Maduro Abduction Explained: Global Consequences, UN Law, Russia/China Response & 2026 Outlook

Well, happy 2026. Uh gosh, we're off to a incredibly wild start. Uh I've received uh several emails from folks asking me my opinion about the uh abduction of Maduro and his wife out of Venezuela. And I guess first and foremost, I want to make it clear that it really doesn't matter what my opinion is. And frankly, it doesn't matter what your opinion is. What matters is what is the law. And the UN charter clearly rules out what was done is complete violation of the law. That's what we all need to take into account. So, folks are asking me, what effect is this going to have? And I'm going to maybe have to do a couple of videos, but we'll see if I can't squeeze it in. First of all, as always, I'm never going to be the first one out of the shoot. Okay, the minute this happened, everybody within minutes over their holiday was all there trying to get as many views as they can. And that's never been my goal. My goal's always been accuracy. And what I understand is truth through research. And one fact to consider, I don't completely blame the West for doing what they're doing. I blame them how they went about doing it. what you're just starting to hear now and of course being a subscriber to Martin Armstrong at Armstrong Economics and a longtime subscriber um and inputting several questions to Socrates the computer source which just seems to be bang on target every time. And I can't stress that enough to my subscribers and viewers. Check them out at Armstrong Economics. I never want to steal anybody's information and claim it as my own. This is a part that you're just starting to hear about. And I believe Russia made a huge mistake in announcing that they're liable to and they can't see any reason why they shouldn't be putting in military equipment. And I'm talking state-of-the-art equipment. any of my readers and followers who have not researched about the argnik which in English means hazelnut that type of technology which is indefensible. It cannot be it cannot be stopped and putting this type of equipment in Venezuela would literally render the west defenseless. It is defenseless even from anywhere within its range because it's reaching speeds of Mach 10 and it flies in a completely erratic flight pattern that just cannot be traced, let alone stopped. As I've stated in many prior videos, there's a huge amount of technology in Russia's military, China as well. America is without question the strongest military when it comes to invasion. When it comes to anybody they want to kidnap, certainly in the Western Hemisphere, there's nothing that can stop them. So, one of the questions I'm receiving a lot is, do you expect retaliation from Russia and China? That's really a two-part question because if you're asking, do I expect military retaliation? My research says absolutely not for a couple of reasons. One, both nations are not aggressive by nature. They're defensive by nature. And China is all about commerce, not about war and regime change. So I don't anticipate any military activity. And secondly, they can't. There's nothing they can do to prevent the West from taking over any country in this hemisphere and that includes the one I live in. So from an economic standpoint, absolutely there's going to be re there's going to be a lot of a lot of things done over the next while. But once again, one country reacts kind of reactive. The other two countries are more proactive, which is the reason why Russia is taking so long to take over what they want in Ukraine. They could have gone in their gang busters and made a mess of everything, but that was never the intention because it's not a war. It was a military operation and strategically it's proven very successful. Secondly, what I think is going to occur over time is ask yourself, will China be interested in investing in ports, superructure, any type of commerce in South America and the Caribbean if this is what's going to happen? So, with that in mind, the answer might be, I doubt it. I don't think so anymore. They've already they're going to lose the port in uh uh in uh Puerto Rico. They're going to lose what they invested in Jamaica. They're going to lose billions of dollars of what they invested in Venezuela. They're not stupid. Why would they continue to invest? So, we all suffer for that because prices are going to rise. different types of products both in variety and quality are going to be vastly limited and this doesn't help anybody. Uh, another thing you might want to ask yourself is go back and study your history. Don't wait for what's on any kind of mainstream news. Study history and maybe tune in to people like Max Blumenthal. Tune in to Martin Armstrong. tune in to maybe Pepe Escobar and find out what is really going on. Uh there's several others. Those are just three that came to the top of my head. However, make no mistake about it, it is going to hurt price-wise and it's going to hurt in terms of productwise. Now, secondly, this also includes the country I live in. Anybody who still thinks they live in a sovereign country, you better put down the burger and start thinking because anybody that does not follow any country rather that does not follow what they are told to do, the same thing's going to happen to them because there is no president, there is no high-ranking official, there is no politician that is safe from the same occurrence what you just witnessed. So how do I feel all this is going to play out? My truthful answer is nobody knows. The only one that I would put my bet and place a lot of chips in that corner would be what comes out of Martin Armstrong's month uh mouth because uh for several reasons and that is one he's a trader. He understands the world economy. He understands how countries and everything are connected. So, it's a fair bet judging from being a member for almost 10 years now that he's going to be accurate. So, without me long mouthing it, you just go there and tune in to Martin Armstrong at Armstrong Economics and