Whenever the United States sets its sights on a foreign government, the script rarely changes. The accusations arrive first as; drugs, corruption, and authoritarianism, threats to democracy.
The language is familiar, almost ritualistic. But seasoned observers of global politics know this much as history noted. When Washington repeats itself too loudly, it is often trying to distract attention from the real issue.
Venezuela is not being targeted because it is undemocratic. If democracy were the standard, many U.S. allies would not survive a week of scrutiny. Venezuela is being targeted because it touched the one thing America treats as sacred, which is the global dominance of the U.S. dollar.
This is not speculation. It is history.
Venezuela holds an estimated 303 billion barrels of proven oil reserves, the largest on the planet. More than Saudi Arabia. More than Iraq, Iran, or Russia. Oil alone makes Venezuela strategically important. But oil priced outside the dollar makes it dangerous.
In 2018, Venezuela announced it would begin selling oil in currencies other than the U.S. dollar. Yuan. Euros. Rubles. It began exploring payment systems outside the U.S.-controlled SWIFT network and openly signaled interest in joining BRICS, a bloc whose central ambition is to reduce reliance on the dollar.
That move struck at the heart of a system that has sustained American power for over 50 years: the petrodollar.The petrodollar was born in 1974, when U.S. Secretary of State Henry Kissinger struck a deal with Saudi Arabia that Oil would be sold exclusively in U.S. dollars. In return, the United States would guarantee Saudi security.
The brilliance of the arrangement was simple, every country would now need dollars to buy oil. The dollar became indispensable not because of market competition, but because of design.
Whenever the United States sets its sights on a foreign government, the script rarely changes. The accusations arrive first as; drugs, corruption, and authoritarianism, threats to democracy.
This system allowed the United States to run enormous deficits, finance global military dominance, and print money without suffering the consequences that cripple other economies. It is no exaggeration to say the petrodollar underwrites the American empire, and empires do not tolerate threats to their foundations.
The pattern is unmistakable. In 2000, Saddam Hussein announced Iraq would sell oil in euros. Three years later, Iraq was invaded. After the invasion, Iraqi oil quietly returned to dollar pricing. The justification, weapons of mass destruction, was later exposed as fiction.
In 2009, Libya’s Muammar Gaddafi proposed a gold-backed African currency for oil trade. Two years later, NATO intervened. Gaddafi was killed, Libya collapsed, and the currency proposal vanished. Even U.S. diplomatic cables later acknowledged concern over Libya’s monetary ambitions.
These are not coincidences. They are warnings.
Venezuela’s case is more alarming to Washington because the global environment has changed. The petrodollar is no longer unchallenged. Russia now sells energy in rubles and yuan. Iran has long traded outside the dollar.
Saudi Arabia has publicly discussed accepting non-dollar payments. China has built its own SWIFT alternative, CIPS, now connecting thousands of banks across the globe. BRICS nations are developing shared settlement systems, while projects like mBridge allow central banks to transact directly in local currencies. In short, the world is quietly preparing for life beyond the dollar.
Venezuela aligned with BRICS, armed with the world’s largest oil reserves and selling energy outside the dollar, which would accelerate that shift dramatically. That is the real fear. Not drugs. Not terrorism. Not democracy.
Whenever the United States sets its sights on a foreign government, the script rarely changes. The accusations arrive first as; drugs, corruption, and authoritarianism, threats to democracy.
Recent rhetoric from U.S. officials has been unusually revealing. Claims that Venezuelan oil represents “American wealth” because U.S. companies helped develop it a century ago expose an imperial mindset rarely stated so plainly. By that logic, any nation that nationalizes its resources is committing theft. Sovereignty becomes negotiable. Ownership becomes historical, not legal.
This is not about Venezuela alone, but of countries across Africa, Asia, and Latin America watching closely. The aim is clear: economic independence from the dollar invites punishment. But the lesson cuts both ways. The more violently dollar dominance is enforced, the more urgently nations seek alternatives.
There is a dangerous irony here.
If the dollar were truly unassailable, it would not require military enforcement. If it were competing on merit alone, it would not fear alternatives. If a currency must be protected by sanctions, invasions, and regime change, it has already entered a defensive phase.
The dollar remains powerful, but a power maintained through coercion is fragile. Financial systems do not collapse overnight. They erode. Confidence fades. Options multiply. And then, suddenly, the center does not hold.
Venezuela may not mark the beginning of the end of dollar dominance. But it exposes the anxiety beneath it. And once the world sees that anxiety, it begins to plan accordingly.
The real question is no longer whether the United States can stop de-dollarization by force. It is whether it can survive a world where force no longer works.
History suggests that when empires start bombing to protect their currency, the currency’s days are already numbered.
Whenever the United States sets its sights on a foreign government, the script rarely changes. The accusations arrive first as; drugs, corruption, and authoritarianism, threats to democracy.
