When the United States recently escalated its confrontation with Venezuela – carrying out strikes in Caracas and capturing President Nicolás Maduro – the moves were framed as political intervention.
But the raid also reflected a deeper contest over oil and critical mineral supply chains.
For Washington, controlling energy and strategic materials is now inseparable from power projection. That same logic is increasingly being applied in our own backyard – the Pacific seabed – where new mining could target minerals vital for batteries, electronics, clean energy and the military industrial complex.
