“Congressional Republicans say they’re confident that whatever happens next in Venezuela will work out in Americans’ favor,” NOTUS reports.

“Their rosy outlook defies the lack of detail available about what it means that the U.S. is ‘running’ Venezuela. And there’s a long list of U.S. involvement in regime changes that Democrats, and even some conservatives, are pointing to as reason to take a more measured tone. But still, many Republicans say it’s different this time.”

New York Times: “Under a little-known Cold War agreement, the United States already enjoys sweeping military access in Greenland. Right now, the United States has one base in a very remote corner of the island. But the agreement allows it to ‘construct, install, maintain, and operate’ military bases across Greenland, ‘house personnel’ and ‘control landings, takeoffs, anchorages, moorings, movements, and operation of ships, aircraft, and waterborne craft.’”

“It was signed in 1951 by the United States and Denmark, which colonized Greenland more than 300 years ago and still controls some of its affairs.”

CNBC: Why Trump wants Greenland — and what makes it so important for national security.

New York Times: “Even with those outward displays of European-American unity, underlying everything is Mr. Trump’s sudden return to a more imperialist era. Europeans who consider the American intervention in Venezuela a violation of international law see a U.S. president newly empowered and enthralled by military action, which he compared to watching a television show.”

“He comes across as a largely unpredictable force capable of causing enormous disruption — in NATO, in Ukraine, in Iran, in Gaza — as his eye swings from one imagined prize to another.”

Axios: Trump’s Greenland threats put transatlantic alliance on death watch.

“By all accounts, Cuba is enduring the worst economic moment in the 67-year history of its communist revolution,” the New York Times reports.

“While the island nation has endured periodic episodes of mass migration, food shortages and social unrest in decades past, never before have Cubans experienced such a wholesale collapse of the social safety net that the country’s leaders — starting with Fidel Castro — once prided themselves on.”

“Russia has sent a submarine and other naval assets to escort an empty, rusting oil tanker that has become a new flashpoint in U.S.-Russia relations,” the Wall Street Journal reports.

“The tanker, formerly known as the Bella 1, has been trying to evade the U.S. blockade of sanctioned oil tankers near Venezuela for more than two weeks. The vessel failed to dock in Venezuela and load with oil. Although the ship is empty, the U.S. Coast Guard has pursued it into the Atlantic in a bid to crack down on a fleet of tankers that ferry illicit oil around the world, including black-market oil sold by Russia.”

“Standing between President Trump and his vision for a stable, U.S.-friendly oil power looms one man: Diosdado Cabello, the belligerent and eccentric de facto leader of Venezuela’s security forces and brutal militias, and a wild card in the country’s future,” the Wall Street Journal reports.

“Cabello, whose first name means ‘God-given’ in Spanish, has long positioned himself as the regime’s fiercest defender, commanding some of the ‘colectivos’—armed gangs who roared through Caracas on motorbikes this week in a menacing show of force.”

“Indicted by the U.S. alongside ousted Nicolás Maduro, Cabello faces a choice: back the fledgling government of his rival, acting President Delcy Rodríguez, or make a bold play for power himself, toppling her and risking face-to-face conflict with American commandos.”

Axios: Trump presses Venezuela to dismiss agents from China, Russia, Iran, Cuba.

Playbook: “Every politician in Europe is taking this deadly seriously now, as witnessed by yesterday’s extraordinary joint statement — signed by the leaders of Britain, France, Germany and many more — warning Trump off annexing territory owned by a NATO ally.”

“Needless to say, no statement remotely like that has been issued in the 75-plus years of the Western alliance. The postwar settlement is rocking before our eyes.”

Politico: How Trump gets Greenland in four easy steps.

Playbook: “We’re only one week into 2026, and already these are seismic moments for America’s relations with the world. A U.S. government publicly threatening a Western ally with military action to seize part of its territory. An American president gleefully taking tens of millions of barrels of oil from a neighbor whose leader he just forcibly deposed.”

“It seems 2026 will be the year that the head-spinning rejection of rules and norms we’ve all grown accustomed to under Trump 2.0 goes global. The only question — now being asked by worried allies and foes alike — is just how far the president will go.”

Punchbowl News: “Democrats are reluctant to embrace their most bare-knuckled tool to prevent President Donald Trump from launching further military operations against Venezuela or other nations.”

“Instead of threatening to hold up or even block government funding bills, Democrats are opting for a vote on a war powers resolution that, while politically significant, will be largely symbolic.”

“Lawmakers are staring down a Jan. 30 deadline to fund defense and diplomatic programs or face a partial government shutdown. Some Democrats want to use that must-pass legislation to demand language curtailing future military action against Venezuela or elsewhere.”

“But those Democrats are decidedly in the minority, with many more — even those most ardently opposed to Trump’s foreign policy moves — fearful that it’ll unravel the already-delicate funding process.”