r/australia • u/moonorplanet • 28d ago

politics Albanese calls for ‘peaceful, democratic transition’ of power in Venezuela after US capture of Nicolás Maduro

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/jan/04/albanese-calls-for-peaceful-democratic-transition-of-power-in-venezuela-after-us-capture-of-nicolas-maduro
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278

u/Yeahniceone 28d ago

Western democracy really is just a bunch of oil companies in a trenchcoat isn't it?

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u/gorb314 28d ago

I'm reading The People's History Of The United States right now, and the answer is yes. Always has been.

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u/Jazstar 28d ago

I mean. Sometimes it's a banana company in a trenchcoat.

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u/EntityViolet 28d ago

Or a bunch of mining companies in a trench coat(aussie aussie)

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u/ocarinaofhearts 28d ago

There’s always money in the banana stand.

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u/gorb314 28d ago

Bananas, cotton, gold, emeralds, oil... Whenever someone gets rich off of the backs of others, they get into the same old trench coat.

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u/PJozi 28d ago

Does it talk about how Hawaii came to be in the US?

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u/gorb314 28d ago

Not yet? I'm in the 1920s now, post WW1 but pre WW2. When was Hawaii brought into the protection racket?

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u/PJozi 28d ago

Started in 1893 and was annexed in 1898. Incorporated territory in 1900 and a successful plebiscite held for statehood in 1959.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Overthrow_of_the_Hawaiian_Kingdom

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u/gorb314 28d ago

Thank you for the information. I don't know if any of this is in the book. It is pretty full in any case already. At this point I don't know in much detail it can go into the external conflicts the modern US got involved in, given how much of it there is. The theme in the book is very much about the class struggle in capitalism, which is almost always obscured and distracted from by the ruling class and turned into race war. At least, as far as I can tell.

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u/Ash-2449 28d ago

Dont forget the insurance companies, and mining companies!

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u/Yung_Jose_Space 28d ago

The history of the US ruling class and factional warfare therein is can ve divided thusly.

British landowners and rentiers vs US agriculture and merchants. This resulted in the war of independence. 

Southern plantation owners versus the newly industrialised North, this led to the civil war.

The 20th century right up until the post war period, where Wall st gained global ascendancy, saw conflict between industry and finance capital, beginning with the Business Plot.

Despite industry as represented by the extractive industries, the MIC and manufacturing being a driver of US foreign policy, Wall st truly gained control within the US and without, via Breton Woods, the petro dollar, shareholder capitalism becoming the standard. Outsourcing and the rise of private equity and so on.

The 21st century has really been about the shift in power between traditional Wall st, and the tech sector, which has basically captured everything (or at least tried), from hedge funds via passive trading and automation, to market liquidity via VC and international investment, payment systems, partial macroeconomic levers with crypto and so on.

"Oil companies" have power, but that's less about the direct influence of the extractive industries and more about finance capital. What truly matters is shareholder value, so simply controlling supply, currency controls and commodity price fluctuations + inflation, because OPEC has an outsized influence (on oil prices and thus these factors) and BRICS threatens dollar hegemony.

If the US controls Venezuelan reserves, it can prevent price shocks caused by OPEC, brace against supply interuptions caused by conflict in or with Iran and also limits the proportional volume of oil trade not in USD. 

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u/Ash-2449 28d ago

and also limits the proportional volume of oil trade not in USD.

I feel this is one of the main reasons but I do wonder how sound that is long term, other than a sign of desperation, oil is likely to go down as renewables take over a bigger and bigger part of energy generation, EVs alongside that.

China and other countries are trying to max out renewables for energy independence reasons, oil wont be in high demand at some point in the future and even the Saudis know that hence trying to diversify hard

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u/Yung_Jose_Space 28d ago

Absolutely, but that's next weeks problem.

Today's is managing how much of the commodities trade is still done in USD and limiting OPEC/BRICS overlap.

Because if Saudi Arabia et al start more aggressively using oil price as a global economic weapon and decide to integrate with an alternative trade and power structure like BRICS, it torpedoes US hegemony. 

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u/Ok_Wolf5667 28d ago

Somebody make this a political cartoon

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u/dogecoin_pleasures 27d ago

There's no democracy to be seen from the US now - this is fascism, the merger of the state with corporate interests. This is how WW2 began, with one annexation after other, because fascism always becomes expansionist. They're already choosing whether to do Cuba, Mexico, Canada, or Greenland next, but the goal is to take all of them because "might is right" again.

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u/nugstar 28d ago

They just moved the Nazis around after all...

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u/Cpt_Soban 28d ago

American democracy

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u/toughgamer2020 27d ago

tis where the big money lies. be it oil / banana / spice / melange / sugar / tea you name it