Trump is no longer bending the rules – he is demolishing them, with consequences far beyond Caracas
US strikes on Venezuela – live updates
Hardly anyone expected 2026 to be a year of peace, and it was barely three days old when the worst fears were confirmed.
The overnight strikes on Venezuela – and the abduction of its leader, Nicolás Maduro and his wife – have driven another truck through international law and global norms. But even that is not 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 assertions on involvement in 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.
