At night, when noise fades, geopolitics becomes easier to understand. Venezuela holds the largest proven oil reserves on Earth - approximately 303 billion barrels of crude oil. At current prices, that represents tens of trillions of dollars in potential value. Yet paradoxically, Venezuela today is not a symbol of wealth, but of collapse. Why?
Oil is never just oil
Since the 1970s, oil has been inseparable from the U.S. dollar. After the collapse of the gold standard, the United States reached a strategic agreement with Saudi Arabia: global oil trade would be priced in U.S. dollars. In return, the U.S. guaranteed security and stability in the region.
This system - known as the petrodollar - created constant global demand for dollars and allowed the United States to finance budget deficits, project power, and stabilize its currency, sharing dollar’s inflation world wide. Give me control of a nation’s money, and I care not who makes its laws” — Mayer Amschel Rothschild © For decades, it worked.
A quiet challenge to the dollar
Today, the world is changing. China, russia, and several BRICS nations are actively exploring:
Bilateral trade in local currencies
Gold-backed settlement mechanisms
Alternative payment systems like CIPS
These initiatives are not yet capable of replacing SWIFT or the dollar, but they represent something more important: intent (they dared to challenge the lion). History shows that reserve currencies do not collapse overnight - they erode slowly (sometimes for decades, sometimes for centuries).
Venezuela: a strategic tragedy
In the 1990s, Venezuela was one of the wealthiest countries in Latin America. Today, it is a case study in how resource abundance combined with poor governance and corruption can destroy a nation. Before sanctions and mismanagement: over 90% of state revenue came from oil. The economy was dangerously dependent on a single commodity. What followed was:
Regime and corruption
Hyperinflation & currency failure
Collapse of infrastructure
Collapse of law & justice system
Mass emigration
Poverty, hunger and human suffering on a massive scale
This was not caused by war or foreign invasion - but by systemic internal failure amplified by global politics.
Strategic objectives in the Caribbean region
Should the U.S. pursue a more aggressive stance in the region, the objectives would extend far beyond the oil pumps. A stabilized, U.S.-aligned Venezuela would provide several strategic advantages:
Energy security: fueling the "New Economy". From AI data centers and quantum computing to EV infrastructure and space exploration.
Geopolitical leverage: counteracting the influence of China and russia in the western Hemisphere.
Mineral wealth: gaining access to Venezuela’s significant deposits of gold, oil, gas, and rare earth metals.
Economic opportunity: allowing global markets and US hedge funds to reinvest in "undervalued" Venezuelan assets after years of hyperinflation, decay and recent “military operation”.
Ensuring petrodollar’s dominance.
The real battlefield today: energy, resources and influence. There will be no AI, datacenters, EV, quantum computing, space exploration, modern economy and warfare without oil, rare earth metals and gold.
Final thoughts
Despite being the wealthiest nation in South America during the 1990s, Venezuela has endured a decade-long humanitarian and economic collapse. The energy infrastructure is crumbling, and millions have fled the country due to poverty and political instability.
The modern theatre of war has changed. Traditional mass invasions are being replaced by "precision paralysis" - striking communications, radar, critical infrastructure and air defense to neutralize a regime before a shot is fired on the ground. However, military precision cannot fix an economy. It’s longer process.
Venezuela is a warning, an “indicator” that:
resources alone do not create prosperity
monetary systems are fragile
political ideology cannot replace economic reality
and human cost is always paid first
In silence of darkness, big whales move fast. When everyone is confused scared, disorientated or simply unprepared, they protect ideology, territory, spheres of influence, resources and flow of money. Quietly, they accumulate gold, stocks, real estate, crypto, and strategic assets… Do not fight the river. Follow its current, and one day you will find yourself in the ocean - moving among big whales. Move with them. Stay calm and divesrified. Think bigger.
At the end, one more question for you, my Dear Reader. Do you think we're going to have a new currency in the future? Worldwide currency? Currency based on gold, silver, rare earth metals... or maybe currency based on some energy units? Let me know in the comments section.
Sources:
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/jan/05/venezuela-mike-johnson-speaker-congress-briefing
apnews.com/article/85041a1ec03bafe839b785a95169d694
https://edition.cnn.com/2026/01/03/americas/venezuela-explosions-intl-hnk
www.reuters.com/world/us/live-trump-says-us-has-captured-venezuela-president-maduro-2026-01-03/
https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2026/01/03/venezuela-maduro-china-beijing-oil/
www.reuters.com/world/americas/loud-noises-heard-venezuela-capital-southern-area-without-electricity-2026-01-03/
www.nytimes.com/live/2026/01/03/world/trump-united-states-strikes-venezuela
Article created with help of AI
