How serious is the possibility of the US invading South Africa, deposing the government, and then imposing a regime of their own as they are doing in Venezuela?
This is not an alarmist question or a sense of exaggerated importance of South Africa to the interests of the US. We have been on their radar since January last year like no other country of our size and significance.
Venezuela has been accused of narco-terrorism for allegedly orchestrating, at government level, wholesale export of drugs to the US. They have also been accused of “theft” of their own oil that apparently “belongs” to the US.
All credible analysis of the US accusations have dismissed the drug issue as the core reason, even though President Donald Trump has given that as the main reason for the attack on Venezuela. It has been pointed out that at the very best about 1% of the drugs smuggled into the US originate from Venezuela.
The main reason has to be the oil as the country has more than 300-billion barrels of reserves, the largest single deposit in the world. But that is not all. Venezuela has been part of a campaign to stop using US dollars as the means of payment for its oil. Its major customer, China, pays in its own currency, the yuan.
Venezuela has also been intending to join the growing Brics grouping that includes China, Russia, Brazil, India and us, plus about 14 other countries. One of Brics’s projects is the facilitation of payments using national currencies and not the dollar.
The narco-terrorism story is just like the white genocide accusation against us. It is fake and the real reason is the oil and Nicolas Maduro’s intent to join Brics
This process, known as de-dollarisation, threatens the very existence of the US economy as its strength lies in the forced use of its currency for virtually all international transactions. It does not matter where you would be travelling, if you have dollars you are good to go.
If Venezuela was to join Brics and strengthen the sale of oil in particular through other currencies, the fall of the dollar would be accelerated. Realising the threat, Trump in November 2024, before he took over for his second term, said; “We require a commitment from these countries that they will neither create a new Brics currency, nor back any other currency to replace the mighty US dollar or, they will face 100% tariffs, and should expect to say goodbye to selling into the wonderful US economy.”
So the narco-terrorism story is just like the white genocide accusation against us. It is fake and the real reason is the oil and President Nicolas Maduro’s intention to join Brics.
Which brings us to the question can what happened to Venzuela happen to us? We are in the top 10 list of enemies of America, with its leaders spending a disproportionate amount of time speaking negatively about us. Immigration rules have even been changed to accommodate white South Africans.
We are a key member of Brics and are the world’s largest producer of platinum, holding more than 80% of global reserves. Platinum is mainly used in the production of catalytic converters for vehicles, electronic hard drives, glass for LEDs, in fine jewellery and medicines, amongmany uses.
America’s automotive industry depends on SA’s supply of the metal and Trump wants a compliant SA state to ensure unfettered access.
On top of this, we have taken the “51st state” of the US, Israel, to the International Court of Justice (ICJ) for the mass killings of Palestinians and the destruction of virtually all their cities. Trump has been telling President Cyril Ramaphosa to withdraw the case to no avail.
The imposition of high tariffs, the cutting of aid and removal of special export arrangements such as Agoa, as some of these were done in Venezuela, have not yielded the desired outcome for Trump.
Nigeria woke up one day to find itself accused of waging a war against Christians, with threats to invade to save the Christians. That Boko Haram, and allied terror groups operating mainly in the Muslim north, have terrorised people of all faiths is an unnecessary detail Trump is not bothered about.
Nigeria, unlike South Afrika, has kowtowed to the master in DC, allowing Trump to move into the country and bomb certain areas. What was Nigeria, a proud and strong country, trying to avoid by allowing the shameful bombing of its own territory by another country?
Can we wake up one Saturday morning to find President Cyril Ramaphosa is on his way to stand trial in some city in the US for committing genocide against white people here?
South Africa, like Venezuela, has so far stood its ground, insisting principles are important, that international law should be observed by all, and that as a country and government, we do what is our own national interest.
In a world where the rule book for international engagements and co-existence has not only been thrown out but burnt at the stake in 1600 Pennyslvania Avenue in Washington DC, what calculations must South Afrika make, and what contingency measures can it take in the event the 150 aircrafts that descended on Caracas decide to make a sharp turn this way to deal with the “insolence”?
Can we wake up one Saturday morning to find Ramaphosa is on his way to stand trial in some city in the US for committing genocide against white people here?
Serious international players such as Russia and China, have so far merely gone as far as condemning the invasion of Venezuela and abduction of Maduro, but no-one wants to be the one to face Trump head on physically to say bullying is not allowed.
In the circumstances, would the Nigeria option be the only viable one? In other words, withdraw from Brics, abandon all policies such as BEE and and restitution that are directed at the redress of centuries of colonialism? Withdraw the ICJ case and cease expressing support for the Palestinians?
if that is deemed insufficient, start a process where every day you look to Washington for directions about what to say and do? Would we be a country if we did that? Maduro was faced with this conundrum as the battle ships surrounded his country and boats were bombed at will killing his citizens.
For him, there was no way he could allow the US to take over the resources of his people. It looks like that is the only rational way, even for us.
TimesLIVE
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