#2 - From Monroe to Maduro: The 200-Year Backyard Battle

China's Brilliant Play

China's strategy was beautifully simple: "We don't care who you are or what you do. We just want to do business."

The Chinese offer to Venezuela:

• Tens of billions in loans (oil-backed, of course)
• Infrastructure projects (ports, power plants, 5G networks)
• No annoying questions about democracy or transparency
• Friendship with no strings attached (well, except owing us billions)

For Maduro's regime, this was a lifeline. American sanctions? No problem—China's got our back. It's the geopolitical version of finding a new best friend who buys you lunch every day.

2025: Trump Notices the New Neighbor

Now Trump looks at his backyard and sees China building a swimming pool. The calculation is visceral:

1. The audacity: "China in my hemisphere? Monroe is rolling in his grave!"
2. The resources: Venezuela has more oil than Saudi Arabia
3. The domino effect: If Venezuela goes, is the Panama Canal next?
4. The politics: Millions of refugees at the border make great campaign footage

It's personal, it's strategic, and it's very much about that 200-year-old doctrine.

The Delicious Ironies

Irony #1: America now champions "democracy restoration" in Venezuela. The same America that spent the Cold War overthrowing democratically elected governments. Character development?

Irony #2: Venezuela sits on the world's largest oil reserves, yet its people can't afford bread. The resource curse in its purest form.

Irony #3: China is using America's old economic penetration playbook—just without the military coups. Sometimes the student surpasses the master.

Who's Right?

For intervention: Maduro is a dictator, people are starving, democracy is dead, Chinese influence must be checked.

Against intervention: Sovereignty matters, America's track record is disastrous (see: Iraq, Libya), "democracy promotion" often means "resource extraction."