Welcome back to World Brief, where we’re looking at the Trump administration’s pressure campaign against Venezuela, U.S.-led negotiations to end the Russia-Ukraine war, and devastating storms across South and Southeast Asia.
By Land and By Sea
U.S. President Donald Trump held a meeting at the White House on Monday to discuss next steps against Venezuela, just days after warning that the U.S. military is planning to expand its counternarcotics operation onto land “very soon.”
Welcome back to World Brief, where we’re looking at the Trump administration’s pressure campaign against Venezuela, U.S.-led negotiations to end the Russia-Ukraine war, and devastating storms across South and Southeast Asia.
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By Land and By Sea
U.S. President Donald Trump held a meeting at the White House on Monday to discuss next steps against Venezuela, just days after warning that the U.S. military is planning to expand its counternarcotics operation onto land “very soon.”
Until now, Washington’s military campaign has been limited to the sea. In early September, the United States launched its first attack against an alleged drug trafficking boat, turning the decades-old metaphorical “war on drugs” into a literal one. Since then, the U.S. military has carried out another 20 strikes on suspected Venezuela-linked vessels in the Caribbean and eastern Pacific Ocean, killing at least 83 people.
But over the past several weeks, Trump has increasingly been signaling that direct military action against Venezuela may be coming. The Trump administration has amassed more than a dozen U.S. warships and some 15,000 U.S. troops in the region, the largest such deployment to the area in decades. In October, the White House notified Congress that the United States is in a “non-international armed conflict” with “designated terrorist organizations,” and in November, the United States formally designated Cartel de los Soles, which Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro is accused of overseeing, as a foreign terrorist organization.
On Saturday, Trump posted to Truth Social warning that “all Airlines, Pilots, Drug Dealers, and Human Traffickers” should “consider THE AIRSPACE ABOVE AND SURROUNDING VENEZUELA TO BE CLOSED IN ITS ENTIRETY.”
Some efforts have reportedly been made to avoid outright conflict. The Miami Herald, citing unnamed U.S. officials, reported on Sunday that during a phone call between the U.S. and Venezuelan presidents in late November, Trump delivered an ultimatum, telling Maduro that he, his wife, and his son would be granted safe passage out of the country if Maduro agreed to resign immediately. On Sunday, Trump confirmed that he had recently spoken with Maduro, though he did not say what they discussed. When asked to describe the call, Trump said, “I wouldn’t say it went well or badly.”
But mounting anger from within Washington could curb the White House’s apparent regime-change ambitions. Over the weekend, lawmakers in the House and Senate Armed Services committees signaled their support for bipartisan congressional reviews of the boat strikes. The inquiries follow a Washington Post report, published on Friday, that accused U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth of ordering U.S. forces to leave no survivors after a Sept. 2 strike on a boat in the Caribbean initially left two people alive.
“This rises to the level of a war crime if it’s true,” Democratic Sen. Tim Kaine said.
Hegseth has denied the report, calling it “fake news” in a post on X and maintaining that “current operations in the Caribbean are lawful under both U.S. and international law”—a claim that many legal experts reject. Trump also defended Hegseth, saying: “Pete said he did not order the death of those two men. And I believe him.”
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The World This Week
Tuesday, Dec. 2: Russian President Vladimir Putin hosts U.S. special envoy Steve Witkoff and Trump advisor Jared Kushner.
Irish Taoiseach Micheal Martin hosts Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
Wednesday, Dec. 3: NATO foreign ministers (apart from U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio) convene in Brussels.
Bahrain hosts the annual Gulf Cooperation Council.
Egypt begins two-day runoff parliamentary elections.
French President Emmanuel Macron begins a three-day trip to China.
Thursday, Dec. 4: Putin begins a two-day trip to India.
Friday, Dec. 5: Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Store hosts German Chancellor Friedrich Merz.
Sunday, Dec. 6: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu hosts Merz.
Monday, Dec. 7: Hong Kong holds Legislative Council elections.
What We’re Following
A hint of progress. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky expressed optimism on Monday about the U.S.-drafted Russia-Ukraine peace deal, saying progress has been made in revising the initial 28-point proposal to honor Kyiv’s red lines. Specifically, Zelensky and his European allies have opposed demands that Ukraine cede some of its territory to Russia.
“We continue to be realistic about how difficult this is, but optimistic, particularly given the fact that as we’ve made progress, I think there is a shared vision here that this is not just about ending the war,” U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Sunday following talks with Ukrainian negotiators in Florida. The White House described Sunday’s meeting as “very productive” despite Ukraine’s top negotiator, chief of staff Andriy Yermak, resigning on Friday amid a massive corruption investigation.
Rubio did not specify what progress has been made and which areas remain in contention. However, European Union foreign-policy chief Kaja Kallas expressed fear on Monday that “all the pressure will be put on the victim,” referring to Ukraine, and that Kyiv will be forced to surrender land. U.S. special envoy Steve Witkoff and Trump advisor and son-in-law Jared Kushner are expected to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow on Tuesday to continue negotiations.
Deadly weather. A rare tropical storm in the Strait of Malacca unleashed widespread devastation across Southeast Asia in recent days. According to official figures on Monday, the death toll from mass flooding and landslides last week reached nearly 800 people, with Indonesia, Malaysia, and Thailand all recording fatalities. Tropical Storm Senyar was the first tropical cyclone to form in the strait since Typhoon Vamei in 2001.
The destructive storm came at the same time that Sri Lanka battled its own deadly cyclone. Making landfall on Friday, Cyclone Ditwah killed more than 350 people and displaced hundreds of thousands of others. Ditwah was the “largest and most challenging natural disaster in our history,” Sri Lankan President Anura Kumara Dissanayake said, with Vinya Ariyaratne, the president of one of Sri Lanka’s largest community-based development organizations, warning that almost the whole country is a “disaster zone.”
South and Southeast Asia have witnessed several devastating weather-related disasters this year. Just last month, widespread flooding killed more than 110 people in the Philippines and caused extensive infrastructure damage in Vietnam.
U.S. influence in Honduras. Two conservative candidates vying for Honduras’s top office in the country’s presidential election, which took place on Sunday, appeared to be virtually tied, according to preliminary results on Monday. With 55 percent of polling places counted so far, former Tegucigalpa Mayor Nasry “Tito” Asfura has secured 40 percent of the vote, while former Vice President Salvador Nasralla has taken 39.78 percent.
It is unclear how much influence Trump’s last-minute endorsement of Asfura had in the polls; the U.S. president said on Friday that Asfura was the only Honduran candidate that the White House would work with, arguing that he would help Washington fight “narco-communists.” Trump’s support came the same day that the White House announced plans to pardon former Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernández, who was only one year into serving a 45-year sentence at a U.S. prison for helping drug traffickers transport cocaine into the United States.
Experts suggest that Trump’s involvement in Honduran politics demonstrates the White House’s efforts to influence the region in favor of far-right governance. Both Asfura and Nasralla spent time in Washington leading up to Sunday’s election, and Trump has repeatedly targeted left-wing leaders in Latin America, such as in Brazil, while praising (and rewarding) ideologically aligned administrations, such as in Argentina.
Odds and Ends
The leader of France’s far-right National Rally party may be cooking up a bid for the presidency, but Jordan Bardella first has to contend with some unhappy voters. Local authorities arrested a 74-year-old suspect on Saturday for throwing an egg at Bardella’s head during a book promotion event in southwest France. The attack occurred just days after another protester covered Bardella with flour at an agricultural fair. As Macron’s centrist coalition struggles to maintain power, analysts suggest that the National Rally’s presidential chances are better than ever.
