As we reported, the US launched a series of strikes on Venezuela on Saturday 3 January. According to Donald Trump, America also kidnapped Venezuelan president Nicolás Maduro. Given the UK government’s opposition to Russia’s illegal invasion of Ukraine, you’d think that prime minister Keir Starmer would have something to say about the US blatantly violating another country’s sovereignty. As Green Party leader Zack Polanski highlighted, though, Starmer is seemingly waiting to follow Trump’s lead:
Keir Starmer says he wants to establish facts by *watching Donald Trumps press conference.*
People said giving him a second state visit was a genius move of strategy – really seems to have paid off.
Special relationship – alive and kicking.
— Zack Polanski (@ZackPolanski) January 3, 2026
Polanski slams Starmer
The day began with reports that the US had struck Venezuela:
Caracas, Venezuela. (03.01.2026)
Trump is a terrorist. pic.twitter.com/5giUBsRAjG
— Antifa_Ultras (@ultras_antifaa) January 3, 2026
Donald Trump himself reported that the US has abducted Maduro:
So let’s get this straight … a country, not at war with the US, has been bombed by the US and its president and his wife were captured and flown out of the country by the US.
On a side-note: Venezuela has the world’s largest proven oil reserves. pic.twitter.com/6l2ZqX8AXu
— Bianca van Wyk (@BiancavanWyk16) January 3, 2026
As Polanski highlighted, Starmer seems to be out of the loop completely. If he wasn’t, he wouldn’t have to wait with the rest of us to find out what happened.
On the one hand, it’s arguably good that America no longer sees the UK as its preferred lackey. On the other hand, the shift is because they’ve started to talk about us like they used to talk about Iraq:
“France and Britain have nuclear weapons. If they allow themselves to be overwhelmed with destructive moral ideas, then you allow nuclear weapons to fall in the hands of people who can actually cause very, very serious harm to the US.”
JD Vance to me.https://t.co/4Jz5HXLh4G
— Sohrab Ahmari (@SohrabAhmari) December 22, 2025
Alternatively, as the Canary’s Joe Glenton pointed out, Starmer could be completely in the loop and just lying to the public again:
From November. There is a Royal Navy navigator on a US destroyer.
Reports indicate UK personnel are also aboard the aircraft carrier USS Ford.
MOD refused to tell me if there were UK aircrew embedded.
The UK is involved.@TheCanaryUK https://t.co/0sVnUb3uQX
— joe glenton new era (@jjgjourno) January 3, 2026
Before the post at the top, Polanski made it clear what he thinks about the US’s attack on Venezuela:
The PM and Foreign Secretary should be condemning this illegal strike and breach of international human rights law.
After years of arming a genocide and worshipping the “special relationship”, Trump now believes he can act with impunity. https://t.co/HuUD26aGy5
— Zack Polanski (@ZackPolanski) January 3, 2026
Polanski also tore into this fence-sitting response from supposed sovereignty-enjoyer Nigel Farage:
He’s not the MP for Clacton.
He’s not even a representive for Britain.
He represents Donald Trump, and the interests of both their wealthy backers.
He can’t even condemn something he recognises as illegal.
This is who Reform are. https://t.co/qwRWE2OAAC
— Zack Polanski (@ZackPolanski) January 3, 2026
Others had no problem speaking out either:
If this is accurate, with no legal sanction,with no UN decision, what difference in international law is there between Trump’s attack on Venezuela & Putin’s invasion of Ukraine.If the UK government stands for the rule of law, Keir Starmer must condemn this https://t.co/bbIupWNRUq
— John McDonnell (@johnmcdonnellMP) January 3, 2026
The US attack on Venezuela is rampantly and shamelessly illegal.
Donald Trump has repeatedly made it clear that the US wants to steal Venezuela’s resources.
This gangsterism, trashing anything left of the ‘international order’, will pave the way for global violent mayhem.
— Owen Jones (@owenjonesjourno) January 3, 2026
Venezuela has the world’s largest oil reserves — and that’s no coincidence.
This is naked U.S. imperialism: an illegal assault on Caracas aimed at overthrowing a sovereign government and plundering its resources.
Starmer’s Labour government must condemn this unequivocally.…
— Zarah Sultana MP (@zarahsultana) January 3, 2026
• Venezuela has 303 billion barrels of oil reserves – more than any other country in the whole world.
— Tory Fibs (@ToryFibs) January 3, 2026
Empire
Of course, violating sovereignty is nothing new for America:
Last night’s attack on Venezuela fits into a long history of brazen US interventions in Latin America and the world. pic.twitter.com/bgU5fX2Oqu
— Alan MacLeod (@AlanRMacLeod) January 3, 2026
The US is a rogue nation which sees the entire world as its dominion. In that sense, it’s no different that Hitler’s Third Reich. The reason why people view the US differently is because it doesn’t oppress its own citizens in the same industrial way that Nazi Germany did.
America’s reputation has also benefited greatly from the States being the home of global mass entertainment. This allows it to perpetuate the American myth in a fashion that Goebbels could only dream of.
Make no mistake, though; when the US invades, all the Disney movies in the world won’t soften the blow of the American cosh – as Polanski rightly pointed out.
Featured image via Barold / Rwendland (Wikimedia)
By Willem Moore
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