There's some speculation there that China is not ready and willing yet to take on the US in South America, and this move by the US has shown the rest of the continent that Xi is mostly talk.
But if the US gets entangled in Venezuela, and allows itself to get drawn into something with Israel and Iran, and the US is still making noise about Greenland, that's three expensive fronts that will sap money, power, and good will pretty damn quick. Any two of those three would make pivoting to defend Taiwan a heavy lift, or a hard choice of priorities.
And Putin is bound to be watching all of this with interest as well.
The US administration is making bold moves with some powerful pieces, but they run the risk of being forked if they don't take care with their support.
The Economist article:
https://www.economist.com/china/2026/01/05/americas-raid-on-venezuela-reveals-the-limits-of-chinas-reach?giftId=OTVmZjAzMmEtNzA0Zi00MzA0LTllZWYtNTQ5ODUxOGU4MWJh&utm_campaign=gifted_article
There's some speculation there that China is not ready and willing yet to take on the US in South America, and this move by the US has shown the rest of the continent that Xi is mostly talk.
But if the US gets entangled in Venezuela, and allows itself to get drawn into something with Israel and Iran, and the US is still making noise about Greenland, that's three expensive fronts that will sap money, power, and good will pretty damn quick. Any two of those three would make pivoting to defend Taiwan a heavy lift, or a hard choice of priorities.
And Putin is bound to be watching all of this with interest as well.
The US administration is making bold moves with some powerful pieces, but they run the risk of being forked if they don't take care with their support.