Strong or Weak? How Trump Picks His Battles.
Despite his tough talk, President Trump has consistently made allowances for countries he sees as powerful or dominant.
Despite his tough talk, President Trump has consistently made allowances for countries he sees as powerful or dominant.
America’s vast economic powers are able to wear down an adversary’s economy but are insufficient to topple leaders on their own.
A surge in sensors and cameras, combined with artificial intelligence, has transformed U.S. intelligence’s ability to locate foreign heads of state. Add to that an American president willing to capture or kill them.
President Trump has left himself plenty of room for maximal intervention. But there are a host of potential wild cards, each with risks for the president.
The secretary of state said that a military “quarantine” on some oil exports would stay in place to put pressure on the country’s acting leadership.
The move is an escalation of military operations and a pressure campaign against Nicolás Maduro, Venezuela’s leader. But its scope and economic impact are not clear.
In public, the White House says it is confronting Venezuela to curb drug trafficking. Behind the scenes, gaining access to the country’s vast oil reserves is a priority.
The U.S. seizure of a vessel off Venezuela is likely to squeeze the country’s government, but do little to counter the tankers that secretively move oil from sanctioned countries.
The United States is escalating its pressure campaign on Venezuela’s leader, Nicolás Maduro, after seizing an oil tanker off the coast.
The tanker was headed eastward and had recently carried Iranian oil. The seizure is an escalation in President Trump’s military pressure campaign against Venezuela’s leader, Nicolás Maduro.