What Happened This Week:

Self-proclaimed “interim president” Juan Guaido gambled this week to try to force the ouster of de facto Venezuelan president Nicolas Maduro, calling on the Venezuelan people to join him in mass protests and military officials to defect to his side. People showed up to protest—both for and against Maduro—but the military defections Guaido hoped for never quite materialized.

Why It Matters:

When it comes to politics, timing is everything. Guaido had real momentum in January when he announced that Maduro’s electoral win was rigged and illegitimate (correct on both counts), and that Venezuela’s constitution empowered the head of the country’s parliament (read: him) to serve as president until free and fair elections could be held. The US backed Guaido immediately, a diplomatic victory which opened the door for other countries to follow suit—more than 50 countries now recognize Guaido as the country’s rightful leader. But none of those countries were willing to ..

(SEOUL, South Korea) — North Korea on Saturday fired several unidentified short-range projectiles into the sea off its eastern coast, the South Korean Joint Chiefs of Staff said, a likely sign of Pyongyang’s growing frustration at stalled diplomatic talks with Washington meant to provide coveted sanctions relief in return for nuclear disarmament.

South Korea’s military has bolstered its surveillance in case there are additional weapons launches, and South Korean and U.S. authorities are analyzing the details. If it’s confirmed that the North fired banned ballistic missiles, it would be the first such launch since the North’s November 2017 test of an intercontinental ballistic missile. That year saw a string of increasingly powerful weapons tests from the North and a belligerent response from President Donald Trump that had many in the region fearing war.

The South initially reported Saturday that a single missile was fired, but later issued a statement that said “several projectiles”..