Thirty-seven years ago, in December 1989, the world watched as the mightiest military power on earth invaded the tiny Republic of Panama. Under the thunder of bombs and the roar of American firepower, General Manuel Noriega was deposed, humiliated, abducted, and flown to the United States. The episode was presented as law enforcement, but it was, in truth, a raw display of power – a spectacle of “might is right.” With time, the world buried the Panama invasion in the archives of Cold War excesses, hoping such arrogance would never be repeated.
Yet history, it seems, has returned with a vengeance. The same script has been revived, the same doctrine rehearsed – only this time in Venezuela. In a flagrant act of aggression, the United States has struck deep inside a sovereign nation, capturing its elected president, Nicolás Maduro, along with First Lady Cilia Flores, abducting them to American soil while acting as judge, jury, and executioner. The echoes of Panama are unmistakable, but the implications today are far more dangerous. The world now teeters on the edge of catastrophe.
This is not merely an attack on Venezuela. It is an assault on the very idea of sovereignty, peaceful conflict resolution, and international law. What should have been a diplomatic standoff – demanding dialogue, mediation, and UN engagement – has been deliberately transformed into an act of war. With this action, Washington has crossed yet another perilous threshold, openly mocking the UN Charter and trampling upon the principles it once claimed to uphold.
The charges leveled against President Maduro – drug trafficking and weapons smuggling – have long been denied by Caracas, which insists they serve as a smokescreen for imperial designs on Venezuela’s vast oil reserves. Venezuela’s parliament has denounced the abduction and vowed solidarity with its leader. Yet instead of pursuing lawful avenues, the United States chose bombs over ballots, force over facts, and coercion over conversation.
Let us ask a simple but profound question: what existential threat does Venezuela pose to the United States? None. The hysteria surrounding this operation is a mask. Beneath it lies calculated terror – a warning to all nations that dare to resist American supremacy. This is not about rules or justice; it is about control. It is about punishing defiance, erasing resistance, and terrorizing others into submission.
The so-called “rules-based order” now lies in ruins, bombed by American jets and buried under the rubble of impunity. If peace were truly Washington’s aim, it would step back from this precipice. It would rejoin diplomacy – not as a master issuing diktats, but as an equal partner willing to listen to logic and reason. Instead, it continues to fuel fires in lands not its own, pushing the world closer to the law of the jungle.
The pattern is unmistakable and global. Only days before the Venezuela strike, on Christmas Day, the United States launched deadly airstrikes in Nigeria under the banner of counterterrorism. Similar operations have scarred Syria, Yemen, Somalia, Iraq, and Iran – often without exhausting diplomacy or addressing the deeper political and socioeconomic roots of conflict. From reckless attacks on Iran’s peaceful nuclear facilities to violations of Syrian sovereignty, militarism has become the default language of American foreign policy.
This makes the transformation of President Donald Trump all the more troubling. The self-proclaimed prophet of peace, eager to don the robes of a Nobel laureate, vowed to end wars and avoid new ones. Yet within weeks of taking office in January 2025, diplomacy with Iran collapsed, replaced by bombs and applause. Dialogue evaporated in days; restraint surrendered to spectacle. Peace became a slogan, war the practice.
Power-drunk arrogance now casts a long shadow over the globe. Commitments to peace are mocked, diplomacy weakened, and trust shattered. In today’s world, it appears that restraint is demanded only of the weak, while the powerful fly high on technological superiority, shielded from accountability. They sell lofty slogans to vulnerable nations, presenting themselves as sacred cows immune from questioning or consequence.
Behind this façade lies a grim historical record. The United States – self-styled champion of democracy, civil liberties, and human rights – has repeatedly hijacked world institutions, especially the United Nations. The UN General Assembly, the democratic voice of all nations, remains a debating forum without teeth, while the Security Council, armed with enforcement powers, is paralyzed by the arbitrary veto of five powerful states. Here, power hides power, shielding excesses and erasing wrongdoing.
The legacy of this imbalance is written in blood. From Hawaii to Nicaragua, Cuba to Haiti, Honduras to the Dominican Republic, American interference has shaped destinies. Washington backed dictators like Somoza, Trujillo, the Shah of Iran, Ferdinand Marcos, and many others, crushing popular movements in the name of anti-communism or strategic interest. The CIA orchestrated coups, toppled elected leaders, and installed puppet regimes – punishing sovereignty whenever it dared to assert itself.
Iran’s Mossadegh in 1953, Libya’s Gaddafi decades later, and countless others paid the price of defiance. Pakistan, too, bears scars. Zulfikar Ali Bhutto – beloved by millions – challenged American hegemony and pursued a sovereign nuclear vision. His government was overthrown; his life extinguished. The message was clear then, as it is now: defiance invites destruction.
Today, Iran again stands in the crosshairs. Bunker-buster bombs, B-2 bombers, and threats of regime change cannot crush a nation’s will. Bombs may spill innocent blood, but they cannot conquer hearts or erase identity. Bleeding and bruised, people stand resolute, refusing to bow. History teaches us that terror can devastate cities, but it cannot manufacture consent.
Under the same pretext of “preemptive defense,” Israel has been allowed to act as judge, jury, and executioner across Palestine, Syria, Lebanon, Yemen, and beyond. Its undeclared nuclear arsenal is tolerated; Iran’s civilian nuclear programme is punished. Iraq was destroyed over imaginary weapons of mass destruction; today, precision strikes on sovereign nations are applauded. The double standards are not just glaring – they are deadly.
Even now, America maintains more than 50,000 troops across military bases in Qatar, Bahrain, Kuwait, Iraq, and Saudi Arabia – projecting force thousands of miles from home. No nation encircles the United States in similar fashion. American taxpayers must ask why their wealth fuels distant wars while domestic needs go unmet. “America First” rings hollow when endless conflicts drain lives and resources abroad.
This neo-imperial behavior sets a terrifying precedent. If powerful states can abduct elected leaders at will, no nation is safe. Panama yesterday. Venezuela today. Colombia, Mexico, Iran tomorrow. Such logic legitimizes global lawlessness – inviting Russia, China, or any other power to follow suit. This is precisely why Article 2(4) of the UN Charter prohibits the use of force against the sovereignty and political independence of states. Unilateral abduction meets no legal or moral test.
What emerges is not realism but reckless anarchy – borders rendered provisional, elections meaningless, diplomacy obsolete. Peace built on humiliation is not peace. Law enforced by bombs is not law. Humanity cannot survive a world where arrogance replaces accountability.
Do we choose dialogue or doom? Law or raw power? This is more than a Venezuela crisis; it is a test of our collective conscience. The world still has a choice – to uphold peace, restraint, and justice, or surrender to terror dressed as policy. Let humanity prevail over hubris.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2026
The writer is a Shikarpur-based retired civil servant. The views expressed in this article are not necessarily those of the newspaper
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