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The toppling and alleged seizure by incursive US forces of Nicolas Maduro will dispatch a tremor of dread and alarm across the globe. This coup is illegal, without justification, and regionally and globally destabilising. It upends international norms, disregards national territorial sovereignty, and risks creating an anarchic situation inside Venezuela itself.

It is policy crafted from chaos. But this is the world we now live in – the universe as defined by Donald Trump.

An Extraordinary and Perilous Declaration of Unchecked American Might

The direct attack on Venezuela signifies an remarkable, hazardous assertion of unchecked American might and arrives the same week that Trump threatened military strikes against another unpopular anti-western regime: the one in Tehran. It follows months of increasing US pressure through military, economic, and political means on Maduro, including deadly naval strikes on boats of alleged drug traffickers.

Trump asserts he is acting to stop illicit drugs entering the US through Venezuelan routes and to cease an purported flood of “criminal element” migrants. In an repetition of the US invasion of Iraq in 2003, he is also charged with desiring Venezuela’s huge petroleum and natural gas reserves – suspicions reinforced by frequent, unlawful US seizures of Venezuelan oil tankers.

But Trump’s primary motives seem to be individual hostility directed at Maduro, and a wish to resurrect the historical Monroe Doctrine by establishing a US sphere of influence and dominance throughout the west.

Hemispheric Alarm and Worldwide Consequences

Hemispheric heads of state, such as Colombia’s president, who has clashed with Trump in the past few months, greeted the coup with outrage and alarm; in part, possibly, because they fear they too could become victims of Washington’s newly aggressive dominance. Cuba’s socialist administration has particular cause for concern. It depends significantly on Venezuela’s regime for cheap energy and political and economic support.

The US secretary of state has been explicit of his wish to see a change in government in Havana. In Panama, too, levels of concern will be elevated. Trump has in the past menaced armed intervention there, over control of the Panama Canal. Indeed, the alleged apprehension of Maduro recalls the 1989 US invasion of Panama and the overthrow and detention of its then dictator.

Authoritarian, anti-democratic regimes around the world will be carefully watching Trump’s next steps, as will Washington’s democratic allies. Iran condemned the coup. It has valid cause to be apprehensive. But Russia’s president might not be completely unhappy by the defenestration of his Venezuelan ally.

A Perilous Benchmark for Global Conflicts

Trump’s unprovoked resort to violence is not so very different from moves during the invasion of Ukraine. Both have illegally attacked a bordering nation and attempted to oust its leadership. For China’s leader, whose forces were recently conducting military exercises against the “separatists” of Taiwan, Trump has just established a benchmark he may eventually happily emulate.

Trump’s coup is of significant worry to Britain, the EU and western democracies. They should, and must, unequivocally condemn it. It directly challenges the rules and principles of the global system they hold dear. The US has once again ignored the UN and traditional methods of addressing disputes between nations. And it is acting with seemingly little consideration for the subsequent events in Venezuela.

Uncertain Aftermath and Potential for Chaos

The Caracas government has been decapitated, but remaining high-ranking figures of the regime seem to remain in place. They are urging resistance and, possibly, reprisals against the US. There are unconfirmed reports of non-combatant deaths. If a leadership void forms, public order could collapse, sparking internal conflict or a potential armed takeover. And it is uncertain whether the latest US military action has concluded, or may intensify more.

The idea that exiled opposition leaders will swiftly return and that complete democratic rule will now be reinstated is unrealistic. The next few days will be critical. And it’s all down to Trump.

The Myth of the Peacemaker

Trump’s reckless action should at last bury his perpetually deceptive characterisation of himself as a “world peacemaker”. It’s high time that leaders in Europe openly acknowledge him for who he is – a global warmaker, a universal menace.

Each time he stumbles clumsily into conflict zones, imposing timelines, delivering final demands, picking favourites and profiting from suffering, the quest for just and lasting peace is hindered.

Little wonder peace is elusive. And strangely, even while posing as a neutral peace broker and one who avoids intervention, Trump simultaneously wages war on the world. The US conducted record numbers of air strikes in the Middle East and Africa last year, surveys show.

A Heritage Built on Violence

Since resuming the presidency a year ago, the ostensibly peace-seeking President has bombed Yemen, negligently causing the deaths of many non-combatants after loosening rules of engagement; bombed Nigeria, to counter-productive effect; bombed Somalia, Iraq and Syria; and bombed Iran, where he falsely inflated the effectiveness of American attacks on nuclear facilities. He even will not exclude attacking Greenland, a independent land of a NATO partner.

What’s going on inside Trump’s head? A charitable view is that in matters of war and peace, he has no conception what he is doing – no strategy, no clue – and makes up policy on the fly, based on how he feels.

The more ominous reading says he is fully aware what he is doing, that more and worse is to come. Like previous second-term presidents who exhausted options at home, Trump finds the world stage provides more opportunities for the application of authority and ego. He is building a legacy in blood.

Trump’s reckless, perilously unstable conduct is getting noticeably more severe. His Venezuela “success” may encourage him to try further and larger, irrational atrocities. He parades and postures, cries havoc! and lets slip the hounds of conflict.