(Part 6)
The Madman Was Sane.
Operation Venezuela has an impact far beyond global diplomacy. It has rvealed many facets of security which we did not know before.
Power to Kill
Trump survived two assassination attempts, both covert operations targeting him personally. Yet he shows no hesitation ordering exactly that type of operation against another head of state. This isn’t hypocrisy. It’s clarity about power. He understands that stealth operations work, which is precisely why he uses them. The attempts on his life taught him the method’s effectiveness, not its immorality.
But the question is what Venezuela has to offer in a raid? Oil comes later first there are metals.
Gold
Venezuela’s official gold which is reported as part of its foreign reserves, are about 161 tonnes as of early 2024. This makes Venezuela one of the largest gold reserve holders in Latin America, though much smaller than major world holders like the United States (over 8,000 tonnes). But according to Reuters, the central bank’s official gold reserves fell to around 53 tonnes by the end of 2024 due to sales and withdrawals.
According to Geological survey, Orinoco Mining Arc (Arco Minero del Orinoco) in southern Bolívar state has much larger gold resources. The government has often asserted the Arc may contain gold ranging to 7,000–8,000 tonnes.
Venezuela also has large individual deposits such as the Brisas mine, which is estimated to hold around 10.2 million ounces of gold (about 317 tonnes) but production capacity is not optimum.
Silver
There is news circulating that Venezuela has huge stock pile of Silver. If Venezuela was hoarding 650 tonnes and controls 15% of global production, that adds another resource dimension beyond oil. Silver has industrial applications in electronics, solar panels, and increasingly in military technology. It’s also a monetary metal that countries seeking dollar alternatives might want to accumulate.
This transforms the operation from purely oil-focused to broader resource seizure. Control Venezuelan oil production for price stability, seize silver stockpiles for industrial needs and alongwith Gold, to prevent BRICS currency backing. If those sources are accurate, the strategic value of Venezuela multiplies.
Chinese Equipment
What China markets as counter-stealth capability fails when the opponent is not an isolated fighter jet but a coordinated electromagnetic campaign with drones, cyber assets, and strike aircraft feeding each other intelligence in real time. Venezuela’s radars may function well on a clear day in peacetime, but they become blind the moment the spectrum turns hostile.
Once those radars go dark, the Russian systems that Venezuela bought,the S-300V and Buk-M2, are reduced to decorative metal. They rely entirely on upstream early-warning sensors and reliable data links. Without that digital nervous system, the S-300V is not the feared long-range guardian it is on paper.
Venezuela’s defensive collapse was not just a technological defeat but an institutional one. It exposed that it is a force trained to operate point-to-point equipment but not a force prepared to fight in a fused, contested, electromagnetic battlefield. It is a cautionary message to countries relying on Chinese defense exports, signaling that hardware alone is not deterrence.
Leaders Forewarned
Maduro governed as if international law still mattered. He made threats assuming deterrence still worked through conventional means. He apparently didn’t invest sufficiently in personal security or ensure bodyguard loyalty through compensation and ideology.
This was catastrophic misjudgment. He thought he was playing by 20th century rules where sovereignty meant something and militaries defended their governments. He didn’t recognize he was already in a system where might makes right and internal betrayal is always available for the right price.
Other leaders are learning different lessons from his failure. Not “comply with America.” But rather: “Invest heavily in personal security. Pay your guards better than America can bribe them. Never make threats you can’t execute. Assume sovereignty is fiction and plan accordingly.”
Putin ensured escort by an aircraft carrier because he understood this. Maduro made empty threats because he didn’t. The difference wasn’t military power. It was accurate assessment of the environment.
This wasn’t American strength. It was Venezuelan weakness plus American ruthlessness. That combination works once per target, then everyone adapts. The next leader won’t have bodyguards who can be bribed. The next country won’t have air defence with manual overrides. The next operation will be harder.
North Korea and Nuclear Options
The empire has already paid the cost. Every leader now knows what’s possible. Every security service now knows betrayal pays. Every country now knows the rules are gone.
Kim Jong Un’s security model assumes that everyone around him could be compromised. He doesn’t trust fortress safehouses. He trusts mobility, unpredictability, total control of security apparatus through fear, and nuclear deterrence that makes any operation against him potentially suicidal for the attacker.
