politics-venezuela-republicans-democrats
https://www.theatlantic.com/national-security/2026/01/trump-venezuela-maduro-delcy-rodriguez/685497/
