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View all search resultsAmerica's new age of empire
Trumps' actions against Venezuela has turned hegemony into bullyism, and other countries should be asking whether the world really needs the US.
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United States President Donald Trump claps after delivering his remarks on Jan. 6, 2026, at a House Republican Party retreat in Washington, D.C. (AFP/Mandel Ngan)
U
nited States President Donald Trump has drawn a wave of criticism for his actions in Venezuela, violations of international law, disdain for long-standing norms and threats against other countries, not least allies like Denmark and Canada. Around the world, there is a palpable sense of uncertainty and foreboding. But it should already be obvious that things will not end well, either for the US or the rest of the world.
None of this comes as a surprise to many on the left. We still remember president Dwight Eisenhower’s valedictory warning about the industrial-military complex that had emerged from World War II. It was inevitable that a country whose military spending matched that of the rest of the world combined would eventually use its arms to try to dominate others.
Military interventions became increasingly unpopular following the American misadventures in Vietnam, Iraq, Afghanistan and elsewhere, but Trump has never shown much concern for the will of the American people.
Since he entered politics (and no doubt earlier), he has considered himself above the law, boasting that he could shoot someone on New York’s Fifth Avenue without losing a vote. The insurrection at the US Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, the anniversary of which we have just “celebrated”, showed that he was right. The 2024 election reinforced Trump’s hold on the Republican Party, ensuring that it would do nothing to hold him accountable.
The capture of Venezuela’s dictator Nicolas Maduro was brazenly illegal and unconstitutional. As a military intervention, it required congressional notification, if not approval.
And even if one stipulates that this was a case of “law enforcement”, international law still requires that such actions be pursued through extradition. One country cannot violate another’s sovereignty or snatch foreign nationals, let alone heads of state, from their home countries.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Russian President Vladimir Putin and others have been indicted for war crimes, but no one has proposed deploying soldiers to seize them wherever they happen to be.
