The writer is an FT contributing editor and writes the Chartbook newsletter
Blacked-out helicopters fly low across a darkened city. Explosions and gunfire erupt. Masked men surge towards their objective — a kill, a capture, a body, a blindfolded and handcuffed VIP. All of it filmed live through night vision optics, fed back to a command centre where a group huddles, eyes fixed on the screens. The whole event, long trailed in advance and yet a complete surprise. Held secret, for security reasons of course, until unleashed on the world as a sensational PR coup.
Since the abduction of President Nicolás Maduro of Venezuela by US special forces last weekend, the world has been puzzling over motive and strategy. Was it oil? The “Donroe Doctrine”? Cuba? Who is next?