What does it feel like to constantly wake up to news that makes you feel like you belong to a bygone era and that the principles you had lived by and believed in for decades have become obsolete?

Millions, tens of millions, of us have realized that it had been a mirage. The ideals ingrained in us, the values we were raised on and learned at different stages of our lives, have become frail.

These are horrific times. The future we are promised is even more horrifying. As of tomorrow, all our private data will be accessible to the latest models of artificial intelligence; none of us will have any privacy left. There will be no more red lines for the tech oligarchs spying on us and freely using our data to serve their objectives or those of the intelligence-political apparatuses they serve.

Here we stand, powerless before a brutal, unelected clique that has effectively risen above the law, which now applies only to those who are too weak to defend themselves and “foreigners” who are perpetually threatened with arbitrary arrest or deportation on mere suspicions. Meanwhile, the two safeguards of justice have been made helpless or besieged.

The judiciary does not act as a bulwark against abuses of power and the media does not play the role of a watchdog

Eyad Abu Shakra

First, the judiciary has been marginalized, weakened and called into question. Some judges, political appointees in certain democratic states, have become false witnesses who rubber-stamp whatever they receive, while dignified judges now fear for their lives or their families’ safety amid the rampages of extremist, racist mobs.

Second, the media, which is supposed to be the fourth estate in so-called democratic states, has been co-opted and gagged. Mergers have engendered monopolies and thinkers, writers and researchers have been stifled. Outlets are being blackmailed and bypassed through AI, which becomes a substitute for experienced professional journalists.

The judiciary does not act as a bulwark against abuses of power and the media does not play the role of a watchdog, which had long served as an engine for dialogue and a safety valve preventing political gridlock from deteriorating into clashes, strife and violence.

In Britain, alarming reports that go beyond the political and military roles London is now playing in support of Israel on Gaza were published this week. Indeed, they go beyond the Labour government’s adoption of Likud-style terminology and characterizations of developments in the Occupied Territories, raising existential alarm bells around the future of certain migrant communities in Britain.

The importance of Venezuelan oil to Washington becomes clearer with the economic background in mind

Eyad Abu Shakra

And while the racist right in France, the Netherlands and Germany has openly pursued anti-immigrant policies in recent years, reports from the UK reveal that millions of naturalized citizens and residents of migrant origin are vulnerable to being stripped of their right to stay and deported.

These plans bear the fingerprints of the Labour Prime Minister Tony Blair, whose government (1997-2007) expanded the “framework” for denaturalization and the revocation of residency. As a result, no one of migrant origin (especially from the Islamic world and the Global South) is safe from deportation. Making things even more dangerous, these revelations come at a time when the racist right is gaining ground, with the two traditional parties of government, the Conservatives and Labour, seeking to court these voters by adopting its demands.

In the US, the situation is no less alarming. The White House is beating the drums of war against Venezuela under the cover of the Monroe Doctrine of 1823, which turned Central and South America into America’s “backyard.”

Indeed, Washington has begun the countdown to occupying Venezuela. Home to the largest proven oil reserves in the world, the US is threatening the country under the pretext of combating drug trafficking.

Preparations for an invasion of Venezuela follow President Donald Trump’s demand that Canada join the US and his threat to occupy Greenland, which is formally linked to Denmark. At the same time, it is reportedly trying to pull four European countries (Italy, Hungary, Poland and Austria) away from the EU.

As invading Venezuela and toppling its leftist regime is justified on the grounds of its mismanagement of the economy, Trump decided to support Argentina with $40 billion. It should be noted that Argentina is currently ruled by far-right President Javier Milei, who would have faced a humiliating electoral defeat were it not for generous US backing.

It is also worth noting that Trump’s multibillion-dollar support for Argentina comes amid mounting domestic criticism of the White House from Democrats and liberals, who are racing to share economic statistics and Trump’s declining approval ratings.

In near-daily tweets, former Secretary of Commerce Robert Reich has been drawing attention to the accelerating chasm between the wealth of the few and the vast majority of citizens. One problem he pointed to is that 70 percent of the economy depends on domestic consumer spending, but with wealth piling up in the hands of the richest 10 percent, the rest of the country can no longer consume enough to keep the wheels of the economy turning.

The importance of Venezuelan oil to Washington becomes clearer with the economic background in mind. Indeed, we are seeing increasing numbers of statements by US officials about the “importance” of Chile, Bolivia and Argentina as key sources of lithium.

Naturally, the 2025 National Security Strategy, which explicitly frames mass migration as a threat, is also part of this picture.

On the concentration of wealth in the hands of a few, left-wing Sen. Bernie Sanders recently noted that the fortunes of prominent billionaires have risen dramatically since Trump’s election to a second presidential term. According to Sanders, Tesla’s Elon Musk’s wealth has risen by $187 billion, Oracle’s Larry Ellison’s by $78 billion, Amazon’s Jeff Bezos’ by $36 billion and Meta’s Mark Zuckerberg’s by $25 billion. “Meanwhile, 60 percent of Americans live paycheck to paycheck,” he wrote.

Moreover, as AI continues to eliminate jobs, the cost of food and housing continues to rise steadily. As for medical and healthcare expenses, 530,000 Americans go bankrupt each year because they are unable to bear these costs, while this problem is virtually nonexistent in the vast majority of European countries and other advanced nations.

  • Eyad Abu Shakra is managing editor of Asharq Al-Awsat, where this article was originally published. X: @eyad1949