Trump confirms CIA operations in Venezuela
The World
PRX
4.6 • 943 Ratings
🗓️ 16 October 2025
⏱️ 51 minutes
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Summary
US President Donald Trump has confirmed that he authorized the CIA to conduct secret operations in Venezuela, adding that the White House is weighing the possibility of a land attack on the country. Also, staff members at a prestigious opera house in Venice, Italy, are going on strike to protest the incoming conductor, saying she lacks the experience needed for the role. And, Doctors Without Borders shutters its emergency care center in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, amid a surge in violence. Plus, 130 years later, The British Library reinstates playwright and author Oscar Wilde’s library card.
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| 0:00.0 | What the hell is going on right now? And why is it happening like this? At Wired, we're obsessed with getting to the bottom of those questions, and maybe you are too. I'm Katie Drummond, the global editorial director of Wired, and I'm hosting our new podcast series, The Big Interview. Each week, I'll sit down with some of the most interesting, provocative, and influential people who are shaping our right now. |
| 0:24.4 | Listen to the big interview right now in the same place you find Wyard's Uncanny Valley podcast. |
| 0:34.7 | The U.S. President has threatened land attacks on Venezuela. |
| 0:38.3 | The Venezuelan government hopes he's bluffing. |
| 0:41.3 | It's well known that Trump is not keen on boots on the ground. |
| 0:43.3 | He's not keen on invasions that might lead to an open-ended military commitment. |
| 0:48.3 | I'm Carolyn Beeler, today making sense of the posturing between the U.S. and Venezuela. |
| 0:53.3 | And in Haiti, it is rival factions and police forces that are fighting. |
| 0:58.8 | The civilian population is in the middle. |
| 1:01.3 | A new loss leaves them without emergency health care. |
| 1:05.0 | Plus, he was a treasure trove of pithy quotes. |
| 1:08.5 | I find that alcohol taken in sufficient quantities can produce all the effects of drunkenness. |
| 1:12.7 | But Oscar Wilde didn't have a library card. |
| 1:15.6 | And some helpful reassurances from a walk across the globe. |
| 1:19.5 | The world is still the world and people are still people. |
| 1:21.9 | Those stories and more on the world. |
| 1:27.6 | This is the world. |
| 1:29.1 | I'm Carolyn Beeler. |
| 1:30.3 | Thanks for coming along this Thursday. |
| 1:32.4 | Covert operations are, by definition, shadowy affairs. |
| 1:36.0 | But yesterday, President Trump stood in front of cameras in the Oval Office and confirmed |
| 1:40.6 | something that is usually kept under wraps. |
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