OPINION:
The Biden administration is looking to ease sanctions on the regime of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro because the socialist dictator promises to hold free and fair elections, according to Monday’s Washington Post scoop.
Mr. Maduro’s 2018 election victory was widely seen as a fraud, with then-U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo posting on social media: “Sham elections change nothing. We need Venezuelan people running this country…a nation with so much to offer the world.”
The United States refused to recognize the tally, and an alliance of 14 Latin American nations and Canada declared the results illegitimate. Next year, Mr. Maduro’s term ends, and he’s up for reelection.
Under the deal, the Post reported, Mr. Maduro would “commit to accepting international electoral observations and opening up media access for the elections.”
What a joke.
In 2021, a European Union observation mission into Venezuela’s regional elections concluded its elections “were marked by an excessive use of state resources in the campaign, unequal access to the media, voter coercion on election day and the arbitrary disqualification of candidates.”
Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a statement after that election that the Maduro regime “deprived Venezuelans yet again of their right to participate in a free and fair electoral process” and “grossly skewed the process.”
Based on the pledge of a ruthless despot, the U.S. plans to reward Mr. Maduro by unlocking what is potentially billions of dollars in oil revenue.
President Biden’s foreign policy through appeasement hasn’t been working so well on the world stage.
In May 2021, the Biden administration waived sanctions on Nord Stream 2, a Russian pipeline feeding gas into Germany. At the time, Mr. Blinken said Mr. Biden wanted “a predictable, stable relationship with Russia.”
Nine months later, Russia invaded Ukraine.
Mr. Biden made the same mistake with Iran. In hopes of reviving President Barack Obama’s nuclear deal, the Biden administration eased enforcement of the country’s oil sanctions.
The total revenue for the world’s largest state sponsor of terror during Mr. Biden’s tenure is between $81 billion and $90.7 billion, according to estimates from The Heritage Foundation. In contrast, Iran’s revenue in 2020 was $7.9 billion under President Donald Trump.
In September, the Biden administration sweetened Iran’s coffers by paying $6 billion ransom as part of a prisoner exchange. A few weeks later, Hamas, backed by Iran, invaded Israel, killing some 1,400 civilians.
A wider regional war in the Middle East coupled with Russia’s continued assault on Ukraine could disrupt fuel shipments, driving up the cost of oil and gas.
Last year, the Biden administration sold off more than 40% of our Strategic Petroleum Reserve to combat rising gas prices. The reserve now holds 351 million barrels, well below the Obama administration’s peak of 727 million barrels.
As gas prices continue to tick up at the pump, Mr. Biden is running out of options to keep prices low. By pursuing his Green New Deal, he has hamstrung domestic energy production.
So off to murderous dictators he goes — hoping and praying some of America’s greatest enemies can bail him out with their oil production.
It’s a strategy of weakness that will continue to be exploited by the world’s worst actors.
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