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The toppling and reported capture by invading US forces of Nicolas Maduro will send a shiver of dread and alarm around the world. This coup is illegal, without justification, and destabilizing for the region and the world. It upends international norms, ignores national territorial sovereignty, and risks creating an anarchic situation within the country.

It is policy crafted from chaos. But this is the world we now live in – the world according to Donald Trump.

An Extraordinary and Perilous Declaration of Unchecked American Might

The overt assault on Venezuela signifies an extraordinary, dangerous declaration of unfettered US power and comes in the same week that Trump threatened armed attacks against another unpopular anti-western regime: that of Iran. It comes after months of escalating US pressure through military, economic, and political means on Maduro, including lethal maritime attacks on boats of alleged drug traffickers.

Trump asserts he is acting to prevent illegal narcotics entering the US through Venezuelan routes and to halt an purported flood of “criminal” migrants. In an echo of the American incursion into Iraq in 2003, he is also charged with desiring Venezuela’s vast oil and gas resources – doubts strengthened by repeated, illegal US confiscations 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 creating a American zone of control and dominance across the Western Hemisphere.

Regional Outrage and Worldwide Consequences

Regional leaders, including Colombia’s president, who has conflicted with Trump in recent months, greeted the coup with outrage and alarm; in part, possibly, because they worry they also could become victims of Washington’s newly aggressive dominance. Cuba’s socialist administration has special reason for worry. It relies heavily on Venezuela’s regime for low-cost fuel and backing in politics and economics.

The US top diplomat has made no secret of his wish to see a change in government in Havana. In Panama, too, levels of concern will be running high. Trump has in the past menaced armed intervention there, over authority over the Panama Canal. Indeed, the alleged apprehension of Maduro recalls the 1989 US incursion into Panama and the overthrow and detention of its then dictator.

Autocratic, undemocratic governments around the world will be carefully watching Trump’s subsequent moves, as will Washington’s democratic allies. Iran condemned the coup. It has good reason to be fearful. But Russia’s president may not be totally displeased by the defenestration of his Venezuelan ally.

A Perilous Benchmark for Global Conflicts

Trump’s unjustified turn to force is not so very different from actions in invading Ukraine. Both have illegally attacked a bordering nation and sought to remove its leadership. For China’s leader, whose forces were last week practising military action against the “breakaway factions” of Taiwan, Trump has just established a benchmark he may one day gladly follow.

Trump’s coup is of significant worry to Britain, the EU and western democracies. They ought to, and have to, clearly denounce it. It directly challenges the rules and principles of the international order they hold dear. The US has once again disregarded the United Nations and conventional approaches of resolving disputes between nations. And it is proceeding with apparently scant regard for what happens next in Venezuela.

An Unclear Future and Risk of Disorder

The Caracas government has been decapitated, but remaining high-ranking figures of the regime appear still to be at their posts. They are urging resistance and, potentially, retaliation against the US. There are unconfirmed reports of non-combatant deaths. If a power vacuum forms, public order could collapse, igniting civil war or a possible military coup. And it is uncertain whether the latest US military action has ended, or may escalate further.

The notion that banished dissident figures will swiftly return and that complete democratic rule will now be restored is naive. The next few days will be critical. And it’s all down to Trump.

The Myth of the Peacemaker

Trump’s imprudent move should finally lay to rest his perpetually deceptive self-portrayal as a “global peacemaker”. It’s past time that European leaders openly acknowledge him for who he is – a international provocateur of war, a universal menace.

Each time he stumbles clumsily into conflict zones, setting deadlines, issuing ultimatums, picking favourites and profiting from suffering, the quest for just and lasting peace is hindered.

Little wonder peace remains distant. And strangely, even while posing as a neutral peace broker and one who avoids intervention, Trump concurrently conducts warfare on the world. The US conducted unprecedented levels of air strikes in the Middle East and Africa last year, surveys show.

A Legacy in Blood

Since resuming the presidency a year ago, peace-loving Trump has launched strikes in Yemen, carelessly killing numerous civilians after loosening rules of engagement; bombed Nigeria, to counter-productive effect; struck locations in Somalia, Iraq and Syria; and targeted Iranian sites, where he mendaciously exaggerated the success of US strikes on nuclear facilities. He even refuses to rule out bombing Greenland, a sovereign territory of a Nato ally.

What is occurring inside Trump’s head? A benign interpretation is that in issues of conflict and tranquility, he has no idea what his actions entail – no plan, no understanding – and invents strategy as he goes, based on how he feels.

The more ominous reading says he knows exactly what he is doing, that more and worse is to come. Like previous second-term presidents who exhausted options domestically, Trump finds the world stage provides more opportunities for the application of authority and ego. He is building a legacy through violence.

Trump’s reckless, perilously unstable conduct is getting measurably worse. His Venezuela “success” may encourage him to try further and bigger, unhinged outrages. He parades and postures, cries havoc! and lets slip the dogs of war.