[🇺🇸] Greedy Trump

[Saif]

Date of Event: Jan 17, 2026

Source: https://en.prothomalo.com/international/americas/lnrg4gm1k8

Trump accepts Nobel medal from Venezuelan opposition leader Machado

Reuters Washington
Published: 16 Jan 2026, 09: 30

Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado gave her Nobel Peace Prize medal to US President Donald Trump. Reuters File photo

Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado gave her Nobel Peace Prize medal to US President Donald Trump on Thursday during a White House meeting, as she tries to gain some influence over how the president shapes the South American country's political future.

A White House official confirmed that Trump intends to keep the medal.

In a social media post on Thursday evening, Trump wrote: "Maria presented me with her Nobel Peace Prize for the work I have done. Such a wonderful gesture of mutual respect. Thank you Maria!"

Machado, who described the meeting as "excellent," said the gift was in recognition of what she called his commitment to the freedom of the Venezuelan people.

Machado's attempt to sway Trump came after he dismissed the idea of installing her as Venezuela's leader to replace the deposed Nicolas Maduro. Trump openly campaigned for the prize before Machado was awarded it last month and complained bitterly when he was snubbed.


Asked on Wednesday if he wanted Machado to give him the prize, Trump told Reuters: "No, I didn't say that. She won the Nobel Peace Prize." The Republican president long expressed interest in winning the prize and has at times linked it to diplomatic achievements.

Though Machado gave Trump the gold medal that honorees receive with the prize, the honor remains hers; the Norwegian Nobel Institute has said the prize cannot be transferred, shared or revoked.

Asked on Wednesday if he wanted Machado to give him the prize, Trump told Reuters: "No, I didn't say that. She won the Nobel Peace Prize."

The Republican president long expressed interest in winning the prize and has at times linked it to diplomatic achievements.

The lunch meeting, which appeared to last slightly over an hour, marked the first time the two have met in person. Machado then met with more than a dozen senators, both Republican and Democratic, on Capitol Hill, where she has generally found more enthusiastic allies.

While the visit was ongoing, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Trump had been looking forward to meeting Machado, but that he stood by his "realistic" assessment that she did not currently have the support needed to lead the country in the short term.

Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado arrives at the US Capitol to meet US senators after her meeting with U.S. President Donald Trump at the White House, in Washington, DC, US, 15 January 2026.Reuters

Machado, who fled Venezuela in a daring seaborne escape in December, is competing for Trump's ear with members of Venezuela's government and seeking to ensure she has a role in governing the nation going forward.

After the US captured Maduro in a snatch-and-grab operation this month, various opposition figures, members of Venezuela's diaspora and politicians throughout the US and Latin America have expressed hope that Venezuela will begin the process of democratization.

Hopes of a move to democracy

Democratic Senator Chris Murphy, one of the senators who met with Machado, said the opposition leader had told senators that repression in Venezuela was no different now than under Maduro. Venezuela's interim President Delcy Rodriguez is a "smooth operator" who was growing more entrenched by the day thanks to Trump's support, he said.

"I hope elections happen, but I'm skeptical," said Murphy, of Connecticut.

Trump has said he is focused on securing US access to the country's oil and economically rebuilding Venezuela.

Trump has on several occasions praised Rodriguez, Maduro's second-in-command, who became Venezuela's leader upon his capture. In an interview with Reuters on Wednesday, Trump said, "She's been very good to deal with."

Machado was banned from running in Venezuela's 2024 presidential election by a top court stacked with Maduro allies. Outside observers widely believe Edmundo Gonzalez, an opposition figure backed by Machado, won by a substantial margin, but Maduro claimed victory and retained power.

While the current government has freed dozens of political prisoners in recent days, outside groups and advocates have said the scale of the releases has been exaggerated by Caracas.

In an annual address to lawmakers, Rodriguez called for diplomacy with the US and said should she need to travel to Washington, she would do so "walking on her feet, not dragged there."

She also said she would propose reforms to her country's oil industry aimed at increasing access for foreign investors.​

 

[Saif]

How Trump is destroying the international order

In the moments when the maps of the world shake, the danger of war is not only in the missiles, but in the minds that run them, in the language that justifies them,

www.thedailystar.net

How Trump is destroying the international order
29 March 2026, 00:00 AM

Yousef SY Ramadan

In the moments when the maps of the world shake, the danger of war is not only in the missiles, but in the minds that run them, in the language that justifies them, and in the level of political and moral consciousness among those who sit in the rooms where the decisions are made. Donald J Trump — who is supposed to be driving the most powerful military machine in the world — was allegedly “shocked,” at Iran’s retaliation, and is now dramatically weighing on escalating the war in Iran, while also pushing for diplomacy. Trump’s unpredictability indicates an aversion to analyse facts that will minimise the heavy casualties and costs of warfare on his own people and the international community.

