OUTRAGE: Protesters hold signs calling for the release of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro outside Manhattan Federal Court before his arraignment in New York, on Monday January 5When Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022, Western outrage was absolute. Yet today, the tone is markedly more subdued regarding US aggression against Venezuela. The manner in which the media and politicians frame this invasion exposes a profound ideological double standard, writes MARC VANDEPITTE
… During the invasion of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelensky was immediately crowned the ultimate champion of democracy. Pre-war criticisms of his policies were airbrushed from the Western press as if they had never existed.
It became taboo to mention the banning of opposition parties or the relentless war in the Donbass, which claimed 14,000 lives between 2014 and 2022. The tragedy in Odessa, where some 40 trade unionists were burned alive, did not fit the heroic narrative and was subsequently filtered out of the coverage.
In Venezuela’s case, the opposite is happening. Media attention is focused almost exclusively on how “evil” Maduro supposedly is.
Every report on the US invasion is accompanied by a litany of his alleged failures. The narrative relies entirely on interpretations and exaggerations regarding the lack of democracy under his rule.
The White House attempts to justify the abduction by linking Maduro to drug cartels. However, this argument holds no water: the primary cocaine routes run through Colombia and Ecuador. Yet the media frequently “forgets“ to mention this, thereby legitimising military aggression in the eyes of the public.
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Through this euphemistic framing and the constant demonisation of Maduro, a brutal military aggression is being de facto legitimised.
Following the double standards applied to Ukraine and Gaza, the West is losing its last shred of credibility with the global South. The “rules-based order” is being definitively unmasked as a selective instrument of power.
But there is more at stake. With this attack, Trump is testing the limits of his imperial ambitions. Because of Europe’s appallingly weak stance, Washington has received the signal that it can act with total impunity.
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