Bhubaneswar: US President Donald Trump’s recent action in Venezuela and Greenland pitch have made the world sit up and watch. Indians living abroad are closely watching these developments.“Acquiring Greenland would strengthen US military positioning in the Arctic. Economically, Greenland’s rare earth resources represent long-term strategic value. Domestically, the initiative may also have been intended to project strong leadership while boosting approval ahead of the 2026 senate elections, particularly in states where Republican incumbents are retiring and Trump’s approval ratings are weak,” said Gayatri Panigrahi from the UK. “But this strategy miscalculated Europe’s unified resistance, causing the initiative to backfire politically rather than strengthen US standing,” she said.
If Greenland is where Trump had to go on the backfoot, a few weeks ago he just didn’t bat an eyelid before the US military captured Venezuelan president Nicolás Maduro, following a successful overnight joint US military operation in Caracas. “Multiple US presidents have kept Maduro in their crosshairs to remove him as Venezuela has been close to Russia. US doesn’t want another Russian ally in their backyard like Cuba,” said Som Mohanty from Boston. “That’s the reason the US always supported the opposition leaders in Venezuela to change the government democratically. But it never happened,” he added.Odias feel that the oil factor was also there as more cheap oil procurement from Venezuela would lead to less gas price for people in the US. Venezuela was selling oil to China at undercut prices. “The US economy has historically depended on the petro-dollar system, where global oil trade is denominated in US dollars. Venezuela’s decision to supply oil to China in yuan directly undermined the petro-dollar framework. From this perspective, US pressure and attempts at regime change in Venezuela can be seen as part of a broader effort to protect dollar dominance,” said Panigrahi.At the same time, Trump is not engaging in long wars like the US had done in Iraq and Vietnam keeping his election promise. Some Indians feel that some of these moves may serve domestic political goals, particularly projecting strength to voters. “It’s crystal clear that Trump wants to ‘Make America Great Again’ (MAGA),” said Ravi Shankar from Dallas, Texas.
