World

A clean operation can remove a dictator, but it cannot erase the precedent that the United States is willing to decide, by force, who gets to lead.

If Washington starts talking like it can “govern” Venezuela from across an ocean, it stops sounding like a partner in democracy and starts sounding like the kind of power that mistakes a crisis for an invitation.

Trump warns drug states as Venezuela shifts and global tensions rise. Here’s your Monday morning brief for January 5, 2026.

Maduro remains in U.S. custody as Venezuelans celebrate and stabilization plans take shape, RAF Typhoons struck an ISIS weapons cache in Syria, Wagner continues fueling Sudan’s RSF proxy war, and gunmen killed at least 30 in a raid in Nigeria.

Delta Force with DEVGRU support removed Nicolás Maduro as the U.S. moves toward prosecution and a short stabilization plan, Iran threatened U.S. forces after Trump warned Tehran over killing protesters, and Russia claimed Huliaipole while Ukraine and independent mappers describe a heavily contested gray zone in Zaporizhzhia.

Reports indicate Delta Force with DEVGRU support captured Nicolás Maduro in a pre-dawn raid as U.S. airstrikes sank narco-trafficking boats and the Coast Guard searched for survivors, while off-duty NYPD officers saved choking infants in separate life-saving rescues.

Jordan Goudreau’s leap from decorated Green Beret to rogue mercenary plotting a failed coup in Venezuela underscores the perilous mix of hubris, ambition, and the shadowy world of private military operations.

Caracas did not wake up so much as it got yanked out of bed by a fistful of explosions, and by sunrise Maduro and Flores were gone, hauled out on a Delta Force rumor trail that the White House has not bothered to pin down while the rest of the country stares into the smoke and waits to see what comes next.

Explosions hit Caracas amid claims of a major U.S. operation and possible SOF involvement, DPAA identified 231 missing Americans in FY25, the FBI seized a $40 million motorcycle hoard tied to a wanted trafficker, and Iraq says it no longer needs Coalition forces as Ain al-Asad is handed over.

US intensifies drug-war strikes, Yemen allies clash, and Ukraine reshapes its leadership. Here’s what’s making headlines this Friday evening.

Many people believe what they wish to believe, and when that impulse hardens into political identity, facts and truth become disposable while anything that flatters “their values” becomes sacred.

Iran unrest, Swiss bar fire, global tensions shape the first days of 2026. Here’s your Friday morning brief for January 2nd, 2026.