Carmel Cacopardo
The abduction of Nicolàs Maduro and his wife by US forces in Caracas is a worrying development. The official explanation is that Maduro is wanted to answer charges on narcotrafficking.
Addressing Venezuela’s democratic deficit does not feature in the objectives of the latest US adventure. It is pretty obvious that the real reasons for the Venezuelan adventure are economic: specifically, petrodollars. In his press conference at Mar-a-Lago, Trump switched to an oil mode almost immediately.
It is pertinent to recollect that Maduro, in line with other BRIC emerging markets was trading crude oil in currency other than the dollar. In the long term this creates great problems for the US economy. In addition, Cuba is dependent on Venezuelan oil. As a result of US control over Venezuelan oil production, this will now dry up leading to the possible collapse of Cuba in the very short term. Marco Rubio, US Secretary of State and son of Cuban emigrees, hinted at all this during the Mar-a-Lago press conference.
The US incursion into Venezuela is also a resurfacing of the US geopolitical strategy seeking to strengthen its sphere of influence. The US will not tolerate any form of unfriendly regime in its backyard. The Panama Canal issue, the proposal for Canada to be absorbed as the 51st US state, and the emphasis on the annexation of Greenland, in the interest of US national security, all point in this direction.
This is the essential background to this week’s international developments. They have a direct bearing on Malta’s international standing as a neutral state.
Malta’s constitutional neutrality was thrown to the wind with Malta’s tacit approval to make use of EU funds to sustain Ukraine’s defence. Insisting that this responsibility should have been shouldered by NATO directly would have been the more appropriate course of action.
Some point out that when Parliament in Malta voted in favour of an associate member status for Malta in NATO’s Parliamentary Assembly, the die was already cast. Notwithstanding the sugary language used, Malta’s Constitutional neutrality has been compromised.
On the morrow of the dissolution of the Soviet Union, independent Ukraine inherited 130 intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs), part of the Soviet arsenal, which missiles were then deployed on Ukraine soil. Ukraine renounced nuclear armaments in 1991 and subsequently agreed to transfer these ICBMs to Russia in order that they be dismantled and destroyed. In 1994, in a memorandum signed by the leaders of Ukraine, Russia, the United Kingdom and the United States of America, Ukraine was provided with security guarantees in view of its accession to the treaty on the non-proliferation of nuclear weapons.
Where are these guarantees now, given that Ukraine has been invaded by one of the signatory states? Are international instruments worth the paper they are written on? It is obvious they never were.
The Danish Prime Minister has once more taken Donald Trump to task on his declarations relative to Greenland’s annexation. The United States needs Greenland for its national security, emphasised Trump. Mette Frederisen, Danish Premier emphasised that a US attack on Greenland would mean the end of NATO. The US, however, does not need to attack. It already has a presence in Greenland, in its Pituffik base, which already has a significant role in the defense of the Arctic. A 1951 US-Danish agreement renewed in 2004 already allows the US to operate and extend military bases in Greenland, currently manned by approximately 500 personnel stationed there.
Greenland is strategically located. It has significant and largely untapped mineral resources, in particular rare earth minerals, deemed essential in the current technological drive.
The current state of affairs could develop in different directions. The lukewarm support of the US for the Ukrainian cause is quite clear. Trump has been more than clear that European security is not his priority. Russia has taken considerable advantage of this.
On the other front, in Asia, the Taiwan issue is ever pending. The regular maneuvers and drills which China holds around Taiwan, are a clear indication of what lies in store, possibly in the not-too-distant future.
It is clear that the major powers are expanding their breathing space and stretching their elbow room. The US in the American continent, Russia to deal with its suffocation by neighbouring NATO states and China in order to settle its long-standing Taiwan problem.
In the developing scenario Malta would do well to query with its neighbours as to the Russian military bases in Libya. These have increased in importance in view of the uncertain future of the Tartus military base, which Russia has in Syria, along its Mediterranean coast.
The Maltese Parliament took just 69 seconds to decide on its associate membership of the NATO Parliamentary Assembly. It requires much more to analyse the evolving international scenario. In these circumstances, Parliament would be guilty of a dereliction of duty if it does not seek clear answers which make sense of Malta’s Constitutional neutrality today.
Carmel Cacopardo is ADPD-The Green Party’s Deputy Chairperson
first published in The Malta Independent on Sunday: 11 January 2026