Trump treats war as if it is a show of force to determine which countries’ futures can be controlled from a fortified operations’ room. But history teaches us that wars, especially in areas saturated with complexity, enmities and fragile balances, do not go according to the wishes of those who ignite them. When Trump reportedly admits that he did not anticipate the targeting of other Gulf nations, the question is not only about the efficiency of the administration, but about the ability of this leadership to understand the nature of the world it deals with.

In the midst of talking about a wider war, casualties, mutual targeting and a global energy crisis, the US President suddenly moves on to talk about another country, Cuba, its weather, and then utters “friendly takeover,” and states, “I can do whatever I want with it.” Trump’s repeated utterances of words like “takeover,” is not an expression of a momentary emotion nor is it an indicator of one man’s instability. It is a clear pattern of thinking expanded from the historical, imperialist mindset ingrained in US governance. But the logic of naked force is no longer just a mental background of politics. It has become direct discourse, based on which the fate of the world is intertwined.

Trump’s arrogant language reflects contempt for the idea of international law, a disregard for the sovereignty of other nations, and a disregard for the consequences of any new forms of reckless leadership. When powerful nations begin to believe the myth of their absolute power, they enter the phase of regression. Every force that imagines that it can open additional fronts while it is unable to manage the existing front, reveals a growing separation between discourse and reality.

US President Trump said he was “shocked” at Iran’s retaliation, as if experts never warned against military misadventures in the Middle East. Photo: AFP

At the same time, the US administration is trying to calm markets and public opinion by promoting secret diplomatic contacts aimed at stopping the escalation. When the statements of the authority become externally and internally questioned, and when the official discourse appears as a tool to calm investors, not to describe reality as it is — we become faced with a management that does not have a clear strategy. The Trump administration’s “management” of its country and foreign policy, is of impressions, manufacturing temporary narratives to sustain itself.

However, the real price of all this confusion is not paid in press conferences or in screens, but on the ground, in the bodies of soldiers, in cities at risk, in diplomatic missions that turn into targets, and in human lives that pay the cost of reckless wars. Reports about the perils of US soldiers, and the targeting of embassies, hotels and allied countries, confirm that the issue is no longer just a containable crisis, but has become an explosive reality that expands the field — both politically and psychologically. The US President seems more preoccupied with mocking and bullying his opponents in degrading personal attacks, than facing questions about the explosive situation in the Middle East and its mechanisms, including its impact on the US.

We are witnessing one of the harshest aspects of contemporary political leadership: the transformation of the highest position in the state into an escape from accountability. Donald Trump has depicted the death of US military personnel as, “part of war.” We are not only witnessing a lack of sympathy, but a breakdown in the moral sense of responsibility. A democratic leader does not run away from difficult questions. A democratic leader does not underestimate death. A democratic leader faces results, recognises the cost, and respects people’s right to know the truth.

The landscape drawn by Trump’s recent actions is that of a troubled capital, a confused leadership, and a foreign policy that moves reactively. From there arises a fundamental question: is there really a real strategy governing the US’ behaviour, or has war become a series of improvisations and attempts to take attention away from internal governance failure that unfolds day after day? Many indications suggest that we are seeing an authority that is trying to cover up its inability to perform, and hide its absence of vision with more shocking statements, using the verbal chaos as a veil over the actual chaos.

The world is not managed by the logic of improvised comments, as major crises cannot withstand this level of lightness. The Middle East is not the scene for electoral messaging. Cuba is not a geopolitical joke. Oil markets are not just a screen that can be deceived forever, and the lives of soldiers and civilians are not a minor detail in the bigger picture. When the tendency to produce verbal shock value results in military decisions, the danger becomes doubled, because war is not only the result of a conflict of interests, but also the result of personal ego and a desire to impose muscle power at any cost.

The most dangerous thing in the shifting landscape of US governance is not just the expansion of its war-mongering tendencies, but the exposure of the fragility of the global leadership it claims to have absolute power over. Wars can sometimes be contained, and crises may find their exits after a high cost, but the real disaster begins when the decision-making itself becomes a source of chaos, and when the leader of a superpower experiments with the boundaries of his authority. At that point, the world witnesses a defect that makes all its entities — allies, opponents, markets and people — prisoners of the mood of one individual who does not seem to be fully aware of the war he launched, nor where it can end. If we continue to see more of the current pattern, the danger threatens not only one region, but the entire international order, because in this case the world becomes hostage to volatile decisions and political whims that may at every moment, open a new door to a greater disaster.

Yousef SY Ramadan is the Palestine Ambassador to Bangladesh.​