U.S. Blockades Venezuela

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Global Recap
December 17, 2025 • Read in: 8 minutes

🇦🇺 AUSTRALIA
Bondi Suspect
Awoke from Coma

Bondi Beach Terrorist Naveed Akram

New South Wales Police are questioning 24-year-old Bondi Beach gunman Naveed Akram in his hospital bed after he awoke from a coma.

He has now been charged with 59 offenses, including 15 counts of murder and one count of committing a terrorist act.

  • Update: Authorities initially stated that Sajid Akram (the older Akram) had held a firearms license since 2015.

    • However, they've issued a correction, saying that Akram applied for one in 2015, but it lapsed in 2016 because he didn't provide a photo.

    • He applied again in 2020 and was ultimately issued one in 2023.

🇻🇪 VENEZUELA
Trump Orders
Tanker Blockade

U.S. President Trump (left) and Venezuelan President Maduro (right)

President Trump ordered a "blockade" of U.S.-sanctioned oil tankers entering and leaving Venezuela, escalating his pressure campaign against Venezuelan President Maduro.

  • Trigger: The order came after the U.S. seized a sanctioned tanker off Venezuela’s coast, signaling that ship interceptions are not mere threats anymore.

  • Scope: The White House and the reporting around it point to a focus on sanctioned vessels, not a blanket shutdown of all Venezuelan maritime commerce, which matters because the legal and military implications are wildly different. However, how Trump will enforce this is unclear as of now.

  • Response: Venezuela’s government condemned the move and the prior seizure as illegal aggression and said it would press its case internationally. Maduro even sang a song about it—fearlessness or cope? 👇🏼

  • Disruption: Tracking data showed a sharp drop in vessels waiting to call at Venezuelan ports after the seizure, and reporting estimates about 10 to 11 million barrels sitting on tankers nearby.

📌 Context: Venezuela’s economy runs on oil exports, and years of sanctions pushed much of that trade into opaque shipping networks.

A true military blockade is generally treated as an act of war in international law debates, which is why lawmakers and legal experts are already arguing over authority and legitimacy.

🇷🇺 RUSSIA
Feeder Can’t Feed

A lot of you ask me: “why do you keep coming back to the economy?”

  • It’s simple. Geopolitics is downstream of whether people can eat, work, and believe tomorrow will be better.

  • And lately I’ve been watching something I don’t see often: Russia’s own propagandists (people whose careers depend on loyalty) starting to hedge, question, and hint that the system may not be able to provide the way it used to.

“So what happens when even the most loyal voices start realizing the feeder can’t feed?”

That’s what we’re tracking right now, and we break down what comes next on our Spotify podcast.

🇺🇸 UNITED STATES
Travel Restrictions
Expand Again

Since we are on the topic of immigration enforcement:

Today, President Trump signed a proclamation widening U.S. entry restrictions, adding five countries to the full ban, upgrading two more to full suspension, and imposing partial limits on 15 additional countries. The changes take effect Jan. 1, 2026.

  • Backdrop: The administration framed the move as a screening and vetting issue, and it telegraphed an expansion after an Afghan national was arrested in the shooting of two National Guard troops over Thanksgiving weekend.

  • Expansion: The system now spans 39 countries total: 19 under full suspension and 20 under partial restrictions, plus a separate full suspension for people traveling on Palestinian Authority-issued or endorsed documents.

    • Targets: Full suspension now covers seven additional countries: Burkina Faso, Laos, Mali, Niger, Sierra Leone, South Sudan, Syria, with Laos and Sierra Leone moved up from the earlier partial list.

    • Mechanics: The 15 newly "partial" countries are Angola, Antigua and Barbuda, Benin, Cote d’Ivoire, Dominica, Gabon, The Gambia, Malawi, Mauritania, Nigeria, Senegal, Tanzania, Tonga, Zambia, Zimbabwe, and the limits generally hit immigrant entry and specific non-immigrant visa categories, not every type of travel.

  • Carve-outs: People who already hold certain visas, lawful permanent residents, and categories like diplomats and athletes can be exempt, and the policy allows case-by-case waivers when entry is deemed to serve U.S. interests.

📌 Context: In June 2025, the White House imposed full suspensions on 12 countries and partial restrictions on seven others, then used a review process to expand, upgrade, and fine-tune the list in December.

🇵🇸 GAZA STRIP
Hamas Won’t Disarm

Top Hamas official Khalil al-Hayya delivering a speech marking the 38th anniversary of Hamas’s establishment

Hamas just shut down discussions on its disarmament while confirming that Israel killed its senior commander Raed Saad in a strike in the Gaza City area.

  • Message: In remarks tied to Hamas’s 38th anniversary on December 14, Khalil al-Hayya claimed that the group’s weapons are a "legitimate right" under international law and that the group will not give them up without a Palestinian state.

  • Strike: Hayya confirmed Israel killed Raed Saad on Saturday, December 13, in an attack on a civilian vehicle near Gaza City, a killing Israel presented as targeting a senior Hamas figure.

  • Plan: The fight is over what comes next in the October truce framework, including a proposed International Stabilization Force meant to take responsibility for Gaza’s security in a later phase, paired with Hamas disarmament and further Israeli withdrawal.

  • Hostages: The deal’s first phase is described as ending when Hamas returns 48 living and dead hostages who were still in Gaza when the agreement was signed on October 9. The remains of Israel Police Master Sgt. Ran Gvili are described as still in Gaza.

📌 Context: The ceasefire paused large-scale fighting, but it postponed the hardest problems like who provides security, who governs Gaza, and whether Hamas keeps its weapons.