In the final days of 2025 and the opening weeks of 2026, the American political class has orchestrated a series of high-definition geopolitical dramas that serve a precise domestic function: the Manufacturing of Diversion. As the United States navigates a period of profound economic fragility and the total collapse of its international moral standing, the state has reverted to what Professor Noam Chomsky identifies as the "Propaganda Model"—creating external monsters to justify internal rot.
The "Successful" Coup: A Manhattan Melodrama
The recent extraction of Nicolás Maduro to a federal courtroom in New York is a masterpiece of diversionary theater. By framing the Venezuelan crisis as a cinematic struggle between "Law and Order" and a "Narco-Dictator," the Trump administration has successfully moved the goalposts of public discourse.
The media focus on Maduro’s blue jail uniform serves to bury a far more uncomfortable reality: the U.S. has effectively lost its ability to lead through diplomacy, relying instead on "kidnapping" as a primary tool of foreign policy. This spectacle allows the administration to claim a victory for the Monroe Doctrine, signaling to a domestic audience that America is still "strong," even as its influence in the Eastern Hemisphere evaporates.
The Shadow of Gaza: 70,000 Reasons for Silence
The most pressing issue from which the public must be diverted is the participation of the United States in the genocide in Gaza. With the death toll officially surpassing 70,000 Palestinians—a number that represents the systematic erasure of families and infrastructure—the U.S. role as the "arsenal of democracy" has been replaced by its role as the co-sponsor of a humanitarian catastrophe.
The distraction here is not just the absence of coverage, but the type of coverage. By focusing on "ceasefire frameworks" and the appointment of U.S. generals to "stabilization forces," the state transforms a moral horror into a logistical management problem. This sanitization of violence is designed to prevent the American public from connecting the $21 billion in military aid sent to Israel with the stagflation-lite economy at home, where 3% inflation and stagnant wages have made basic living unaffordable for the bottom 60% of households.
The Forgotten Fronts: Sudan and Congo as Collateral Damage
In the Chomskyan framework, the most powerful form of propaganda is the "Un-Person." In 2026, the victims in Sudan (the world's largest refugee crisis) and the Congo have become Un-People.
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Sudan: While the U.S. obsesses over Maduro, over 150,000 Sudanese have been killed and millions face famine. The U.S. maintains a policy of "selective engagement," intervening only where its transactional interests in gold and regional stability are threatened.
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The Congo: The unchecked violence in the Kivu provinces is a direct result of the Western demand for "Green Energy" minerals. The distraction here is the "Climate Transition" narrative, which masks the fact that the lithium and cobalt powering American EVs are extracted through the displacement and death of Congolese civilians.
Conclusion: The Economy of Fear
The ultimate distraction is the "Great Enemy" narrative. By escalating tensions with Iran and China, the state justifies a defense-heavy budget that prioritizes the military-industrial complex over domestic infrastructure.
For the layman, the message is simple: you are being told to look at "dangerous dictators" abroad so you don't look at the K-shaped divergence in your own bank account. The loss of American dignity on the world stage—the inability to lecture on human rights while 70,000 lie dead in Gaza—is a wound that cannot be healed by coups in Venezuela. It requires a fundamental shift in the distribution of power, a shift that the "Spectacle" is designed to prevent.
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