Prominent U.S. economist Jeffrey Sachs has accused the United States of acting as a "rogue state" both domestically and internationally, saying that its recent military intervention in Venezuela was conducted without constitutional authority or public support.
The U.S. military launched a series of attacks against Venezuela on Saturday, seizing Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and flying him to the U.S. to stand trial. The U.S. actions against Venezuela have shocked the international community, triggering condemnation and raising serious concerns worldwide.
Sachs, professor of economics at Columbia University, sharply criticized the decision-making process behind the operation in an exclusive interview with the China Global Television Network (CGTN) on Sunday.
He emphasized that public demonstrations condemning the operation, which have erupted across the U.S., reflect widespread opposition and a belief that such actions endanger the United States.
"There's one thing that I would like the whole world to understand very clearly, and that is that the U.S. security state, the CIA, the National Security Agency, the White House do not represent the American people. This is not a constitutional order. This is nothing about democratic viewpoints or the public opinion. So when people demonstrate, they're expressing their opposition and their outrage, their sense that this endangers the United States. But the decisions that are being made have nothing to do with the opinions of the American people," he said.
Although the U.S. powers of war are constitutionally designated to Congress, Sachs emphasized that political deadlock often prevents them from reclaiming that authority, leading to further frustration among the public.
"Our Congress is nearly a moribund institution. It barely functions because almost everything that is done is being done by so-called executive order. So the fact that people are demonstrating is another sign of the fact that we have a rogue state, not only rogue in the international law sense, but rogue in the constitutional order of the United States, which is that Congress, and Congress alone has the power to declare war, but Congress is nowhere to be seen in this decision," he said.
U.S. actions against Venezuela show "rogue state" behavior: scholar
China's two major power grid operators -- the State Grid Corporation of China (State Grid) and China Southern Power Grid (CSG) -- reported a surge in investment in the first quarter of 2026, underscoring efforts to strengthen infrastructure construction and support high-quality socioeconomic development in China.
The State Grid said it completed fixed-asset investment worth 129 billion yuan (about 18.77 billion U.S. dollars) in the first three months of this year, up 37 percent the corresponding period of the previous year. The spending has driven more than 250 billion yuan (36 billion U.S. dollars) of investment across the wider industrial chain.
Key projects such as the Panxi ultra-high-voltage (UHV) alternating current (AC) line and the Anhui-Hubei back-to-back direct current (DC) project have seen ground broken for their construction, while several west-to-east power transmission projects have been upgraded.
Investment in connecting renewable energy generation to the grid was reported to have exceeded 10 billion yuan (1.45 billion U.S. dollars) from January to March, a year-on-year rise of more than 50 percent.
The CSG also reported robust growth in investment in the three-month period, with fixed-asset investment reaching 38.45 billion yuan (5.58 billion U.S. dollars), up about 50 percent from a year earlier.
Among its achievements, the company completed and commissioned 80 key projects, including the 220 kV cross-sea power grid interconnection project, which was officially put into operation on March 20. The project ended years of grid isolation on the Weizhou Island in south China by linking it to the main power system of the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region.
The construction of 17 other major energy projects, including one linking the power grid of the Xizang Autonomous Region in southwest China with that of Guangdong Province in south China, is advancing rapidly. These projects are expected to bolster regional industries, the maritime economy, digital collaboration and the transition to green energy.
"By accelerating major project construction, investment during the 15th Five-Year Plan period (2026-2030) is expected to approach 1 trillion yuan (145 billion U.S. dollars), driving a further 2 trillion yuan (290 billion U.S. dollars) of investment across upstream and downstream industries," said Dong Yanle, deputy general manager of the Engineering Construction Department under the China Southern Power Grid.
China ramps up power grid investment in January-March to boost growth
