What Quinn Cozens would think about the Venezuela fiasco
Quinn Cozens is a die-hard, unapologetic libertarian and the protagonist in the post-apocalyptic dystopian survival series, Beyond the Lost.
Quinn’s story begins in July 2030, when America collapses from a deadly terrorist attack. Quinn stumbles upon a K-pop idol named Yui Kikuchi, who’s caught in the crossfire. Together, they’re forced to navigate a post-apocalyptic America.
But, four and a half years before those events, the Trump administration sought regime change in Venezuela. Here is a 24-year-old Quinn Cozens’ hot, opinionated take on America’s latest regime-change conflict.
Venezuela is the warm-up. Iran the real theater?
If you still think Venezuela is about democracy, you’re already behind.
States don’t move aggressively around oil because they’re confident. They do it because they’re running simulations they don’t want you to see. When President Donald Trump said the United States would “run” Venezuela during a transition period and suggested U.S. oil companies would play a major role in rebuilding the country’s collapsed energy infrastructure, that was strategy.
Trump framed U.S. involvement as temporary governance paired with heavy participation by American energy firms in restoring oil production.
Now, make no mistake: the United States has not enacted a formal legal seizure of Venezuelan oil reserves, and PDVSA—Venezuela’s state-owned oil company—still technically controls the country’s oil fields and infrastructure. For now, at least.
But here’s the part most people miss. In the modern world, controlling oil is about who controls access to markets, who can insure shipments, who clears payments, and who ultimately decides whether oil moves at all.
Sanctions, licensing regimes, shipping insurance, and financial clearing systems often matter more than formal ownership. When the U.S. government publicly signals an intent to direct a sector during a political transition and invites American firms back in, that can function as leverage, even if the legal titles never change.
From a distance, Venezuela looks like chaos
Corruption, decay, political dysfunction, and economic collapse are all in the mix. From a strategist’s desk, it looks like something else entirely—a hedge.
Venezuela holds the largest proven oil reserves in the world, accounting for roughly 17–18% of global proved reserves, yet produces only a fraction of its potential due to decades of mismanagement, underinvestment, sanctions, and infrastructure decay.
You don’t build influence in a foreign oil sector unless you’re worried about supply somewhere else. And there is only one region capable of producing a supply shock large enough to justify this kind of maneuver.
That’s where some independent analysts believe the real danger lies. Former CIA analyst Larry C. Johnson has publicly warned that escalating tensions with Iran are moving toward direct confrontation, arguing that current U.S. and Israeli actions suggest preparation rather than deterrence.
Johnson’s assessment isn’t official policy, but it aligns with a broader pattern: States don’t secure alternative energy supplies unless they believe disruption elsewhere is becoming likely. Keep an eye on those brewing tensions, because this could lead to something drastic in the Middle East.
– Quinn Cozens
Meet this libertarian firebrand in Beyond the Lost
If that unease resonates, it’s because you’re already standing on the edge of the world Quinn Cozens inhabits in Beyond the Lost Horizon—where everyone’s looking the other way until terrorist cells who’ve had enough of American interventionism rear their ugly heads and throw the United States into apocalyptic chaos.
If you want to step deeper into that world, you’ll find Beyond the Lost Horizon inside The Rebel Lore Vault. Enter Quinn’s world, and know a retaliatory attack like he experiences would come from decades of foreign adventurism. Get Beyond the Lost Horizon today at The Rebel Lore Vault.
