The US has captured Venezuela’s President Nicolás Maduro after a large-scale strike on the South American country, US President Donald Trump has said. Venezuela’s left-wing president and his wife, First Lady Cilia Flores, are at Brooklyn’s Metropolitan Detention Center, US media reports, after they were flown to an air base in New York. They have been charged with drug and weapons offences.
During a news conference on Saturday Trump said the US would “run” Venezuela “until a safe and proper and judicious transition”, adding that American oil companies would also move into the country.
Trump also said American oil companies would move in to fix infrastructure “and start making money for the country”. He said “we’re going to be taking a tremendous amount of wealth from the ground” which would go to people in Venezuela and to the US, adding “we’re going to get reimbursed for everything we’ve spent”.
He also said the US would sell oil to other countries.
Asked whether US troops would be deployed to Venezuela, Trump said “we’re not afraid of boots on the ground”.
Trump Snatches Maduro But Leaves His Regime in Charge for Now
Hours after President Donald Trump stunned the world by saying the US plans to “run” Venezuela, uncertainty over what that means and who is in charge loomed over the South American nation.
Adding to the confusion was that the White House offered few details about what running an oil-producing nation of about 30 million people would entail. A US official said Secretary of State Marco Rubio — who has spent his career criticizing Maduro and his predecessor, Hugo Chavez — would take the leading administration role. President Donald Trump said American oil companies will “spend billions of dollars” to fix oil infrastructure in Venezuela. For now, there’s no plan spelled out to have American troops or administrators in Venezuela. But Trump signaled he’s keenly focused on the country’s petroleum, saying the US would have a “presence in Venezuela as it pertains to oil.” That could mean a greater role for Chevron Corp., which still operates in Venezuela under waivers from sanctions, as well as for other major American oil companies.
Trump’s resistance to keeping American boots on the ground and his dismissal of Venezuela’s opposition leader Maria Corina Machado as a “nice woman” not ready to take power suggest he decided on giving Rodríguez and other Maduro loyalists a second chance over full-blown regime change.
Trump is “essentially trying to control the vice president and people around her through carrots and sticks to get the outcomes the United States wants,” said Matthew Kroenig, vice president and senior director of the Atlantic Council’s Scowcroft Center for Strategy and Security. “We’ll see if it works.” Trump appeared to confirm that approach with his remarks later in the day to the New York Post, when he said that US troops on the ground would not be necessary as long as Rodríguez “does what we want.”
That strategy is a huge gamble — particularly for a president who campaigned in 2016 on ending America’s “forever wars” but has since used the US military to strike targets in Iran, Yemen, Nigeria and the Caribbean Sea.
Rodríguez, considered by many to be the most powerful person in the country after Maduro, gave mixed messages in her public comments on Saturday. She called for the ousted president’s return, but she also said Venezuela could still have “respectful relationships,” perhaps offering a path to a detente with the US if she can consolidate power and the two sides cooperate.
Trump: “All political and military figures in Venezuela should understand what happened to Maduro can happen to them, and it will happen to them” if they weren’t “fair” to the Venezuelan people, he said. Following the Trump news conference, a US official laid out some priorities for the coming days, saying that administration officials will engage diplomatically with those remaining in the Venezuelan government, as well as with oil executives on expanding output. The official said the US military will remain ready and the oil embargo will remain in effect. US strikes on suspected drug vessels will continue.
Yet the uncertainty over what really happens next hung over Caracas as it settled into its first night without Maduro in more than a decade, with many of his regime’s loyal backers still in the country.
CSIS’s Berg wrote on Saturday. “Venezuela will enter a long transition with even greater US involvement in shaping the government to come.”
That reality, and Rodríguez’s long history with Maduro, are “why I’m a bit skeptical this can work out long term,” said Ryan Berg, director of the Americas Program and head of the Future of Venezuela Initiative at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington. “A bigger concern really would be that this all falls apart here, that there isn’t an effort to make sure there’s a successful handoff,” said Matt Terrill, managing partner at Firehouse Strategies.
