'America is either out of control or in control and at this point, it's hard to tell which,' says Neil Oliver

Now, Trump sent his soldiers to take control of Venezuela and arrest President Maduro and his wife, and fly them to New York for trial in relation to charges including narco-terrorism.

Headlines around the world quote Trump saying he will now run Venezuela, although the practicalities of that claim probably bear closer attention to the details. But the US corporations are already in the country too. And I quote Trump again: “Make money.”

Hedge fund managers and the rest of those to whom Trump is beholden have been quick to congratulate him on his actions.

He said it before, and he’s saying it again now: that Greenland should belong to America. Greenland is Danish territory on paper, anyway. Denmark has supported everything the US has ever done around the world. Denmark is a Nato country, and theoretically its sovereignty ought to be assured by Nato. But whether a detail like that matters remains to be seen.

Plans do seem to be progressing for an American technique stretching from Tierra del Fuego to the Arctic. As I say, America is either out of control or in control. Time will tell.

But if the aftermath of US-led regime change in Iraq and Libya and Somalia and Sudan and Lebanon and Syria are anything to go by, the chances of things working out happily for ordinary people living in Venezuela are slim.

One thing is certain, and that’s more dead brown babies and children, obviously. But experience suggests they are the means justified by the ends. Always dead brown babies evidently matter to no one but brown mums and dads.

But conveniently, many of the mums and dads usually end up dead too. Interestingly, in Venezuela, the dead babies will be Christian instead of Muslim. Another detail.

Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, has a well-developed plan for a super-duper, AI-driven, high-end luxury smart city to replace what used to be Gaza. I read somewhere there’s nearly 70 million tons of rubble to clear before the building gets underway. And that’s rubble full of the powdered bones of more of those dead brown babies and their mums and dads that we apparently don’t care about.

But once the shiny towers of steel and glass are up and running, and the billionaires have replaced those who used to live there, I’m sure the wounds will scab and heal as fast as the internet connection in the hotel suites overlooking the Mediterranean Sea. Personally, I would find it quite a thought to live on top of all that recent slaughter. But to each his own.

Somalia is in the US crosshairs again.

Apparently, all that fraud being committed by Somalian immigrants in the US is sending billions of dollars to Somalian terrorist group al-Shabab. So obviously they will need to be taught another lesson.

I read, too, that the pesky Gazans that aren’t dead yet might be relocated to part of Somalia. But for God’s sake, don’t anyone connect any dots.

Overall, it does feel like the pre-financial-disaster supermarket sweep by the money power running the world is in its closing stages. Is it me, or does it feel like the world is being divided into three big slices of pizza: an American bit, a Russian bit and a Chinese bit?

The US having annexed Venezuela because it wants to, and allegedly because that makes America feel safer and more lawful. Then, presumably, China’s long-held ambitions about Taiwan must soon come closer to satisfaction.

It is all a depressing enough start to a new year, but I would say it’s made that little bit worse by the addition of insult to injury, which is to see the way America is still insisting it’s the good guy still the good guy. After all these years, and around 100 regime changes and bloody, futile wars and dead babies black, white and brown.

The insult to injury is the bit where we are treated like we are irredeemably stupid. As if we want to be lied to, as long as the lie might make us feel better about ourselves and the places where we live, if only temporarily.

We’re still supposed to be furious about Putin’s invasion of a sovereign state, after two million dead there in Ukraine. But while we’re furious about that invasion of that sovereign state, we’re supposed to applaud Trump’s sign-off on the, well, invasion of the sovereign state of Venezuela and never mind Greenland.

At this point, I should say again, I’m late to the party. I spent years cheerfully assuming that, on account of being born British, I was somehow among the goodies of the world, along with those of much of Europe and, of course, America. It is only recently that I’ve paid enough attention to see what has actually been going on for decades, if not centuries.

I have said this, and I keep saying it, but even so, whenever I put my head up and talk now, I get shouted at for not having known all along, not having known it from birth. Really. Among those who knew it all longer than me or those who, if they were teachers, would tell their pupils they were stupid if they put their hands up and said they needed more help understanding something.

It truly is hard to know what to do once you see the truth. Do you keep your mouth shut on account of the shame of not having realised soon enough? Or do you speak as you find? I’m going with the latter.

And when I speak out, I have to say I’m sick and tired already of the way the crimes are still sold to us, not as crimes, but as some sort of justice. What I’m seeing at the start of another year is that those committing crime on the global stage, in plain view, could at least settle for the straightforward, honest transaction instead. Crime pays.

We get that the world turns on money oil, gold, silver, lithium, cobalt and the rest. We get that. And when you’re big enough and have enough guns and money, you can do what you want. You can do what you want to get your hands on the oil and gold and the rest.

So maybe just get on with it and be on your way, without pretending it’s about peace and whatever it is they mean when they talk about the international rules-based order.

Rape is bad enough without demanding the witnesses to the crime join the rapist in saying it was an act of love. Robbery is theft with violence. But you might go so far as to say there’s an honesty, a straightforward transaction, if the man with the gun acknowledges he wanted something and so took it by force.

As 2026 gets underway, the early signs do seem to be that the days of pretence are coming to an end. The system is collapsing all around, and those who plan to stay rich and powerful are grabbing whatever they can.

Free speech has had its day here in Britain. Trial by jury is on the road out, and Justice Secretary David Lammy has actually said his decision to scrap the centuries-old right to trial by jury is on account of his Christian faith. God votes Labour. Who knew?

Beware of false prophets, for they shall make money in my name, with or without honesty.

The reality is absolutely obvious anyway. The playbook is in all our hands. Social media is full of clips purporting to show people on the streets of Venezuela celebrating Maduro’s fall, and on the streets and cities in Iran demanding the fall of the Islamic Republic. It’s all so worn out — the war propaganda that’s supposed to have us calling for the heads of dictators.

Now we see it’s just other dictators calling for the heads of other dictators. Trump put the National Guard on the streets of American cities, making plain the wrong kind of protest might attract lethal attention. And in the next breath, he declares that if any Iranian is hurt while protesting against the Islamic Republic, he will intervene with force to protect them.

In what reality does this kind of double talk make sense?

As I say, at the very least, let’s all be honest with each other. If might is right and the powerful do as they want, when they want, then I say get on with it and be on your way.

But as we learned in The Outlaw Josey Wales, don’t pee down my back and tell me it’s raining.