Hey, I get why Johnathan was genuinely concerned about Russia’s interest in placing missiles in Venezuela. But when he thought, “When you weigh building a case against the president and his stepson against saving the world from nuclear annihilation, the right choice seemed clear,” I couldn’t help but notice the irony.
RANT TIME
The USA is often portrayed as some sort of heroic global savior in media, like they’re out there saving the world from some so-called "third-world villains.” But in reality, it’s often just a way to keep those countries from growing economically or gaining any real power ESPECIALLY when it comes to things like nuclear development
Take, for example, international students who studied advanced technologies like nuclear science in the USA, intending to return home and contribute to their country’s progress, and some of them suspiciously died just before leaving😬🤷🏻♀️
I know this a fictional book, but I am just stating my 2 cents on this matter.
Oh I 100% agree. Actually I couldn't help but notice the irony either. If you're up for it, read the next book in the series. It's called Zero Sum. I just started it and we've got fentanyl and a drug war in the mix...need I say more? 
The thing is that what you're ranting about has been addressed many times. Entertainment may call it "fiction" but we've seen it time and time again. If you ever have time watch a film called War Chhod Na Yaar. It's a satirical but it actually covers this exact topic in a comic way and leaves a big impression. The film was lacking in many places, but I enjoyed it for what it showed. Or think about big masala movies. Tiger Zinda Hai had RAW and ISI come together to save all the nurses and in the scene when they decide to work together they do touch on this same topic. In Ek Tha Tiger when they show the terrorist on an US army base for an oil deal the "American" makes a right comment - he came in as a businessman but is leaving as a terrorist. These are just 3 movies I can think of off the top of my head, but there are so many others. And not just movies, even TV shows and webseries.
They all say it, but because it's "fiction" we kind of overlook it or because we're just looking to escape from the real world, we pretend not to understand. The one thing I liked about this Jonathan Grave series (apart from the thrill and action of course) is that the author covered a lot of pertinent topics, but in the guise of the action and thrill, those topics aren't obvious. He's covered everything from drug cartels to human slavery to the skin business. And yes it's mostly focused on North and South America, but the issues are really there. They aren't fake or made-up.
I haven't written in a while, but when I used to write, I would pull ideas from real life. During school, for English classes from grades 6 through 12 I wrote a full detective series (one mini story every year) and I focused on murders that had made our local news here. Using them I made a fiction world around it. That was me as a kid, but even adult authors do the same. I had the chance to go and listen to Kathy Reichs live about a year ago and she spoke about her Brennan books and clearly said, "I will take inspiration from my or my family's real lives. Each murder, each case, each book finds it base from something that has happened in one of our lives and then I build a whole story around it."
Bade Achhe Lagte Hain
CID
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