NN: Nation building take years. I remind you US troops were stationed in Germany and Japan for nation building after WWII. They are still their. Iraq after Bush broke it is still a shit house mess. It will take years to reverse the damage Chavz and Maduro did. And the oil infrastructure will take 10 years and 20 billon to rebuild.
The British Defense Ministry said that the United Kingdom’s Royal Air Force carried out a strike with the French military targeting a former Islamic State (ISIS) underground facility in Syria. The operation was based on intelligence reports suggesting that the terrorist organization previously used the site to store weapons and explosives. The facility is located several miles north of Palmyra, in an uninhabited area. The ministry said preliminary reports indicate the strike was successful and that more detailed analysis is underway. It added that “there is no indication” of any risk to local civilian population.
NN: Another place where a peace deal was made with the Islamic savages. How stupid can people be. They ALL as in ALL have sworn an oath to kill the infidels. It is really stupid to embrace, finance and let into your country savages who want you dead. Never mind give them control of your major cities,
United States President Donald Trump told Fox News on Saturday that the administration is currently deciding on Venezuela’s next leadership. Trump also confirmed the US plans to be “strongly involved” in Venezuela’s oil industry. “Maduro tried to negotiate at the end. I said no,” Trump revealed, calling the strike a show of restored American strength. He praised the precision of the operation and contrasted it with past military failures. Trump said there were no US casualties in the operation, though a few troops were injured.
Trump says US successfully hit Venezuela, took away Maduro
Explosions rock capital Caracas and other parts of Venezuela
Trump had urged Venezuelan leader to leave power
Maduro government accused US of engaging in oil grab
WASHINGTON – The U.S. struck Venezuela and captured its long-serving President Nicolas Maduro on Saturday, President Donald Trump said, after months of pressuring him over accusations of drug-running and illegitimacy in power. Washington has not made such a direct intervention in Latin America since the invasion of Panama in 1989 to depose military leader Manuel Noriega, over similar allegations.
“The United States of America has successfully carried out a large scale strike against Venezuela and its leader, President Nicolas Maduro, who has been, along with his wife, captured and flown out of the country,” Trump said in a Truth Social post.
Ahead of the overnight strike, the U.S. had accused Maduro of running a “narco-state” and rigging last year’s election, which the opposition said it won overwhelmingly. The Venezuelan leader, who succeeded Hugo Chavez to take power in 2013, has said Washington wants control of the South American nation’s oil reserves, the largest in the world. Venezuela’s government said civilians and military personnel died in the strikes but did not give figures. Trump said the operation was carried out “in conjunction with U.S. Law Enforcement,” promising more details at an 11 a.m. (1600 GMT) press conference at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida. Maduro was captured by elite special forces troops, a U.S. official told Reuters. Republican U.S. Senator Mike Lee said Secretary of State Marco Rubio had told him Maduro would stand trial on criminal charges in the United States. Venezuela’s Vice President Delcy Rodriguez, who could take charge of government, said she did not know the whereabouts of either Maduro or his wife.
“We demand that President Donald Trump’s government provide immediate proof of life for President Maduro and the First Lady,” Rodriguez said in an audio played on state TV. Trump has accused Venezuela of flooding the U.S. with drugs and his administration has for months been bombing boats it alleges were carrying drugs. MST Marquee analyst Saul Kavonic said oil prices were likely to jump on the near-term risk to supply but that the U.S. strike could be bearish in the medium term if a new Venezuelan government results in sanctions being lifted and renewed foreign investment.
