Happy New Year! Diana shares her favorite policy podcasts that keep her focused during her studies and commutes to campus.

"Born in Caracas, I am a U.S. federal judge," writes IGP Carnegie Distinguished Fellow Roy Altman. "Millions of exiles around the world hope this is the end of a decades long nightmare."

"For the good of the country, Mr. Trump should rediscover his instinct for military restraint," writes Jon Finer, former IGP Carnegie Distinguished Fellow and CGEP Distinguished Visiting Fellow

Washington’s long-term interests require a smooth political transition in Caracas, not short-sighted mercantilism, writes Jason Bordoff, founding director of the Center on Global Energy Policy at Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs.

As Rubio described, there are also obstacles in Venezuelan law and in how the state-owned oil company PDVSA is managed that would need to be resolved — which could be challenging as long as Rodríguez, a former PDVSA official, remains in power, said Luisa Palacios, managing director of energy transition finance at Columbia University’s Center on Global Energy Policy and an ex-chair of the refining company Citgo, which was previously owned by Venezuela.

“If we do see sanctions lifted, then we see Venezuela becoming a less important oil supplier to China, especially after those loans are repaid,” said Erica Downs, a senior research scholar at the Center on Global Energy Policy at Columbia University.

“Venezuela is the country that has seen the most expropriation cases brought against it. This means the starting risk premium there is very high,” said Luisa Palacios, the former Citgo executive who is now interim director of research and managing director of energy transition finance at Columbia University’s Center on Global Energy Policy.

"The US president used largely fictitious charges to seize control, but can’t know how Venezuelans will react," writes Rajan Menon. "He may also overstep now as regards Iran."

HuffPost spoke with Columbia University professor Elizabeth Saunders about the risks of a "personalist" foreign policy and potential pushback.

According to Robert Y. Shapiro, professor of International and Public Affairs at Columbia University, the U.S. action in Venezuela “further tarnishes Trump’s image as a peacemaker and Nobel Prize candidate,” although he noted that “the operation was a military success and further established the military and operational capabilities of the United States.”