Barrels and Bananas: China, Russia, and Iran Test Monroe Doctrine in South America’s Failed States
Venezuela isn’t a failed state spiraling in chaos — it’s a stress test, and Washington is finally pushing on the cracks. For years, Nicolás Maduro survived not because he was strong, but because he pretended to be untouchable, hiding behind the threat of protection from Moscow, Beijing, and Tehran. He bluffed. The bluff held — until it didn’t. Now the patrons he swore would come running are broke, bogged down, or burning from within, and the moment of reckoning has arrived. This isn’t about socialism, sanctions, or sympathy for a dictator. It’s about power, oil, and whether America still enforces the red lines it drew two centuries ago — or lets hostile regimes rewrite the Monroe Doctrine in real time.
Watch the Trailer for Philipp’s new documentary, Truth Under Fire: The Framing of Charlie Kirk
Joshua Philipp, investigative reporter at The Epoch Times, is available for interviews to break down what’s really happening in Venezuela—and why the story has far less to do with drug boats or ideology than with geopolitics, deterrence, and energy power.
Venezuela Allies Weaker than Before
In a recent appearance with Jesse Kelly, Philipp traced today’s Venezuela crisis back nearly a decade to 2018, when Nicolás Maduro was widely accused of winning reelection through fraud. At that moment, the Trump administration openly considered decisive action. Maduro’s response was not domestic reform, but external deterrence: he publicly leaned on alliances with Russia, China, and Iran, signaling that any U.S. move would risk a broader confrontation.
What changed is not Venezuela—but the condition of Maduro’s would-be protectors.
Russia is now deeply bogged down in Ukraine, its military and economic capacity strained. Iran’s regime is internally weakened, facing legitimacy crises and regional setbacks. China, long seen as the ultimate backstop, is confronting severe structural economic problems, with debt, deflationary pressures, and slowing growth putting Beijing on precarious footing. According to Philipp, Trump’s posture toward Venezuela reflected a calculated risk: the assumption that the promised support Maduro threatened to invoke would not, in fact, materialize.
And it didn’t.
Philipp also places Venezuela within the framework of the Monroe Doctrine, which historically asserted that the Western Hemisphere should not fall under the influence of foreign powers. In its modern incarnation, that doctrine is no longer about 19th-century European empires—but about China, Russia, and Iran embedding themselves politically, militarily, and economically in Central and South America.
Another emerging flashpoint Philipp highlights is Guyana. Massive oil reserves have been discovered there, reshaping the regional chessboard. Control of oil today is not merely about profiting from high prices. It is about devaluing oil itself. If production surges globally and supply floods the market, prices collapse—triggering an oil bust that can cripple petro-states and even put once-untouchable energy giants at risk.
Philipp’s reporting reframes Venezuela not as an isolated crisis, but as a test case in a larger struggle over energy, influence, and whether the Western Hemisphere will remain geopolitically sovereign—or quietly absorbed into rival power blocs.
Joshua Philipp brings clarity, documentation, and strategic context to a story most outlets are still getting wrong.
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Relevant Article(s)
Jesse Kelly Interviews Joshua Philipp – Special Guests
How China is factor in oil tanker seizures targeting Maduro, Venezuela
Has Venezuela been ditched by its strongest allies – Russia and China?
Relevant Guests if Philipp not available: Bill Conroy, Adam Hardage, Jeff Crouere
OPTIONAL Q&A:
- How did Venezuela shift from a narco-state narrative to a geopolitical standoff involving China, Russia, and Iran?
- Why did Maduro believe foreign deterrence would save him after the 2018 election—and why did that calculation collapse now?
- What did Trump see in the weakening of Russia, Iran, and China that previous administrations either missed or ignored?
- How does the Monroe Doctrine apply in the 21st century when the threats aren’t European empires but authoritarian superpowers?
- Why is Guyana suddenly one of the most dangerous flashpoints in the Western Hemisphere?
- How does flooding the world with oil function as a weapon rather than a profit strategy?
- What happens to petro-states, cartels, and energy giants if oil prices crash simultaneously?
- Is Venezuela a one-off case, or the opening move in a larger hemispheric reset America hasn’t acknowledged yet?
ABOUT JOSHUA PHILIPP…
Joshua Philipp is an award-winning journalist and Senior Investigative Reporter at The Epoch Times. He is the host of ‘Crossroads,’ a news and analysis program on EpochTV. His works have included breakthrough investigations into the origins of Covid-19 and the Wuhan laboratory in the early days of the pandemic. He spearheaded the first documentary on the lab leak origins of the COVID-19 virus, released in April 2020. This groundbreaking documentary garnered over 75 million views, and while many tried to label it misinformation, its findings have since been vindicated by the White House and US intelligence agencies.
EXPERT ANALYSIS FROM JOSHUA PHILIPP
Joshua Philipp, senior investigative reporter at The Epoch Times and a recognized China expert, has mapped out these networks during his 15-plus years of research into the CCP. He provides a deeper context on the CCP’s attempts to subvert the systems and institutions in the United States. As the Chinese regime states, they aim to “strangle you with your own systems,” and that tactic is playing out across key industries and institutions in the US.
Josh is also a leading expert on Chinese unconventional warfare and United Front operations, which he has investigated and exposed since 2008. His 15-plus years of research and investigations on the Chinese Communist Party, subversion, human rights abuses and related topics give him unique insight into the global threat and political landscape.
DOCUMENTARIES/SERIES
• Tracking Down the Origin of the Wuhan Coronavirus
• The Final War: The 100-Year Plot to Defeat America
NOTABLE APPEARANCES
• The National Press Club
• Harvard University
• CPAC
• Turning Point USA
• Tucker Carlson Tonight on Fox News
• Steve Bannon’s War Room
• The U.S. Air Academy
CONTACT: Todd Baumann at 512-966-0983 or by email Jerry McGlothlin at bookings@specialguests.com.