NN: We have long predicted this event. And gave you detailed analysis on the military build up preceding this obvious event. Oil will soar. It was easy to brake it. But it will take a long time to fis this
Venezuelan defense chief: We will not surrender
Venezuela’s Defense Minister Vladimir Padrino condemned the US military operation in Caracas on Saturday, calling it a “cowardly act” and declaring that the government would not bow to Washington’s pressure. “This invasion represents the biggest insult the country has ever faced,” Padrino said in a video message. He accused US forces of firing rockets from helicopters in densely populated urban areas. “We will not negotiate. We will not surrender. We will triumph,” he added. His remarks came after US President Donald Trump claimed responsibility for a large-scale strike and announced the capture of President Nicolas Maduro.
NN: Now the shit will hit the fan. The country will become a savage free for all. It will be years before any oil will come to market from Venezuela.
Michael Saylor has long noted that Bitcoin’s volatility “is a feature, not a bug” when pitching his cryptocurrency accumulator Strategy Inc. Investors will soon see the downside of that, with the company likely to report a multibillion-dollar loss when it releases results for the just-ended fourth quarter. That would be a swing from a $2.8 billion profit in the previous quarter, reflecting an unrealized loss tied to the falling value of the company’s roughly $60 billion Bitcoin stockpile. “There was this one-time pop, but that is a different story in this quarter,” said Aaron Jacob, an associate professor at Brigham Young University and senior adviser at Taxbit. “It is going to be a sizable loss.” Strategy initially adopted an accounting change in the first quarter that requires valuing the firm’s crypto holdings at market prices, which is why it is expected to book such a big hit: Bitcoin fell 24% during the fourth quarter. The multibillion loss still comes at a critical time for the dot-com-era software maker turned leveraged Bitcoin proxy. Investors have begun to sour on the treasury company model Strategy co-founder and chairman Saylor pioneered more than five years ago. After outperforming benchmark stock indexes since this shift, the common shares of the company formerly known as MicroStrategy tumbled 48% in 2025. The declining share price raised concern that Strategy would have to sell Bitcoin to meet future costs such as mounting dividends and interest payments since the cryptocurrency doesn’t produce any income and the software business generates little positive cash flow. To help alleviate those concerns, Strategy established a cash reserve on Dec. 1 by selling common shares. The Tysons Corner, Virginia-based company also updated its full-year earnings guidance at the start of last month, assuming a price range of between $85,000 and $110,000 for Bitcoin by year-end. (YEAR END WAS $87,568) Based on that estimate, it projected that operating income would range from a loss of $7 billion to a profit of $9.5 billion. With Bitcoin ending last year down 6.5% to $87,648, the operating loss is likely to be closer to the lower end of the projected range. (NB: LOSS IS OVER 7BILLION DOLLARS) A spokesperson for Strategy didn’t respond to a request for comment.
Saylor, who started purchasing Bitcoin as a hedge against inflation in 2020, isn’t alone in facing large losses in the wake of the fourth-quarter collapse in crypto prices. Earlier this year, a flurry of public companies adopted Strategy’s playbook to accumulate digital assets and woo investors that wanted leveraged crypto exposure through the stock market. Shares of companies such as the Thomas Lee-backed BitMine Immersion Technologies Inc. soared before tumbling during the digital-asset downturn. They are also subject to the same fair value accounting standards. “These unrealized gains and losses are being recognized contemporaneously with changes in market value,” said Bruce Pounder, executive director at accounting advisory firm GAAP Lab. “This is completely different from the prior rule, in which neither unrealized losses nor unrealized holding gains were recognized.” Saylor’s personal wealth also took a significant hit in 2025 amid the tumble in the price of Bitcoin and the shares of Strategy, dropping around 40% to about $3.8 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. In the meantime, Strategy faces another possible blow to investor confidence. The enterprise value of the company is on the verge of dropping below that of its Bitcoin stockpile for the first time in more than two years, underscoring the growing doubts about the sustainability of the corporate-treasury model. The company’s enterprise value — which includes indebtedness and the aggregate notional value of its perpetual preferred stock — was about $61 billion, data compiled by Strategy show. The shares have slumped almost 70% from the record high touched in November 2024, dragging the company’s mNAV — the ratio of its market capitalization and debt to its token holdings — to just above 1. The premium investors were willing to pay for the shares underpinned Saylor’s argument for adopting the Bitcoin buying strategy. Now that appears to be almost gone too as shareholders face a multibillion loss for the quarter.
