IN the wee hours of January 2, the skies of Caracas lit up with fire trails from airborne armaments and aircraft. They were followed by a stream of helicopters used in commando operations, most notably the Delta Force. The world woke up on 3^rd morning to the stunning statement by no less than President Donald Trump himself that the US armed forces had taken President Nicolas Maduro of Venezuela into custody and he will be taken to an unknown destination under the control of the US administration.

WHEN the Soviet Union collapsed, liberal bourgeois writers had proclaimed the arrival of an era marked by the universal triumph of democracy and stability; they had considered the socialist challenge unnecessary and counterproductive, and believed that capitalism which had already given political independence to its colonies, and introduced universal adult franchise and welfare state measures at its core, would, in the absence of this challenge, secure for mankind peace, economic security and individual freedom.

On the early morning of January 3, the US government launched a massive attack on Caracas, Venezuela, and three of the country’s states. Roughly 150 aircraft swarmed the skies, bombing with exceptional ferocity. Amongst these aircraft were EA-18 Growlers equipped with the most advanced electronic warfare systems, such as the Next Generation Jammers, as well as AH-64 Apache and CH-47 Chinook helicopters.

As of the time of writing these lines, the number of deaths due to drinking contaminated water in Indore has reached 20. Thirty two people are still in the ICU, more than 398 are admitted to hospitals, and over 2,700 have already received treatment. The government is now claiming that the situation is under control. The truth is, nothing is stable. Given the quality of water being supplied and the condition of the patients and the general public, the number of sick people, critically ill patients, and deaths is constantly changing.

The dismantling of the world’s largest demand-based employment guarantee scheme, MNREGA, marks a shift from rights-based welfare programmes that value dignity of labour and responsibility of the state in providing employment to right-wing welfare schemes that invoke arbitrary discrimination and rest on feudal benevolence.