The year had just started when fascist madman Donald Trump, president of the US, accelerated the imperialist war machine. On January 3, it simultaneously bombed Caracas, the capital city of Venezuela, and other neighboring regions, and launched a military operation to abduct President Nicolas Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, to forcibly bring them to the US.

Trump weaved various accusations against Maduro, such as the imagined “drug cartel” that he allegedly leads, to justify the blatant illegal operation. However, the whole world knows the real reason: Venezuela’s oil, which Trump covets and claims as “theirs.” Trump admitted later, “We will run Venezuela and control its oil.”

The imperialist attack on a country defending its sovereignty is a brazen armed aggression for plunder. After abducting President Maduro, Trump is now threatening his successor, Delcy Rodriguez, to force her to comply with his dictates. The Venezuelan people are now united in rising up and resisting. In the streets, they shout in unison, “Give us back Maduro!”

Many countries have widely condemned the US attack for violating international laws and the UN charter. Even US allies and fellow imperialists have expressed “concern,” but they choose to stand idly by. There are also US-backed groups that are “worried” about US aggression, but they remain silent and tacitly approve of the US kidnapping of anti-imperialist Maduro.

The US military aggression against Venezuela is not the first, and will certainly not be the last, trampling of sovereign nations around the world. Since the end of World War II, the US has invaded, occupied, intervened, assassinated leaders, staged coups, installed and supported US-backed fascist dictatorships in at least 30 countries, mostly in Latin America, as well as in Asia, including the Middle East. The US is also currently threatening Iran, which, like Venezuela, is rich in oil and has chosen to nationalize it. The fascist madman is also threatening Mexico, Canada and Greenland.

Under Trump’s newly signed National Security Strategy (NSS), it declared its intention to make the US military “the most powerful and most lethal.” Trump announced plans to reestablish dominance in Latin America, which they consider “our backyard”. This is a threat against Cuba, Colombia, Brazil, and other countries that promote their right to self-determination.

The brazen US aggression against Venezuela is a new level of escalation of US fascist terrorism, in the face of intensifying imperialist contradictions. The fascist Trump has shown that there is no law that can stop his insanity. The US rivals and allies are increasingly worried that the US will use Venezuela’s oil as a political and economic weapon against them, in the form of influencing global supply and prices.

Led by the US, global military spending is increasing. Imperialist Japan has entered a new level of militarization with an unprecedented level of military production. Military spending by imperialist countries in Europe is also increasing. Although US allies in NATO, France and Germany oppose the US-backed agreement with Ukraine, as it gives the US excessive control over the country’s resources, to the disadvantage of European imperialists.

The deepening crisis of imperialism is marked by the intensifying struggle of major powers for sources of cheap raw materials and dumping ground for surplus capital in the form of loans and investments. Territorial disputes are the reason for the escalating wars around the world, from the US proxy war in Ukraine against Russia, the US and Zionist Israel’s crushing of Gaza, the imperialist siege of Syria, the US bombing of Yemen and Somalia, and the US rivalry with China in the South China Sea.

In this context, the heightening presence of US military forces in the Philippines, the proliferation of US military bases across the country, the deployment of heavy weapons, the constant patrol of US naval forces in the country’s waters, the non-stop military exercises, and provocations in Taiwan can be fully understood. The US has established Task Force Philippines to tighten its control over the Armed Forces of the Philippines and solidify the main pillar of its rule in the Philippines. Over the next five years, the US plans to provide up to $2.5 billion in military aid until 2030.

All of these have nothing to do with “upholding the rule of law” or “freedom of navigation” in the seas. After the US showed its disregard for international law in Venezuela, only the foolish and blind followers of the US (the AFP, Marcos, and groups like Akbayan) would applaud the US for acting like the global police in the South China Sea.

Even more, US military presence have nothing to do with the claims of defending the Philippines’ freedom. On the contrary, the increasing presence of American soldiers and other foreign troops in the Philippines is the greatest trampling of the country’s sovereignty. Not only is the US using the country for its imperialist interests, it is also dragging the Philippines into a war that is against the interests of the people. It is strengthening the AFP to serve as its tool in suppressing the people’s resistance.

In the face of intensifying imperialist conflicts, military aggression, fascism, and war-mongering by US imperialism, the Filipino people must intensify their struggle for genuine freedom and democracy. At the same time, they must unite with the broadest ranks of people around the world to resist the global advance of war and fascism.