NN: So Sad, Saylor represented to millions of investors bitcoin as a safe secure investment in the new world money order. In reality Bitcoin is a wild ass speculation wiping out people’s money that has no business being in wild ass speculations. I believe in wild ass speculation but not for core wealth. I repeat again Bitcoin is doomed
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) reported on Friday that it struck a training complex of Hezbollah’s Radwan forces in southern Lebanon. “As part of the terrorist training at the complex, the terrorists underwent shooting exercises and additional training in the use of weapons. Military structures that were used to store weapons for the activities of Hezbollah terrorist organizations throughout the recent period were also attacked,” the Israeli military stated. The IDF claimed that the activity in the training facility constituted a violation of the ceasefire agreement between Israel and Lebanon and represented a threat to Israel.
Jan 2 – U.S. President Donald Trump on Friday said that if Iran shoots and violently kills peaceful protesters, the United States of America will come to their rescue. “We are locked and loaded and ready to go,” he said in a Truth Social post. This follows the deaths of several people as Iran’s biggest protests in three years over economic hardship turned violent across multiple provinces. The clashes between protesters and security forces mark a significant escalation in the unrest that has spread across the country since shopkeepers began protesting on Sunday over the government’s handling of a sharp currency slide and rapidly rising prices. Iran’s economy has struggled for years since the U.S. reimposed sanctions in 2018, after Trump withdrew from an international nuclear agreement during his first term. United States President Donald Trump warned on Friday that his country is prepared to step in and protect Iranian protesters if their government starts shooting at them and killing them. The Iranian state-affiliated Fars News Agency previously reported that several people have already been killed in the protests that began earlier this week in the country’s capital city of Tehran, before spreading to other parts of Iran. The protesters called for a change in Iran’s leadership due to high living costs, following the Iranian currency, the rial, hitting its all-time low against the dollar.
NN: Things are getting interesting. The Ayatollah is going down before he slaughters thousands. And if he gests the bomb it will be millions.
KYIV, Dec 30 (Reuters) – Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Tuesday Kyiv was discussing with Washington a possible presence of U.S. troops in Ukraine as part of security guarantees, and also raised what he called a faked attack on Russian President Vladimir Putin’s residence. Zelenskiy told the media in a WhatsApp chat that Kyiv was committed to continuing talks on how to end the war triggered by Russia’s 2022 full-scale invasion and he was ready to meet Putin in any format. Make sense of the latest ESG trends affecting companies and governments with the Reuters Sustainable Switch newsletter. U.S. President Donald Trump said on Sunday he and Zelenskiy were “maybe very close” to an agreement to end the war although “thorny” territorial issues lingered. He was more cautious than Zelenskiy on security guarantees, but said they were 95% of the way to such an agreement and that he expected European countries to “take over a big part” of that effort with U.S. backing.
On Tuesday, Russia said its negotiating stance would toughen after it accused Kyiv of attacking one of Putin’s Russian presidential residences – an allegation that Kyiv said was baseless and intended to scuttle arduous peace talks.
ZELENSKIY KEEN ON US TROOPS IN UKRAINE
Zelenskiy said in his WhatsApp chat that a U.S. troop presence in Ukraine would be a major security boost for Kyiv.
“Of course, we are discussing this with President Trump and with representatives of the (Western) coalition (supporting Kyiv). We want this. We would like this. This would be a strong position of the security guarantees,” he said.
