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🇬🇧PM Keir #Starmer said he would wait for the press conference to respond to the Venezuela invasion. In that presser Trump announced the US will be running Venezuela, most likely with a military occupation, in order to extract its oil. Over to you Keir... davekeating.substack.com/p/a-day-that...

Full play-by-play of Trump's Venezuela invasion press conference here:

Now that it has been made clear that this isn't simply a leader kidnapping but actually a full-on invasion and occupation of a sovereign state, our European leaders who said they were "closely monitoring the situation" have apparently now gone into hiding.

Spain's PM Pedro Sanchez is 1st European leader to make a stronger statement following Trump's press conference where he said the US will run Venezuela and take its oil. Sanchez has been ostracised by other 🇪🇺 leaders for his past criticism of Trump. Will they listen to him now?

Even after watching Trump's press conference openly admitting 🇺🇸has invaded Venezuela in order to run it and take its oil, 🇫🇷President Macron has released a statement appearing to endorse US actions (as opposed to Le Pen who condemned 🇺🇸invasion). Where does this leave Europe's credibility on Ukraine?

The Netherlands: "(The NL) does not recognize the Maduro regime and suggests a return to democracy as fast as possible. NL calls on all parties to avoid further escalation and to follow international law."

🇮🇹PM Meloni sounds same as Macron, Starmer & Merz in giving stamp of approval to 🇺🇸invasion of Venezuela (though she's going extra step pretending she believes absurd claim that this is about drug trafficking) Throughout Europe, only opposition figures are criticising 🇺🇸. Anyone in power is too scared

And here it is. Starmer's post-press-conference statement manages to be even more cowardly than his initial response. Vague call for international law to be respected. Ignores that it has *already been violated* this morning. No mention of US.

A reminder: it doesn't have to be this way. Mexico has a hell of a lot more to lose than Europe by angering Trump. Yet this is the response of its president just now. This isn't a global phenomenon. Why have Europeans proven to be so uniquely cowardly over the past year?