Jan 19, 2026 : Written by 404EthanNotFound

9. War: At Home and Abroad

This new year has already presented its fair share of new challenges. Having started a new job at the end of 2025, I have not been able to give as much time as I would like to this site. That changes today. While it is good to return and try and make sense of our ever-evolving political climate, the recent developments involving U.S. foreign affairs and militaristic escalation here on American soil are outright five-alarm fires.

Regarding U.S. foreign affairs, the country is behaving outwardly belligerent if not hostile on several fronts. On January 2nd, the U.S. conducted Operation: Absolute Resolve and kidnapped sitting Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and his wife, who were subsequently brought to New York (https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/donald-trump/us-venezuela-strike-nicolas-maduro-captured-how-timeline-trump-rcna252041). This comes on the heels of multiple escalations of the U.S. targeting Venezuelan boats in International Waters. I covered these strikes on my ‘Fast-Paced News’ series when they started and my analysis has remained consistent. The U.S. is engaging in state-sponsored murder.

I have often written about accountability and who in society are required to answer for their actions. It only takes someone with two eyes to see how the levers of power bend to shield the public from the contents of the Epstein files. Meanwhile, immigrant and minority populations have borne the brunt of every authoritarian power grab because those in power always need a villain to blame for the shortcomings of their leadership. When viewing the world through this lens, it becomes abundantly obvious why policing in this country is structured to sustain systemic racism and why those with affluence evade consequences so easily.

Over the past decade or two, International Law has been defanged to the maximum extent. While it would be splendid to put this squarely at the feet of President Trump and his ilk, I find the failing of Former President Obama to prosecute the Bush administration for the war in Iraq and the Biden administration’s complicity in the genocide in Palestine to have rolled out the red carpet for the Trump administration. When the boat strikes in Venezuela occurred, I spoke to the lack of evidence provided by the administration. Despite deploying the ‘narco-terrorist’ phrase at every juncture, there was not a shred of evidence that 1.) these vessels were headed to the United States, or 2.) that these vessels carried any illicit drugs at all. Fundamentally, even if I were to stipulate that the Trump administration is spot-on in their analysis (which I do not) and each Venezuelan vessel was carrying drugs with homing missiles to kill Americans, that does not give the President of the United States the blanket authority to kill these people in international waters. Why not just commandeer the vessels when they approach the American coast? Because these boats were not headed to American shores. Why send a second-strike (a double-tap) to kill survivors (https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/czdq1ple2l4o) violating International Law? Because survivors may return to shore and have evidence that upends the narrative set by the administration that each boat targeted was running drugs.

The kidnapping of Maduro showcases a longstanding U.S. policy position that ‘might equals right’. Despite how you may feel about the Venezuelan government, I encourage you to envision a different world. Many people both in the U.S. and abroad despise Donald Trump. Would you be singing the praises of China or Russia if they conducted an operation where their military forces kidnapped President Trump? I am guessing not. Especially if 100 Americans were killed in the operation (as was the case in Venezuela), no one could justify that this action occurred especially on the whims of ‘disagreement’ with the regime.

Plenty of people have celebrated the capture of Maduro, citing the long laundry list of human rights violations that the Venezuelan dictator has brought about (https://www.amnesty.org/en/location/americas/south-america/venezuela/report-venezuela/). I do not seek to make excuses for Maduro or the state of the Venezuelan government, but under no circumstances should action like we saw during Operation: Absolute Resolve or the boat strikes prior ever have been taken.

Most notably, the conversation has now shifted towards Venezuelan oil. Back in the day, the highest levels of government would have an excuse as to why it was moral to invade and critical that we do so. Nowadays, the Trump administration is simply either too incompetent or too lazy and multiple high-ranking officials have outright stated this campaign has been to capture and control Venezuelan oil reserves.

Notably, if the capture of these oil reserves benefits anyone, it is the oil companies and their bottom line. Unless you are a C-suite oil company executive, this foreign intervention did not make you as an American safer, nor did it improve your material conditions. This was all a stunt to gain control of resources, as the new installed leader in Venezuela was just the vice-president serving under Maduro. Even in Fox News’ eyes, nothing fundamentally has changed. (https://www.foxnews.com/world/venezuelas-new-interim-leader-delcy-rodriguez-hates-west-former-official-warns).