The White House had no comment on the issue of dispatching U.S. troops to Ukraine under any peace settlement with Russia. Zelenskiy said he was willing to meet Putin despite the deep lack of mutual trust he underlined on Monday. “I told President Trump, European leaders I am ready for any format of meeting with Putin. I am not afraid of any format … The main thing is for Russians not to be afraid.” Russia said on Monday Kyiv had targeted a presidential residence in the Novgorod region with 91 long-range attack drones, all of which it said it had intercepted. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov described the alleged attack as “state terrorism” and said Moscow had already identified targets for retaliatory strikes in Ukraine. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy listens to U.S. President Donald Trump, after Trump said that Russian President Vladimir Putin expressed willingness to help Ukraine “succeed”, during a press conference at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago club, in Palm Beach, Florida, U.S., December 28, 2025. “Ukraine and its partners are committed to a path of peace, while Russia has chosen to continue and intensify its war against Ukraine. This is in itself an act of defiance against President Trump’s peace agenda,” the source said. Amid the intensifying peace diplomacy, Russia launched more waves of drones against port infrastructure and civilian ships in Ukraine’s Odesa region on Tuesday, Ukrainian navy and government officials said. Odesa and the wider region nearby are home to the Black Sea ports that are crucial for Ukraine’s foreign trade and the survival of its wartime economy. In the past several months, maritime warfare between Ukraine and Russia has intensified. Both sides have attacked naval and commercial assets in the Black Sea and beyond. Ukraine is increasingly using its sea drones for attacks on ships connected to Russia’s sanctions-busting shadow fleet.
Trump warns Hamas of severe consequences if not disarmed
Trump suggests Iran may be restoring weapons programs at new sites
Turkey’s role in Gaza peacekeeping discussed amid strained relations
PALM BEACH, Florida, Dec 29 (Reuters) – U.S. President Donald Trump said on Monday the United States could support another major strike on Iran were it to resume rebuilding its ballistic missile or nuclear weapons programs and warned Hamas of severe consequences if it does not disarm. Speaking beside Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu following a meeting at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida, Trump suggested Tehran may be working to restore its weapons programs after a massive U.S. strike in June. “I’ve been reading that they’re building up weapons and other things, and if they are, they’re not using the sites we obliterated, but possibly different sites,” Trump told reporters during a press conference. “We know exactly where they’re going, what they’re doing, and I hope they’re not doing it because we don’t want to waste fuel on a B-2,” he added, referring to the bomber used in the earlier strike. “It’s a 37-hour trip both ways. I don’t want to waste a lot of fuel.” Trump, who has broached a potential nuclear deal with Tehran in recent months, said his talks with Netanyahu focused on advancing the fragile Gaza peace deal he brokered and addressing Israeli concerns over Iran and over Hezbollah in Lebanon. Iran, which fought a 12-day war with Israel in June, said last week that it had conducted missile exercises for the second time this month. Netanyahu said last week that Israel was not seeking a confrontation with Iran, but was aware of the reports, and said he would raise Tehran’s activities with Trump.
A SECOND PHASE IN GAZA?
Trump said he wanted to move to the second phase of the ceasefire deal between Israel and the Palestinian militant group Hamas reached in October after two years of fighting in Gaza, a progression that entails international peacekeeping forces deployed in the Palestinian enclave.
Israel and Hamas accuse each other of major breaches of the deal and look no closer to accepting the much more difficult steps envisaged for the next phase.
Hamas, which has refused to disarm, has been reasserting its control as Israeli troops remain entrenched in about half the territory.
Israel has indicated that if Hamas is not disarmed peacefully, it will resume military action to make it do so.
During his Monday comments, Trump heaped the blame on the militant group for not disarming more promptly, arguing that Israel had lived up to its side of the deal and warning that Hamas was inviting grave consequences.
“There will be hell to pay,” Trump warned when asked what he will do if Hamas does not lay down its arms. He has made similar statements at previous intervals during the fighting.
Netanyahu said this month that Trump had invited him for the talks, as Washington pushes to establish transitional governance for the Palestinian enclave amid Israeli reluctance to move forward.
The deployment of the international security force was mandated by a November 17 U.N. Security Council resolution. While Washington has brokered three ceasefires involving its longtime ally – between Israel and Hamas, Israel and Iran, and Israel and Lebanon – Netanyahu is wary of Israel’s foes rebuilding their forces after they were considerably weakened in multiple wars.
