America’s Venezuela Raid and the Peril for Non-Nuclear Developing Nations

The new year started with military strikes and open violation of international law by the self-proclaimed guardian of the law itself. On January 3, 2026, the US forces carried out an operation, namely “Operation Absolute Resolve,” and conducted airstrikes on northern Venezuela, disrupting the air defences with cyberattacks that caused some parts of Caracas to go dark, orchestrating a raid on the home of the President of the country. The sitting president, Nicolas Maduro, and his wife were kidnapped and taken to New York to answer charges of drug and weapons trafficking. The US not only violated international law but also bypassed the International judicial bodies, unlike many previous events of this kind, which went through trials and state leaders faced international justice. While some of the accused were not even the sitting presidents.

However, in this case, the US not only self-declared President Maduro as the culprit but also intervened and violated the state sovereignty of Venezuela. For the US, it was not new as it has always done to keep its image untarnished, as it did in Iraq, while taking no stands for actual war criminal states like Israel.

Maduro, however, now awaits trial, while President Donald Trump announced that the US would take control of the country until its oil infrastructure is restored and handed over to a compliant government. Such an act of intervention, without the UN consent, is a sharp departure from the US’s leading role in the promise of ‘Never Again’.

The League of Nations was also a promise of collective security following World War I, but it failed when Japan invaded Manchuria (1931), Italy invaded Ethiopia (1935), and Germany reoccupied the Rhineland (1936). These moves were met with a weak response from isolationist powers, including the non-member United States. The US, being the architect of the UN, is now its biggest disruptor. The second term of Trump has been characterized by haphazard diplomacy, which includes retreating from international institutions and agreements considered to oppose the United States’ interests, opposing climate agreements, and resource-driven interventions. In short, Trump’s my-way-or-highway approach is the largest looming threat to international cooperation today.

The intervention in Venezuela, much like the US or the Western invasions in other parts of the Middle East and Africa, is clearly a sheer display of raw power to achieve strategic interests, oil and rare-earth minerals in this case, as in many previous ones. It is a clear case of imperialism. The strike was preceded by months of CIA surveillance, training on simulated versions of the compound belonging to Maduro, and the proactive seizure of Venezuelan tankers, which revealed a power game made in advance.

The international responses are filled with anxiety. It was denounced by China and Russia as hegemonic bullying, an act of armed aggression, and called upon by the EU to handover Maduro to the ICC. There was panic among Latin American countries, whose history is laced with US interventions, who were terrified of a policy of regime change. South Africa described it as a manifest violation of the UN Charter, and the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) asserted that sovereignty had been lost. Even allies such as the UK emphasized the need to observe international law.

Non-nuclear developing countries are now more vulnerable. Any superpower can act unilaterally, threatening independent states with the implicit fear that they will remain sovereign only as long as they stay aligned with Washington. Latin American countries (such as Cuba and Nicaragua), as well as African and Asian non-nuclear states, may fear that they could be targeted next, whether for resource extraction or political realignment, particularly in the US quest for critical minerals and energy security. In the absence of credible deterrence, these nations risk economic coercion, cyber sabotage, or direct intervention, pushing them towards hedging with China or Russia and thereby undermining multilateralism. Therefore, it can be argued that the United States itself is actively emerging as a revisionist force within the so-called New (or Liberal) World Order.

US’s breach of international law could be seen as a portrayal of power. A lesson to the strong that they can do anything with impunity, and the weak states will suffer the most. Prior to this event, the world witnessed the US invasion of Iraq, its intervention in Iran, despite being part of NPT. In addition, it has been supporting Israel and not standing against its invasion of Palestine. Furthermore, breaking the promise of providing a nuclear umbrella allows Ukraine to be invaded by another superpower. It can be noted that it is the power that is leading the countries to take irrational decisions against each other. Most of the cases mentioned, lacked nuclear deterrence, leading to attacks on them. Non-nuclear countries face the existential threats of coercion or invasion. History shows that irrational attempts by empires lead to resentment and counter-alliances. To avert disaster, the world community needs to assume responsibility before the order splinters permanently.