![People gather outside Downing Street to protest against the US military attack on Venezuela, calling on the British government to condemn the forced removal of Nicolás Maduro and demanding his return to Venezuela in London, United Kingdom on January 05, 2026. [Wiktor Szymanowicz - Anadolu Agency]](https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/AA-20260105-40168416-40168394-NO_WAR_ON_VENEZUELA_PROTEST_IN_LONDON-scaled-e1767725571484.jpg)
On 3 January 2026, the United States carried out strikes in and around Caracas while President Trump announced that US forces had Nicolás Maduro transported out of the country, pointing to domestic criminal charges and a broader political project of “running” Venezuela during a “transition.” Here, once again, we encounter an archetype of the very conduct the post-1945 legal order sought to render unlawful, by substituting unilateral force with collective security, sovereign equality, and juridically constrained power. Now imagine a powerful state crossing borders, bombing a capital, and seizing a head of government, only to retroactively recast the act as “law enforcement.” Is this merely an aggressive interpretation of international law, or something more consequential? A system in which legality […]