The United States is increasingly leaning on military might as a tool to achieve its ends. Look no further than threats the President has made against Greenland to see how the concept of ‘national security’ is flaunted around in order to achieve imperialist designs. The complete dismemberment of consequences from International Law has allowed these actions to escalate. I encourage folks when looking at future politicians to seek out their positions on holding those who have broken U.S. and International Law accountable. If they try and sweep past grievances under the rug (the Obama strategy) in the name of bipartisanship, be wary of them.

In my professional career, I have had to engage with law enforcement personnel very closely. I have spent time abroad while pursuing my degrees working with police services in the U.K. I have been around the block. By my assessment, the problems with policing are systemic rather than based around individuals. The idea that everything wrong with policing falls on a few ‘bad apples’ is absurd to me. While there are kind and responsible people who serve in law enforcement roles, the issues as I have said are systemic, not determined by personal qualities. It is important as law enforcement officers to understand these dynamics and seek to change them rather than taking an attitude that the antidote is more ‘good’ cops. The problems with policing revolve around 1.) the roles we ask police to fill to which they are unqualified 2.) the lack of police accountability for wrongdoing 3.) the lack of material benefits afforded to low-income populations and communities which create a positive feedback loop of interactions with police. These factors affect policing across the nation, but their final form is on full showcase with the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (I.C.E.).

Escalations from I.C.E. showcase the depravity in our society. Over the past year, I.C.E. agents have been abducting people off the streets, have injured countless peaceful demonstrators, and are responsible for the deaths of at least 32 people in custody last year, (https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/ng-interactive/2026/jan/04/ice-2025-deaths-timeline) the deadliest year since 2004. While a great deal of people were already standing firmly against I.C.E., for some, it took the death of Renee Good, a 37-year-old white American citizen mom, for them to understand that no one is safe from I.C.E.

Plenty of Americans are flocking to the streets to protest. Plenty of Americans have doubled and tripled down that Renee Good was some sort of domestic terrorist. Even if you believe in your heart that Renee Good had malintent for the I.C.E. agents on that day (which is utterly ridiculous), the way that the agents handled the situation was reckless at best and incompetent at worst. I.C.E. agents are prohibited from firing at moving vehicles unless certain exigent circumstances exist. Regardless of if you believe those exigent circumstances existed (which I do not believe), I would suggest that I.C.E. agents are acting as instigators in order to encourage acts of resistance. The right-wing media pipeline then amplifies any acts of protest and resistance as unjustifiable crimes while minimizing the actions of I.C.E. as just people doing their jobs and following orders. Where have I heard that before? Understand that this is state-sponsored violence. These goons do not belong in our society, let alone our communities. While I hope that the violence will end, I fear that further escalation is more likely just beyond the horizon.

                We should be fighting for a future where immigrants can come to this country and receive their citizenship easily regardless of factors like the color of their skin. We should be fighting for a future where America flexes its soft power in order to improve the living conditions of those here in the States and those abroad rather than asserting imperialist dominance. We should be fighting for a future where we are no longer complicit in atrocities around the globe.

Today we celebrate MLK Day. Studying Dr. King’s legacy and writings makes it all too clear to me how far U.S. society has fallen. While many have only studied the American civil rights movement and Dr. King’s involvement with it, by reading his works we can see that his vision for America reached far beyond what we do at home. Dr. King was an outspoken advocate against war and military intervention. He saw how the capitalist system has failed so many of us. The quote I began this piece with is from Dr. King’s famous “Letter from a Birmingham Jail” which I encourage everyone to read and grapple with in today’s context. (https://www.africa.upenn.edu/Articles_Gen/Letter_Birmingham.html)

It is important to see others as humans. Even though we are all fallible, ignorant to the systems at play to one extent or another, and all wanting to believe we know best, we are all human. When anyone has their humanity diminished, it justifies the unjustifiable violence inflicted upon them. Whether that be a Venezuelan in a fishing vessel, or a U.S. immigrant who was abducted by I.C.E. on the way to their immigration hearing, these are people. Not animals. Treat them as people. I have seen the outpouring of community organizing in the wake of recent events. Community is the answer and seeing others as human beings is the first step down that path.