By Saeed Naqvi

Copyright deccanchronicle

President James Monroe must have turned in his grave as the Monroe Doctrine, named after him, is desecrated by outside powers China and Russia. They are standing foursquare behind Venezuela’s strongman Nicolas Maduro, as the US is embarked, for the umpteenth time, on an audacious regime change plan in Caracas. The Monroe Doctrine was to keep outside powers from what the US considers its backyard.Prof. Jeffery Sachs of Columbia describes the tension around Venezuela as a “turning point in international affairs that will reverberate through Washington, Latin America and indeed across the global stage”.“Caracas has opened its doors to Beijing, Moscow and New Delhi, finding in them not just as buyers of oil but also shields against economic warfare.” The mention of New Delhi in his appraisal is intriguing.Four days ago, the US sank two Venezuelan ships for ferrying narcotics, a charge denied by Caracas. The CIA, Britain’s MI6 and Israel’s Mossad have, over decades, mastered regime change operations, but they hit a rock: they failed to dethrone Hugo Chavez and now his successor Nicolas Maduro.In desperation, they innovated. Instead of first removing Mr Maduro and then installing someone of their choice in Caracas, they tried a new formula: simply ignore Mr Maduro and anoint 41-year-old Juan Guaido as President recognised by Washington. By this amazing sleight of hand, an “authoritarian” leader was “replaced” by a “democratic” one.For years, Juan Guaido lived in safe houses in Caracas and Columbia, waited in corridors of power in Washington. Not for the first time, the world’s most powerful nation ignored the elementary lesson: there are limits to all power.Limits to power or not, Juan Guaido, his eye on the main chance, has a CV more impressive than it might have been before his presidential talents were noticed by Washington. Juan Guaido’s CV describes him as ex-President of Venezuela (2019-2023). You notice, he had bipartition support: he was the apple of Donald Trump’s eye as well as Joe Biden’s.Heaven knows where Mr Guaido is hiding, but no sooner had the democracy enthusiasts in Washington developed amnesia about the Guaido initiative, others were at work.Last year, Dutch foreign minister Caspar Veldkamp told Parliament that Venezuelan Opposition leader Edmundo Gonzales had sought refuge in the Dutch embassy in Caracas, another casualty of presidential aspirations stoked by Washington.President Trump’s national security adviser in his first term, John Bolton, had salivated on Venezuela, wanting a full-fledged invasion. His early secretary of state, Rex Tillerson, was another great votary of the Monroe Doctrine. Discussing the subject with officers in the state department, Donald Trump’s shifting stand on issues came up for mention. “The President”, he said, thumping the table, “is a moron”.How is President Trump likely to respond to the double-fisted punch China and Russia have landed on his chin. On the face of it, his style remains the same. Americans vacated Afghanistan, including the Bagram airbase. Mr Trump suddenly has a revived interest in Bagram. He wants the Taliban government to give it back to him. Otherwise, “very bad things will happen”, he said.The new warmth in friendship with Pakistan may well have an Afghan dimension. Who knows, unexplored rare earth deposits in Balochistan may be in focus, in addition to much else.Alliances splintering, new business vistas opening are all symptoms of a settled order mutating into something else.Among incidents of note in the recent past was Field Marshal Asim Munir’s lunch at the White House even though Donald Trump knew how this gesture would register with Narendra Modi. Soon, Pakistan was in global high profile again, having signed an agreement with Saudi Arabia. Riyadh possibly comes under Pakistan’s nuclear umbrella to meet the threat from Israel, while it seems an unlikely scenario.Tehran is unlikely to have sleepless nights on this score. Beijing has already arranged for Riyadh and Tehran to reduce hostile perceptions of each other.Events in Africa have for a long time indicated a shift in global equations. Burkina Faso’s Ibrahim Traore has struck a unique deal with Pakistan: a fleet of jets, tanks, naval equipment based on Chinese technology will be built in Burkina Faso. At the outset of the Ukraine war, France’s Emmanuel Macron was the most vocal on Russia: Europe must talk to Vladimir Putin. But as soon as Russian interests advanced in former French colonies, he lined up with the European consensus targeting Russia.Mr Macron was among the first to grasp the implications of not just the Ukraine war but of the Israel-Palestinian mega eruption. Russian troops moved into Ukraine in February 2022. In September that year, Mr Macron assembled his diplomats, the armed forces and top bureaucrats and showed them the writing on the wall as he saw it. “Over 400 years of Western domination of world affairs is coming to an end”, he cautioned.Prof. Grahame…