Forwarded this email? Subscribe here for more The Gathering Storm: Snatch-and-Grab Regime Change is the New New Normal The Corbett Report Jan 11   READ IN APP   Well, that didn’t take long. No sooner had the metaphorical ink dried on my New World Next Year prediction that 2026 would be the “Year of the Storm” than the storm in fact began. Specifically, it began in the form of a spectacular overnight raid on January 2, 2026, that resulted in the successful abduction of former Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro. And now, all hell’s broken loose. But don’t take it from me. Take it from German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier (better known to non-Germans as “who the hell is that guy?”). Remarking on the spectacular events of the past week, he has opined that Trump and the US are now destroying the very post-WWII world order that the US helped create. Hmm. If I didn’t know better, I’d say a New World Order is in the offing. Now who could have possibly predicted that? So, what the hell does all this really mean? Good question. Let’s answer it, shall we? This Substack is reader-supported. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. Upgrade to paid ABSOLUTE RESOLVE “Nicolás Maduro has been charged with Narco-Terrorism Conspiracy, Cocaine Importation Conspiracy, Possession of Machineguns [sic] and Destructive Devices, and Conspiracy to Possess Machineguns [sicker!] and Destructive Devices against the United States.” So read the tweet from US Attorney General Pamela Bondi on January 3rd. And with that pronouncement, Trump and his toadies tried to throw a retroactive fig leaf of legal “justification” over one of the most brazen acts of unilateral, illegal force on the international stage since the US invasion of Iraq. The raid and its aftermath are—like every major event in our 60/24 media-saturated news world—simultaneously ubiquitous objects of discussion and shrouded in a fog of war and a cloak of secrecy. Dubbed “Operation Absolute Resolve,” the official story of the dramatic midnight smash-and-grab in Caracas involves: the CIA team whose presence in Venezuela Trump loudly announced last October and whose purpose, we are now told, was to gather information about Venezuelan president Nicolás Maduro, his location, his movements, his daily routine, his eating habits and even his pets; the 1st Special Forces Operational Detachment—better known as “Delta Force”—who “moved in by helicopter into the capital of Caracas and captured Maduro and his wife Cilia Flores”; the “more than 150 fighters, bombers and other aircraft“ who provided cover and air support for the chopper that spirited the Delta Force team in and out of Caracas; US Space Command and US Cyber Command, which provided “space-based capabilities” and “satellite communications” and other whizbang, cutting-edge, super-gnarly, space-age awesomeness that these heroic warriors would love to tell you about but can’t because of, you know, “operational security” reasons; and seemingly every other person even vaguely involved in the US military, special forces and national security chain of command, who are falling over themselves to divulge super-secret details about the raid to any news outlet that will spell their name correctly, exactly as we saw with Operation Neptune Spear. If that mention of Neptune Spear is ringing alarm bells for the conspiracy realists in the crowd who know that the official story of “the raid that got Osama bin Laden” in Pakistan in 2011 is a phantasmagoric fairy tale embedded in an even larger fairy tale, that’s on purpose. The raid on Maduro, like the raid on “Osama,” is awash in mystery and dripping with unanswered questions. Of course, this being 2026, the usual fog of war surrounding an event like this is even foggier because of the ever-looming question of AI-enabled deepfakery. Not even those venerable fact checkers at Snopes can say whether or not those weird, janky photographs of Maduro smiling and posing and thumbs-upping with his abductors are real or not. And, as I pointed out in the most recent edition of New World Next Week, the questions surrounding this event go much deeper than the question of photo fakery. In fact, none of these puzzle pieces quite fit together to form a complete picture of what really went down in Caracas. The big question still on the table is the one alluded to in the recent Global Research article, “Why Venezuela’s Military Did Not Fight.” Indeed. Why didn’t Venezuela’s military put up any resistance whatsoever to this brazen breach of their nation’s sovereign territory? How did this band of invading Delta Force marauders get past the dreaded Russian air defense systems that—the ZAnon bloviators assured us—were surely going to decimate US forces? How did they slip in and out without a single American casualty or a single downed aircraft? Sadly, the Global Research article linked above does not seem to provide a satisfactory answer to those questions. And you’ll forgive me if I don’t quite believe the “trust me and my super secret inside sources” bloviators who insist the Russians did try to swoop in to help Maduro but were betrayed by Maduro’s own corrupt guard. (Perhaps the evidence for that wild story was buried at sea, just like we’re told Osama bin Laden was!) No, I still believe that a deal was made here at some level to allow this raid to happen. Whether that deal was cut with Putin himself in some type of Venezuela-for-Ukraine quid pro quo like the one the Kremlin proposed back in 2019, or some deal with Maduro himself for a show trial and exile to some tropical paradise, or something else altogether, time will tell. But more important by far than the precise operational details of this raid is the precedent that it has set for international relations going forward. THE NEW WORLD ORDER Surprise! America is now a full-fledged Empire! OK, this will not be news to geopolitical realists who have two eyes to observe reality and two brain cells to rub together. There are any number of independent analysts—including yours truly and a number of my previous