The overnight strikes on Venezuela, the abduction of its leader, Nicolás Maduro, and his wife, and Donald Trump’s declaration that the US would “run” the country and sell its oil, have driven another truck through international law and global norms. But that is not even the most concerning thing about it.
Donald Trump has been driving convoys of bulldozers through that increasingly fragile edifice since taking office nearly a year ago, and now it is mostly wreckage. The events overnight were preceded by airstrikes on small boats in the seas off Central America and the killing of their crews based on unproven allegations of drug trafficking, and the armed seizure of Venezuelan oil tankers on the high seas. It is not yet known how many people were killed in the capture of Maduro in the early hours of Saturday.
In terms of global stability, the worst thing about the Maduro rendition is that it worked. […]
Hours after ousting Maduro, Trump said US were ready to move in to fix Venezuela’s decrepit, sanctions-ravaged oil industry. “We’ll be selling large amounts of oil,” he said.
The international laws and norms Trump has barged through had already been loosened by previous US administrations. The operation most closely resembles the 1990 invasion of Panama and forced surrender of its strongman, by the first Bush administration. Läs artikel