go on the public blog. If you find any value to it, maybe consider a private u subscription to Socrates and you'll be able to gain access to that incredible system. And I'm not being paid to say this and I get no royalties just in case something like that's running uh through your mind. I do not I do not ask for subscription. I do not ask for any money. I do this because one of a tremendous interest in geopolitical events two the group I'm with the mentors for over four decades I don't need to express our accuracy it's phenomenal you may not agree with it but that's your choice and I do this out of a love a passion for study of geopolitical and uh commerce in terms of commodities it's just a passion rather than watching TV. Nothing more than that. Now, I want to ask you on a closing note, so I'm not going to drag on this. There is so much out there on the on the web right now on YouTube, Rumble, Bitshoot. Maybe take a look at some of the videos on the names that I had mentioned. But also a very important point to close out with. Always, and I've learned this again from Armstrong, always ask the question, [sighs] has this been done before? And if it has been, what were the results? [sighs] You can start on and on. Gaddafi. You can go into Iraq. You can go into Afghanistan. You can go into Kuwait. You can go into Korea, Vietnam. You can go into countless other wars and regime changes and coups brought on by the West. How many of them worked out in a positive fashion? very few if any. I always like to say slim and none and slim just walked out the room. Now turn around, reverse and look at your own country. How do you see it? What path, what direction do you see happening? Do you not see sides that cannot even talk to each other anymore? How do you let in close to 30 million undocumented individuals from the same countries that your politicians are saying are out to kill you and destroy you? Why is it every war and regime change is always in someone else's country, but yet they're claiming they're all out to get and invade you. And yet you let them in by the millions. Look at the homeless. Look at the the good citizens of America suffering because they don't know what to do. And I'm talking middle class people that want to work. Responsible people. All they get is higher taxes. And out of all these regimes, the only ones that have benefited are the few at the top of the pile. The Soroses, the Gateses, [sighs and gasps] the Trumps. I mean, you can just go on and on with the handful of people that benefit from this. Everybody else seems to suffer. This is a big reason why through taxation, you're seeing the middle class erode. Bear in mind, the middle class in Asia and Russia is soaring on a positive level. While they have problems in their nation and their economies too, their economies are in excellent shape compared to the west. So I am saying to look at it from a broad perspective and I'm not here to change anybody's views. I'm just asking you to open your mind and be, I guess, caring enough to do a bit of real information seeking because the nation of the West is alienating itself. and what is going on. Now, while that may appear to a certain group of people that support a specific politician, bear in mind one very important fact. All through history, it's the markets that prevail in the long run. If you are alienating yourself and you are becoming or already are in my opinion a nation that every other nation even though they might be afraid to say it, every other nation knows that the west cannot be trusted. There is no rule of law. It has become a rogue state controlled by neocons, the military-industrial complex, and a few sick individuals with egos as big as this globe. You'll begin to see the future does not look good. So, keep that in mind. Once again, there's no reason to polarize. Everyone's entitled to their opinion. Remember, you do have the freedom of choice and the freedom, if you want to call, free will to choose. But both of those run into a brick wall when it comes to protecting you from the outcome of those choices. I urge you to keep that in the back of your mind. And in a closing note, again, I'm not saying Maduro was a good person. I'm not saying anybody was except maybe Gaddafi. He really and a couple of others. But I'm saying, does that give another country the right to break the UN charter, to kidnap, and to create regime change and volatility all over the planet. They do it by sanctions. Then as economies break like a big part of it was part of Iran. Uh a big part of it was also part of Venezuela although Maduro did you know adapt to flawed uh ruling of the country. I agree with that. But a lot of the poverty and all these countries are caused by sanctions. Then the west will move in. Now, we'll talk to a few key people cuz that's all they need to control. They never did care about the citizens. Just look at the death toll. And they never did care about anything else but controlling a few of the upper tier people because they will have the power to control the public. That's another reason why I do not see America going in there strongly on a ground invasion. They don't need to. So keep in mind, I think this retaliation you're going to find unfold over the next few weeks along the lines of economic warfare, not physical warfare. Anyway, that's what I've got to offer. I wanted to wait a few days before and I didn't jump the gun. And now that it's been on public interview about how Russia, which nobody talked about, was talking about putting in advanced military capabilities with weaponry that could reach America in under five minutes. That might be one reason why I don't think what Trump did for that aspect only was insane. I do think it was insane the way they went about it. Anyway, that's what I got for you. Hope 2026 turns out to be a better year than it's starting out. I do expect from our research it to be a very volatile year and I don't see any changes on the horizon, but through a lot of bad comes a lot of good. Till next time, it's Barry. [music] >> [music]