On 3 January, as part of what was described as his New Year’s resolution to pursue world peace, President Donald Trump, from his luxury Mar-a-Lago resort, oversaw the invasion of Venezuela and the extradition of its president, Nicolás Maduro, to the United States on charges of drug trafficking.
This alarming event does not stand alone. It comes amid a steady accumulation of brazen assertions of power by leaders from multiple continents, each one adding to the sense of global instability. While many nations express ongoing concern about the number of migrants crossing their borders, a far more pressing anxiety is emerging – the prospect of aggressors doing the same. As the world watches on in growing unease, I am reminded of the psalmist’s question: “Why do the nations rage?”
It is hard to know how to react to the extradition of Maduro. On the one hand, the former bus driver who became a despotic dictator – likely responsible for thousands, perhaps tens of thousands, of extrajudicial killings – will not be widely mourned. On the other hand, US President Donald Trump acted without consulting Congress, without engagement with the United Nations, and without regard for international law. And so it raises profound questions: Is it acceptable for one nation to single-handedly assert itself over another? Who decides when sovereignty may be overridden and by what authority? Who is protected when precedent is set not by law or tradition or principle or consensus, but by strength?