guests—who have been unafraid to call out the American Empire for what it is for some time now. But the American Empire has never admitted to being an empire before. You see, for the past 80 years, the world has been governed by a certain system. Whether you call this system “Pax Americana“ or “the international law-based world order“ or the New World Order, this system of global rules and norms was based on America’s unquestioned global hegemony. But don’t worry, everyone! This system was never about the undisputed world superpower throwing its weight around whenever it felt like it to get whatever it wanted! No! Instead, this system was presented as a unique case in world history where the big bully was using its might for good. After all, every American intervention around the globe has been in the service of freedom and democracy and sunshine and lollipops! This is the vision that George H. W. Bush invoked in his infamous “New World Order” speech on 9/11 (1990): Out of these troubled times, our fifth objective—a new world order—can emerge: a new era—freer from the threat of terror, stronger in the pursuit of justice, and more secure in the quest for peace. An era in which the nations of the world, East and West, North and South, can prosper and live in harmony. A hundred generations have searched for this elusive path to peace, while a thousand wars raged across the span of human endeavor. Today that new world is struggling to be born, a world quite different from the one we’ve known. A world where the rule of law supplants the rule of the jungle. A world in which nations recognize the shared responsibility for freedom and justice. A world where the strong respect the rights of the weak. We all know this is hogwash. Neither Bush nor any other consul of the American Empire ever cared about “freedom and justice,” and none of them actually wanted a world “where the strong respect the rights of the weak.” But the point is that up until now, the spokespuppets of American Empire had to pretend they cared about such things. Well, here we are in 2026 and it’s mask off for the empire and its functionaries. Gone is even the hint of a pretense of a fig leaf that America’s military adventures abroad have anything at all to do with “human rights” or “democracy” or “peaceful transitions” or any of the other lies that have whitewashed Uncle Sam’s illegal invasions of the past. It’s about an empire claiming resources for itself and flexing its military muscle to seize it. Keep in mind that it’s not me saying this. It’s Trump. “We’re going to be using oil, and we’re going to be taking oil,” he says of this latest regime change operation, vowing to run Venezuela as long as it takes in order to “rebuild it in a very profitable way” for American oil companies. In an interview with The New York Times this past week, Trump was even more candid about the only limit on America’s global ambitions: “My own morality. My own mind. It’s the only thing that can stop me. I don’t need international law.” Corbetteers may be breathing a sigh of relief at this moment. At last, a politician has arisen who has admitted what we’ve long known: that the American Empire considers itself the rightful ruler of the world and that “international law“ was always just a kabuki show designed to lead us into the trap of global government. But that sigh of relief might not last long. Because now that it’s been admitted that it is in fact every nation for itself in a fight for survival and that the only law between nations is the law of the jungle, we’re in for some very turbulent times. THE STORM IS UPON US So, now that the US is an out-and-out empire, snatching foreign leaders at will, who’s next? Ayatollah Khamenei, for one, isn’t sitting quite as comfortably on his Persian perch as he was the day before the raid on Maduro. And how about Mexico? Sure, why not! Trump will take out President Sheinbaum, too, if he feels like it! And Greenland? Buckle up, Greenlanders. You’re. gonna be Red, White and Blue land soon enough! And Canada? Well, let’s just say the Day of the Rake is drawing nigh. MAGA!!!! ...But the US isn’t the only player in this game. And, now that abducting foreign leaders is an established part of the game on the grand chessboard, the question becomes: who else might be thinking of using such a tactic against their geopolitical foes? Do you think the Chinese government might be interested in ginning up a similar situation to enforce their presumed control of Taiwan? Of course they are! Do you think the Israeli government is going to use this new precedent to threaten Iran? Of course they are! And do you think the Russian government is considering bringing a swift end to the Ukraine SMO by abducting Zelensky? Of course they are! And what about Zelensky? Can he get in on the act? Sure, why not! Let’s get Trump to topple...uhhh, I don’t know...Ramzan Kadyrov? All’s fair in love and war, after all! Trump and his neocon buddies have taught us that much! So, are you starting to get the picture? I’ve talked before about the chaos out of order. I’ve discussed the New World Order. I’ve talked about the Echoes of WWI and the preparation for WWIII. But this isn’t theoretical anymore. Whether you see it or not, it’s happening right now. The storm is upon us. The only question that matters is how we prepare for what’s coming next. Something tells me this is going to be a theme of my work in the months ahead. In the meantime, I’d love to hear your thoughts. Like this type of essay? Then you’ll love The Corbett Report Subscriber newsletter, which contains my weekly editorial as well as recommended reading, viewing and listening. If you’re a Corbett Report member, you can sign in to corbettreport.com and read the newsletter today. Not a member yet? Sign up today to access the newsletter and support this work. Are you already a member and don’t know how to sign in to the website? Contact me HERE and I’ll be happy to help you get logged in! You're currently a free subscriber to The Corbett Report. For the full experience, upgrade your subscription. Upgrade to paid