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The overthrow and reported capture by invading US forces of Venezuela's socialist president will send a shiver of dread and alarm around the world. This coup is illegal, unprovoked, and destabilizing for the region and the world. It overturns global standards, ignores sovereign territorial rights, and potentially creates an state of anarchy within the country.

It is policy crafted from chaos. But this is the world we now live in – the world according to Donald Trump.

An Extraordinary and Dangerous Assertion of Unchecked American Might

The direct attack on Venezuela signifies an extraordinary, dangerous assertion of unchecked American might and arrives the same week that Trump threatened military strikes against a further disliked anti-western regime: that of Iran. It comes after months of escalating US pressure through military, economic, and political means on Maduro, including deadly naval strikes on vessels suspected of drug smuggling.

Trump asserts he is acting to prevent illegal narcotics entering the US via Venezuela and to halt an purported flood of “criminal element” migrants. In an echo of the US invasion of Iraq in 2003, he is also charged with desiring Venezuela’s vast oil and gas resources – suspicions reinforced by frequent, unlawful US seizures of Venezuelan petroleum carriers.

But Trump’s primary motives seem to be individual hostility aimed at Maduro, and a desire to revive the 19th-century Monroe doctrine by creating a American zone of control and dominance throughout the west.

Hemispheric Alarm and Global Repercussions

Hemispheric heads of state, such as Colombia’s president, who has clashed with Trump in the past few months, greeted the coup with outrage and alarm; in part, possibly, because they worry they also could become targets of Washington’s aggressive new hegemony. Cuba’s leftwing government has special reason for worry. It relies heavily on Venezuela’s regime for cheap energy and political and economic support.

The US top diplomat has made no secret of his desire for a change in government in Havana. In Panama, too, levels of concern will be running high. Trump has in the past menaced armed intervention there, over control of the Panama Canal. Indeed, the reported capture of Maduro recalls the 1989 US incursion into Panama and the overthrow and detention of its then dictator.

Authoritarian, anti-democratic regimes globally will be closely observing Trump’s next steps, as will Washington’s allies in democracy. Iran condemned the coup. It has good reason to be fearful. But Russia’s president might not be completely unhappy by the removal of his Venezuelan ally.

A Dangerous Precedent for International Disputes

Trump’s unjustified turn to force is not entirely dissimilar from actions in invading Ukraine. Both have illegally attacked a bordering nation and attempted to oust its government. For China’s leader, whose forces were last week conducting military exercises against the “breakaway factions” of Taiwan, Trump has just set a precedent he may one day gladly follow.

Trump’s coup is of great concern to Britain, the EU and western democracies. They ought to, and have to, clearly denounce it. It directly challenges the rules and principles of the global system they hold dear. The US has once again disregarded the United Nations and conventional approaches of addressing disputes between nations. And it is proceeding with seemingly little consideration for what happens next in Venezuela.

Uncertain Aftermath and Risk of Disorder

The Caracas government has been decapitated, but other senior members of the regime appear still to be at their posts. They are calling for opposition and, potentially, reprisals against the US. There are unconfirmed reports of civilian casualties. If a power vacuum develops, civil stability could collapse, igniting civil war or a possible military coup. And it is uncertain whether the latest US military action has ended, or may escalate further.

The idea that exiled opposition leaders will swiftly return and that complete democratic rule will now be restored is naive. The next few days will be decisive. And the responsibility lies entirely with Trump.

The Myth of the Peacemaker

Trump’s imprudent move should at last bury his perpetually deceptive self-portrayal as a “world peacemaker”. It’s high time that European leaders openly acknowledge him for who he is – a international provocateur of war, a universal menace.

Each time he stumbles clumsily into conflict zones, setting deadlines, delivering final demands, picking favourites and profiting from suffering, the pursuit of just and lasting peace is hindered.

Little wonder peace remains distant. And bizarrely, even while presenting himself as a disinterested peacemaker and non-interventionist, Trump concurrently conducts warfare on the world. The US conducted record numbers of air strikes in the Middle East and Africa the previous year, data indicates.

A Legacy in Blood

Since resuming the presidency a year ago, peace-loving Trump has launched strikes in Yemen, negligently causing the deaths of numerous civilians after loosening rules of engagement; attacked targets in Nigeria, to counter-productive effect; bombed Somalia, Iraq and Syria; and targeted Iranian sites, where he mendaciously exaggerated the success of US strikes on nuclear facilities. He even refuses to rule out bombing Greenland, a sovereign territory of a Nato ally.

What’s going on inside Trump’s head? A charitable view is that in issues of conflict and tranquility, he has no idea what his actions entail – no strategy, no clue – and makes up policy as he goes, depending on how he feels.

The more ominous reading says he knows exactly what he is doing, that more and worse are forthcoming. Like previous second-term presidents who ran out of road at home, Trump finds the world stage offers greater possibilities for the application of authority and ego. He is forging a historical record through violence.

Trump’s reckless, perilously unstable conduct is getting noticeably more severe. His Venezuela “success” may embolden him to attempt more and larger, irrational atrocities. He parades and postures, shouts for chaos! and lets slip the dogs of war.