World News: Donald Trump, His Law, His World

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Category: World News - Europe

Published on Sunday, 04 January 2026 10:04

Written by Olivier Longhi

The military operation and the kidnapping of Nicolàs Maduro led and organized by the United States, as illegal as they are, confirms Donald Trump's desire to impose his vision of the world and the interests of the United States.

At the head of the world's leading economic and military power, Donald Trump cheerfully, even desperately, flouts international law and democracy while reinterpreting the Monroe Doctrine at will, mocks the outraged reactions of the international community as well as those of Congress representatives who were not consulted before the United States' military intervention (Absolute Resolve) in Caracas.

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Donald Trump doesn't care because, convinced that the interests of the United States depend on putting Venezuela under tutelage, his conviction is that in order to restore the authority and prestige of the United States in the face of China and Russia, with their growing influence in South America and Venezuela in particular, it was necessary to intervene to eject Nicolás Maduro from power and take possession of the country's oil wealth.

The latter, considered to be the largest in the world, are a major issue for a president who has made the reindustrialization of the country his priority while pushing environmental issues out of his field of vision. These are the unofficial but real reasons that motivated the United States' intervention in Venezuela, far from the alleged illegal entries of cocaine and fentanyl, supposedly capable of flooding the drug market in the United States.

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Transition and Warning Shot

What can we expect from this trusteeship? For the time being, Donald Trump is talking about a transition that can suit the United States, i.e. what he considers acceptable, which may take a long time. From a legal point of view, many observers brandish UN international law as a bulwark against Trump's expansionism. But here again, the tenant of the White House does not care.

As a permanent member of the Security Council, the United States will veto a resolution condemning the kidnapping of Nicolás Maduro and the coup. That leaves Russia, China and Europe. This military operation may appear to be a warning shot to Vladimir Putin, (who has lost a valuable ally in the person of Nicolàs Maduro) at a time when peace negotiations for the settlement of the Russian-Ukrainian conflict are bogged down. However, and to a certain extent, it also legitimizes Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

When Vladimir Putin evoked the "Ukrainian Nazis" to justify his intervention, Donald Trump evoked the Venezuelan narco-traffickers led by Nicolas Maduro. At the same time, it will be difficult for the United States to condemn China's invasion of Taiwan if it were to do so, as Beijing would then be able to comment on the fallacious aspect of Operation Absolute Resolve in order to potentially justify itself.

However, the Middle Kingdom, aware of the impetuous and unpredictable character of Donald Trump, will not make the mistake of carrying out any invasion of Taiwan as long as the Venezuelan question is not settled, if it ever does.

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Hugo Chavez and Military Juntas

As for Europe, while it condemns the method used by its American ally, it rejoices at the fall of Nicolás Maduro, the man who squandered the legacy of Hugo Chavez's Bolivarian revolution for its own benefit.

However, aware of the weight of the United States in the negotiations with Russia, still unable to stand up politically and militarily to Vladimir Putin, Europe prefers to take care of its relations with the United States by being measured in its reactions so as not to upset its president, who is so versatile, even if it means finding itself weakened in his defense of international law and democracy.

Between the diplomacy of courage and cowardice, Europe has chosen its side and Donald Trump, as a diplomat of circumstance, has understood this perfectly. Using the Monroe Doctrine as he pleases and interpreting it as he sees fit, Donald Trump has rehabilitated the predatory imperialism of the United States, the one that deposed Salvador Allende in Chile in 1973 or supported the military juntas in Brazil and Argentina in the seventies.

But the man doesn't care about historical references, Donald Trump has understood and knows that he can do what he wants because the United States is still the world's leading power. Even if it means breaking nearly eighty years of multilateralism in favor of illiberal diplomacy and democracy.

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Bio: Olivier Longhi has extensive experience in European history. A seasoned journalist with fifteen years of experience, he is currently a professor of history and geography in the Toulouse region of France. He has held a variety of publishing positions, including Head of Agency and Chief of Publishing. A journalist and recognized blogger, editor, and editorial project manager, he has trained and managed editorial teams, worked as a journalist for various local radio stations, was a press and publishing consultant, and was a communications consultant.