Kim’s paranoia is suddenly vindicated as realism. Everything that made Kim look irrational now appears as sophisticated threat assessment. He rarely leaves North Korea. When he does, he travels by armored train with complete security control of the route. He purged relatives and senior officials ruthlessly. He maintains total control over his security apparatus through fear and incentives. He developed nuclear weapons despite sanctions and isolation.
Western commentary mocked all of this as megalomaniacal insecurity. Now it looks like accurate understanding of how powerful states actually behave when restraints fail.
Kim watched what happened to Gaddafi. Libya gave up nuclear weapons in exchange for normalization. Years later, NATO destroyed the regime and Gaddafi was killed. Kim concluded: never give up deterrence, never trust assurances.
He watched Iraq. Saddam was captured hiding in a hole. Kim concluded: maintain absolute security, never allow internal betrayal.
He watched Ukraine. They surrendered nuclear weapons for security guarantees. Russia invaded anyway. Kim concluded: treaties mean nothing, only capability matters.
Now he’s watching Venezuela. Maduro negotiated, offered American companies access, and got kidnapped from his own capital by bodyguards who betrayed him. Kim’s conclusion: I was right about everything.
The perception shift and Kim is not mad. He’s the only leader who correctly assessed post-Cold War reality while everyone else believed in international law and diplomatic norms. His “paranoia” was accurate threat modeling.
This has immediate implications. Every authoritarian leader now looks at Kim’s system as the model for survival. Ruthless internal control. No trust in guards without total loyalty mechanisms. Nuclear deterrence. Minimal international exposure. These aren’t signs of instability. They’re rational responses to an environment where powerful states kidnap leaders.
But it also means those leaders become unreachable for diplomacy. If survival requires Kim’s model, then negotiation becomes nearly impossible. Leaders who can’t be reached can’t be influenced except through force, which risks nuclear escalation.
Trump’s operation in Venezuela just made every dangerous regime more dangerous by validating their most extreme security measures. Kim is the hero of this story because he prepared for exactly what Trump just demonstrated is possible.
The madman was sane. Everyone else was naive.
Safe House
President Trump has revealed it on telephone interview with Fox news that Maduro was hiding in a “fortress” safe house from where he was captured.
Maduro wasn’t in the presidential palace conducting normal government business. He was in a hidden fortress safehouse, presumably known only to his closest security circle. American forces still found him, entered the location, and extracted him.
This means one of three things occurred, all of them alarming for other leaders.
First possibility: his inner security circle betrayed the location. The safehouse was compromise from within. Someone with access to his protection detail sold the coordinates. This is catastrophic because no secure location remains secure if your own guards can be turned.
Second possibility: American intelligence penetration of Venezuelan security was so complete that even secret locations were known. This suggests surveillance capabilities or human intelligence networks that can track leaders even in hidden facilities.
Third possibility: both. Intelligence identified possible locations and insider betrayal confirmed which one he was actually using.
Trump revealing this detail publicly serves a purpose. It tells every other leader:
Hiding doesn’t work. Your fortress isn’t safe. Your trusted circle isn’t trustworthy. We can reach you anywhere.
Maduro thought a hidden fortress would protect him. It became a trap. The location that was supposed to be his safest point became the place where he was most vulnerable, because someone knew where he was and told American forces.
The operational lesson is that fixed secure locations are actually targeting solutions. Better to be mobile and unpredictable, or better still, maintain deterrence so overwhelming that the operation isn’t attempted.
Trump broadcasting this detail isn’t just boasting. It’s strategic messaging: there is nowhere to hide. Compliance is your only option.
But the message every other leader receives is different: Build better security. Purge more ruthlessly. Develop capabilities that make attempts too costly. Never trust anyone completely.
The fortress failed. Now every leader reassesses what actually provides security in a world where America conducts kidnapping operations.
References:
- Gold Reserve: https://www.reuters.com/latam/domestico/SAXW4FR5XBPCPLGL4H5DDSVMLA-2025-03-07/
- Oil, Gold and Rare Earth: https://english.elpais.com/international/2025-12-22/oil-gold-and-rare-earth-elements-the-backdrop-to-us-political-tension-with-venezuela.html
- World denounce USA action: https://www.axios.com/2026/01/03/maduro-capture-venezuela-world-leaders