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The toppling and alleged seizure by invading US forces of Venezuela's socialist president will send a shiver of fear and consternation around the world. This coup is illegal, unprovoked, and destabilizing for the region and the world. It overturns international norms, ignores national territorial sovereignty, and potentially creates an anarchic situation inside Venezuela itself.

It is policy crafted from chaos. But this is the reality we currently inhabit – the world according to the US President.

A Remarkable and Dangerous Assertion of Unfettered US Power

The overt assault on Venezuela marks an remarkable, hazardous declaration of unfettered US power and arrives the same week that Trump threatened armed attacks against another unpopular anti-western regime: the one in Tehran. It comes after many months of escalating US military, economic and political pressure on Maduro, encompassing deadly naval strikes on vessels suspected of drug smuggling.

Trump claims to be acting to prevent illegal narcotics entering the US via Venezuela and to halt an purported flood of “criminal element” migrants. In an repetition of the US invasion of Iraq in 2003, he is also charged with desiring Venezuela’s huge oil and gas resources – doubts strengthened by frequent, unlawful US confiscations of Venezuelan oil tankers.

But Trump’s chief motivations appear to be individual hostility aimed at Maduro, and a wish to resurrect the historical Monroe Doctrine by establishing a US sphere of influence and supremacy across the Western Hemisphere.

Regional Outrage and Worldwide Consequences

Hemispheric heads of state, including Colombia’s president, who has conflicted with Trump in the past few months, greeted the coup with fury and concern; in part, possibly, because they worry they also could become victims of Washington’s newly aggressive dominance. Cuba’s socialist administration has special reason for worry. It depends significantly on Venezuela’s regime for low-cost fuel and political and economic support.

The US top diplomat has been explicit of his wish to see regime change in Havana. In Panama, too, anxiety levels will be elevated. Trump has in the past menaced armed intervention there, over authority over the Panama Canal. Indeed, the alleged apprehension of Maduro brings to mind the 1989 US invasion of Panama and the overthrow and detention of its then dictator.

Autocratic, undemocratic governments globally will be carefully watching Trump’s subsequent moves, as will Washington’s democratic allies. Iran condemned the coup. It has good reason to be fearful. But Russia’s president might not be totally displeased by the defenestration of his Venezuelan ally.

A Dangerous Precedent for International Disputes

Trump’s unprovoked resort to violence is not so very different from moves during the invasion of Ukraine. Both have illegally attacked a bordering nation and sought to remove its leadership. For China’s leader, whose forces were recently practising military action against the “separatists” of Taiwan, Trump has just established a benchmark he may eventually happily emulate.

Trump’s coup is of great concern to Britain, the EU and democratic Western nations. They should, and must, clearly denounce it. It directly challenges the rules and principles of the international order they cherish. The US has yet again ignored the UN and conventional approaches of addressing inter-state grievances. And it is proceeding with apparently scant regard for the subsequent events in Venezuela.

An Unclear Future and Risk of Disorder

The Caracas government has been decapitated, but other senior members of the regime seem to remain at their posts. They are urging resistance and, potentially, retaliation against the US. There are unverified accounts of civilian casualties. If a leadership void develops, civil stability could collapse, igniting internal conflict or a possible military coup. And it is uncertain whether the most recent American armed intervention has concluded, or may escalate further.

The idea that banished dissident figures will swiftly return and that complete democratic rule will now be restored is unrealistic. The coming days will be critical. And it’s all down to Trump.

The Myth of the Peacemaker

Trump’s reckless action should finally lay to rest his perpetually deceptive self-portrayal as a “global peacemaker”. It’s past time that European leaders openly acknowledge him for what he is – a global warmaker, a worldwide threat.

Each time he blunders noisily into areas of dispute, imposing timelines, issuing ultimatums, picking favourites and profiting from suffering, the pursuit of just and lasting peace is set back.

Little wonder peace remains distant. And strangely, even while presenting himself as a disinterested peacemaker and non-interventionist, Trump concurrently conducts warfare on the world. The US conducted unprecedented levels of air strikes in the Middle East and Africa the previous year, surveys show.

A Legacy in Blood

Since resuming the presidency a year ago, the ostensibly peace-seeking President has launched strikes in Yemen, carelessly killing numerous civilians after loosening rules of engagement; bombed Nigeria, to counter-productive effect; struck locations in Somalia, Iraq and Syria; and targeted Iranian sites, where he mendaciously exaggerated the effectiveness of American attacks on nuclear facilities. He even will not exclude attacking Greenland, a independent land of a NATO partner.

What’s going on in the President's mind? A benign interpretation is that in issues of conflict and tranquility, he has no idea what he is doing – no plan, no understanding – and makes up policy as he goes, depending on how he feels.

The more ominous reading says he is fully aware what he is doing, that more and worse is to come. Like previous leaders in their final term who exhausted options at home, Trump finds the global platform offers greater possibilities for the exercise of power and ego. He is building a legacy through violence.

Trump’s reckless, perilously unstable conduct is getting noticeably more severe. His Venezuela “success” may encourage him to attempt more and bigger, unhinged outrages. He struts and preens, cries havoc! and lets slip the dogs of war.