Overall, Trump’s comments suggested he remains firmly in Netanyahu’s camp, even as some aides have privately questioned the Israeli leader’s commitment to the Gaza ceasefire. His comments also suggested he is willing to risk additional hostilities related to Gaza and Iran, even as Trump has taken credit for resolving Israel’s wars in both places. Trump struck a warm tone as he greeted Netanyahu before their meeting, going so far as to say that Israeli President Isaac Herzog had told him he planned to pardon Netanyahu of corruption-related charges – a conversation Herzog’s office immediately denied took place. Netanyahu reciprocated, telling reporters after the meeting that he was gifting Trump the country’s Israel Prize, which he said has historically been reserved for Israelis.
NN: GAME ON! Any thought that these wars are over is pure fantasy. Oil is a screaming buy!
President Donald Trump said he made “a lot of progress” in talks with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy over a possible peace deal, but that it might take a few weeks to get it done.
Zelenskiy said the peace framework is “90% agreed” and that US-Ukraine security guarantees are “100% agreed”, but major sticking points remain, including the future of Ukraine’s Donbas region.
Trump said he would be willing to speak to Ukraine’s parliament or hold a trilateral meeting with Zelenskiy and Russian President Vladimir Putin, and that he aims to convene a meeting with Zelenskiy and European leaders in January. President Donald Trump said he made “a lot of progress” in talks with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy over a possible peace deal, but that it might take a few weeks to get it done and there’s no set timeline. The pair met at the US president’s Mar-a-Lago resort Sunday, where they had lunch and later spoke on the phone with a group of European leaders to brief them on their progress. The tone of their news conference after the meeting was warm, even as it became clear that Trump isn’t much closer to his goal of ending the war that began with Russia’s invasion in 2022. Among the major sticking points left to be resolved: the future of Ukraine’s Donbas region, which is partially occupied by Russian forces. Trump told reporters the issue was still unresolved, but “getting a lot closer.” Trump said he would be willing to speak to Ukraine’s parliament if that would help cement a deal. He also said he could envision a trilateral meeting with Zelenskiy and Russian President Vladimir Putin. “I see that happening, sure, at the right time,” he said. “We agree that security guarantees is a key milestone in achieving lasting peace, and our teams will continue working on all aspects,” Zelenskiy said. Trump said Europe would take over a big part of the security guarantees for Ukraine. Putin has continued to press his demands, including for Ukraine to cede territories in the country’s east that Moscow’s troops have failed to capture in Europe’s deadliest conflict since World War II. That’s even as more than 1.1 million Russian troops have been killed and wounded by Western estimates since Putin ordered the full-scale invasion that’s nearing its fifth year, and Russia’s economy faces increasing strain from unprecedented sanctions. On Saturday, Moscow launched a massive airstrike involving more than 500 drones and 40 missiles targeting Kyiv and the country’s key energy facilities — a day after a Russian official accused Ukraine and its European allies of seeking to sabotage an agreement. “Russians are pursuing a campaign built on instilling exhaustion, cold, and fear,” Ukraine Prime Minister Yuliia Svyrydenko said on Telegram about the barrage, which killed one person and left about a third of Kyiv’s more than 3 million residents without heating. Russia wants Ukraine to give up a fortress belt of territory in the eastern Donetsk region that Moscow has failed to take by force. Zelenskiy rejects that demand though he has said he’s ready to agree to a demilitarized zone in the area provided Russia also pulled back its forces, something Moscow is unlikely to accept. Another key sticking point has been the fate of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, currently occupied by Russia. Zelenskiy said last week that Washington was pressing for the facility to be jointly owned by all three sides, while Ukraine is offering to share the plant only with the US.
NN: Another load of reality tv bullshit. Even the oil market manipulators are not buying into this. Oil is up another dollar as the market admits their will be no peace.
