Russia Is Gearing Up for a Conflict With the United States in the Caribbean

With Moscow propping up Maduro, evading oil sanctions, and moving its troops around the coast, Washington needs to rethink its own strategies.

New conflicts in the rest of the world may be looming large, but one in the United States' own backyard is about to get more dangerous. Despite U.S.-led sanctions on Venezuela's state-owned oil company, Petróleos de Venezuela (PDVSA), oil from the country is still flowing onto world markets. A central facilitator of the exports is Rosneft, Russia's state-owned oil company, which has been accepting Venezuelan crude as a form of loan repayment. In this way, Russian President Vladimir Putin is playing a leading role in keeping Venezuelan dictator Nicolás Maduro afloat. As long as he does, current U.S. sanctions policy will do little to force a change in Venezuela, which is why Washington needs to rethink its strategy for dislodging the Venezuelan leader—and soon.