Maduro Orders ‘Defensive’ Military Drills After UK Deploys British Warship Off Guyana Coast

CARACAS – Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro ordered on Thursday the armed forces to launch “the activation of a joint defensive action” in response to the deployment of a British warship off the coast of Guyana.

Maduro Orders ‘Defensive’ Military Drills After UK Deploys British Warship Off Guyana Coast

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Venezuela To Deploy Defensive Action in Response to UK Threat

US Foreign Policy Is a Scam Built on Corruption

US foreign policy seems to be utterly irrational. The US gets into one disastrous war after another — Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria, Libya, Ukraine, and Gaza. In recent days, the US stands globally isolated in its support of Israel’s genocidal actions against the Palestinians, voting against a UN General Assembly resolution for a Gaza ceasefire backed by 153 countries with 89% of the world population, and opposed by just the US and 9 small countries with less than 1% of the world population.

US Foreign Policy Is a Scam Built on Corruption

Argentina: the movement against Milei has begun

As we were about to publish the latest editorial of the Argentine section of the IMT, concerning the first budget announcements of the new government of far-right demagogue president Milei, he doubled down: announcing by decree the abolition of over 300 pieces of legislation, which regulate economic activity in a wide range of fields. This is an unprecedented, ultra-liberal assault on the rights and living conditions of the working masses, introduced using undemocratic emergency decree powers. The announcement provoked a spontaneous movement of protest, with thousands coming out into the streets of Buenos Aires, as Alejandro Spezia describes in this special update (the original article follows after).

Argentina: the movement against Milei has begun

Philippines provoked China’s water cannoning at Ayungin Shoal

By Daniel Long

President Bongbong Marcos shocked the nation when he put out a tweet (X post) this weekend on the recent water cannoning incidents at Ayungin and Scarborough Shoal. I would like to highlight this part of his statement: “Let me reiterate what is settled and widely recognized: Ayungin Shoal is within our Exclusive Economic Zone, any foreign claim of sovereignty over it is baseless and absolutely contrary to international law…No one but the Philippines has a legitimate right or legal basis to operate anywhere in the West Philippine Sea.”

PH provoked China’s water cannoning at Ayungin Shoal

ExxonMobil foresees profit and expansion surge fueled by Guyana, Permian advancements

ExxonMobil foresees profit and expansion surge fueled by Guyana, Permian advancements

With an annual total capital expenditure and exploration expense projection ranging between US$23 billion to US$25 billion, ExxonMobil is set to allocate US$22-$27 billion annually toward project spending until 2027. This includes a commitment to emerging ventures in lithium and low-carbon initiatives, with an 18% increase in spending in these areas.

Emphasizing its dedication to the energy transition, ExxonMobil’s Low Carbon Solutions division is expected to witness an increase in budget from US$17 billion to US$20 billion between 2022 and 2027, contingent upon government support.

The company plans to ramp up annual share buybacks to $20 billion by 2025, an increase from the current US$17.5 billion, following the completion of the Pioneer merger. Additionally, ExxonMobil continues its divestment strategy for refining operations.

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Venezuela’s Maduro orders foreign companies to leave Guyanese concessions

Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro announced that foreign companies working in the disputed Guyanese county of Essequibo would have to withdraw within three months, asserting his right to do so after Venezuelan voters backed their nation’s control of the territory in a referendum Sunday, Bloomberg reported Tuesday night.

Venezuela’s Maduro orders foreign companies to leave Guyanese concessions

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Venezuela: FANB Deployed in Territory Bordering Essequibo

Military personnel carry out the construction of bridges, repair roads, and provide medical care to the inhabitants of the community.

Essequibo: Guyana may “ask UN member states to take military action to force Venezuela to comply with the ICJ order”

Guyana to take Venezuela to UN Security Council after Maduro’s announcements about Essequibo; GDF contacts US Department of Defence

Dr Ali added that there was “nothing to fear” as Guyana’s international partners and international community “are ready to support us.” He said the Guyana Defence Force was “on full alert” and has contacted the Florida-based United States Southern Command (SOUTHCOM), one of the 11 unified combatant commands in the US Department of Defense. “The Guyana Defence Force is on full alert and has engaged its military counterparts including the US Southern Command,” he said, without elaborating. Dr Ali added that the US, United Kingdom, Brazil and France as well as the Organisation of American States (OAS) and the United Nations Secretary General, Antonio Guitteres have been contacted. “By defying the court. Venezuela has rejected international law, the rule of law generally fundamental justice and morality and the preservation of international peace and security. They have literally declared themselves an outlaw nation,” he said.

Attorney General Anil Nandlall earlier Tuesday said the UN Security Council could be asked to approve economic sanctions on Venezuela or ask UN member states to take military action to force Venezuela to comply with the ICJ order that Venezuela must not take any action which would modify the situation that currently prevails in the territory in dispute, whereby Guyana administers and exercises control over Essequibo.

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Notes: Trinidad and Tobago’s Foreign Minister, Amery Browne, has said that it’s a violation of the Caribbean Community’s policy for them to mediate a solution. Guyana was a founding member of CARICOM. Their aim was “to use [CARICOM] as leverage against Venezuela” and to prohibit them “from pursuing its Essequibo territorial claim”. [source]

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Guayana Esequiba: Geo-economics of an Occupation

An air of bonanza has raised the projections of the Exxon Mobil corporation, which accumulated around 414 billion dollars in 2022, an unprecedented income in its history, which represents 44.8% more than the previous year. It is a gigantic increase if compared to its crisis in 2020, when its losses put its place in the stock market in jeopardy. Also from the research of that American corporation, it is said that Guyana could become “the country that produces the most barrels of oil per inhabitant in the world, surpassing Kuwait, in that case, when measuring the wealth per capita of its 800 thousand inhabitants, it would become a rich country, since in 2021 its GDP increased by 57.8% and in 2022 by 37.2%”.

Guayana Esequiba: Geo-economics of an Occupation

On the strategic relationship between Venezuela and China

During a state visit to the People’s Republic of China in September 2023, Venezuelan president, Nicolas Maduro met president Xi Jinping and both agreed to strengthen the relationship of their countries by establishing seven sub commissions to elevate it to the level of ‘all-weather strategic partnership’. This is the culmination of a relationship that began with president Hugo Chavez’s first visit to Beijing in 1999, the very first year of his presidency.

On the strategic relationship between Venezuela and China