Everything is connected
France is working with partners on a plan over how to respond should the Americans act on its threat to take over Greenland, Foreign Affairs Minister Jean-Noel Barrot said on Wednesday, January 7, 2026.
Barrot said the subject would be raised at his meeting with the foreign ministers of Germany and Poland later in the day.
The US has suspended all assistance to the government of Somalia, alleging, without evidence, that officials destroyed a UN World Food Programme (WFP) warehouse and seized “donor-funded food aid”.
US state department made the statement via the social media.
A UN Human Rights report published Wednesday, January 7, 2026, concludes that Israel is violating international law prohibiting racial segregation and apartheid in the occupied West Bank. The findings reveal “a systematic asphyxiation of the rights of Palestinians in the West Bank.”
Volker Türk, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, warned, “This is a particularly severe form of racial discrimination and segregation that resembles the kind of apartheid system we have seen before”.
US Secretary of State Rubio and US War Secretary Hegseth on Wednesday, January 7, 2026, told lawmakers, in a closed-door briefing to the Senate, the Trump administration does not plan to use ground troops in Venezuela, but American military will remain deployed around Venezuela indefinitely to provide “leverage” in stabilizing the region, according to more than a dozen lawmakers who attended the event.
“They are talking about stealing the Venezuelan oil at gunpoint, for an undefined period of time, as leverage to micromanage the country,” said Sen. Chris Murphy, a Connecticut Democrat. “The scope and insanity of that plan is absolutely stunning.”
Trump said Wednesday – in a nearly two-hour interview with the NY Times – that he expected the US would be running Venezuela and extracting oil for its reserves for years, adding that the interim government in Venezuela is “giving us everything that we feel is necessary.”
During the wide-ranging interview with The New York Times, Mr. Trump did not give a precise time range for how long the United States would remain Venezuela’s political overlord.
Leo Shane III, Connor O’Brien, and Joe Gould, Politico: Trump officials tell Congress: No troops in Venezuela https://www.politico.com/news/2026/01/07/senators-venezuela-maduro-congress-00714417
David E. Sanger, Tyler Pager, Katie Rogers, and Zolan Kanno-Youngs, NYT: Trump Says U.S. Oversight of Venezuela Could Last for Years https://www.nytimes.com/2026/01/08/us/politics/trump-interview-venezuela.html
Trump on Wednesday, January 7, 2026, signed an executive order suspending US support and participation in 66 organizations, agencies, and commissions, most of which are UN-related.
Non-UN organizations on the list include the Partnership for Atlantic Cooperation, the International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance, and the Global Counterterrorism Forum.
The Trump administration categorized them as catering to diversity and “woke” initiatives.
Trump’s decision to withdraw from organizations that foster cooperation among nations to address global challenges comes as the US administration has launched military efforts or issued threats that have rattled allies and adversaries alike, including the abduction of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, and pressing their intention to own Greenland.
Setting: Rising tensions as the Trump administration continues to apply pressure in it’s desire to acquire Greenland.
Trump on Wednesday January 7, 2026, attacked NATO’s reliability, claiming he was not convinced the alliance would come to the aid of the US in a crisis.
The US on Wednesday, January 7, 2026, seized an oil tanker in the North Atlantic – between Scotland and Iceland – that had evaded its effort to crack down on Venezuela’s energy exports, capping a pursuit that had lasted more than two weeks and raised tensions with Russia.
At about the same time, US forces boarded another oil tanker in international waters near the Caribbean. The raids suggest the Americans intends to keep up the pressure on Caracas. “They tried to seize the tanker and it evaded them,” says Matthew Wright of Kpler. “They did not want to set a precedent.”
Energy Secretary Chris Wright at the Goldman Sachs Energy, CleanTech & Utilities Conference in Miami on Wednesday January 7, 2026, said the US intends to maintain significant control over Venezuela’s oil industry, including by overseeing the sale of the country’s production “indefinitely.”
“Going forward we will sell the production that comes out of Venezuela into the marketplace,” Wright said.
Globe & Mail:
… A plausible scenario for US application of military force against Canada to seize our oil resources goes something like this. An independence referendum in Alberta – during which separatists receive a huge infusion of grey MAGA money – sees a majority vote to remain part of Canada, but with 30 per cent or more voting for separation. Mr. Trump declares the result is “fake” and that actual support for separation was “well over” 50 per cent. Alberta separatists then appeal to the US for help, claiming various kinds of oppression. The US moves troops to the northern Montana border and tells the rest of Canada that Alberta must be allowed to join America as the “51st state.”
Lomiko Metals, a company based in British Columbia, is to build an open-air graphite mine in La Petite-Nation, in the Outaouais region on the western edge of Quebec.
Once operational, the open-pit mine will produce 100,000 tonnes of graphite per year for 15 years.
In 2024, the ‘US Department of Defense’ announced it would invest US$8.3m in the project through their ‘Defense Production Act’ investment program, to ensure the availability of resources needed for US interests and their national defence.
© 2026 NatSec.ca
Theme by Anders Noren — Up ↑