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The overthrow and reported capture by invading American military units of Venezuela's socialist president will send a shiver of dread and alarm across the globe. This coup is illegal, unprovoked, and regionally and globally destabilising. It overturns global standards, disregards sovereign territorial rights, and risks creating an anarchic situation within the country.

It is policy crafted from chaos. But this is the reality we currently inhabit – the world according to Donald Trump.

An Extraordinary and Perilous Declaration of Unchecked American Might

The direct attack on Venezuela signifies an extraordinary, dangerous assertion of unchecked American might and comes in the same week that Trump threatened armed attacks against another unpopular anti-western regime: the one in Tehran. It follows months of increasing US military, economic and political pressure on Maduro, encompassing lethal maritime attacks on vessels suspected of drug smuggling.

Trump claims to be acting to prevent illegal narcotics entering the US via Venezuela and to halt an alleged influx of “criminal element” migrants. In an echo of the American incursion into Iraq in 2003, he is also accused of coveting Venezuela’s vast oil and gas resources – doubts strengthened by frequent, unlawful US seizures of Venezuelan oil tankers.

But Trump’s primary motives seem to be individual hostility aimed at Maduro, and a wish to resurrect the 19th-century Monroe doctrine by creating a American zone of control and supremacy throughout the west.

Regional Outrage and Global Repercussions

Hemispheric heads of state, such as Colombia’s president, who has clashed with Trump in recent months, met the takeover with outrage and alarm; not least, perhaps, because they fear they too could become targets of Washington’s aggressive new hegemony. Cuba’s socialist administration has special reason for worry. It relies heavily on Venezuela’s regime for cheap energy and backing in politics and economics.

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 running high. Trump has previously threatened military action there, over control of the Panama Canal. Indeed, the alleged apprehension of Maduro brings to mind the 1989 US incursion into Panama and the toppling and arrest of its leader at the time.

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

A Dangerous Precedent for Global Conflicts

Trump’s unjustified turn to force is not entirely dissimilar from moves during the invasion of Ukraine. Both have illegally attacked a bordering nation and attempted to oust its government. For China’s leader, whose forces were last week conducting military exercises against the “breakaway factions” of Taiwan, Trump has just set a precedent he may eventually happily emulate.

Trump’s coup is of significant worry to Britain, the EU and democratic Western nations. They should, and must, unequivocally condemn it. It directly challenges the laws and tenets of the international order they cherish. The US has yet again disregarded the United Nations and conventional approaches of resolving inter-state grievances. And it is proceeding with apparently scant regard for the subsequent events in Venezuela.

Uncertain Aftermath and Risk of Disorder

The Caracas government has been decapitated, but other senior members of the regime seem to remain at their posts. They are urging resistance and, possibly, reprisals against the US. There are unconfirmed reports of non-combatant deaths. If a leadership void develops, civil stability could collapse, igniting civil war or a possible military coup. And it is uncertain whether the latest US military action has concluded, or may escalate further.

The notion that banished dissident figures will swiftly return and that complete democratic rule will now be reinstated is unrealistic. The next few days will be critical. And the responsibility lies entirely with Trump.

The Illusion of a Peacemaker

Trump’s imprudent move should finally lay to rest his perpetually deceptive self-portrayal as a “world peacemaker”. It’s high time that leaders in Europe openly acknowledge him for who he is – a international provocateur of war, a worldwide threat.

Each time he stumbles clumsily into conflict zones, setting deadlines, issuing ultimatums, picking favourites and monetising misery, the quest for just and lasting peace is set back.

Little wonder peace remains distant. And bizarrely, even while presenting himself as a disinterested peacemaker and non-interventionist, Trump simultaneously wages war on the world. The US conducted unprecedented levels of aerial bombardments in the Middle East and Africa the previous year, surveys show.

A Heritage Built on Violence

Since returning to office a year ago, the ostensibly peace-seeking President has bombed Yemen, negligently causing the deaths of numerous civilians after loosening rules of engagement; bombed Nigeria, to detrimental outcomes; bombed Somalia, Iraq and Syria; and bombed Iran, where he mendaciously exaggerated the success of US strikes on atomic energy sites. He even refuses to rule out bombing Greenland, a independent land of a NATO partner.

What’s going on inside Trump’s head? A benign interpretation is that in matters of war and peace, he has no idea what he is doing – no plan, no understanding – and invents strategy on the fly, based on how he feels.

The more ominous reading says he knows exactly what he’s at, that more and worse are forthcoming. Like previous second-term presidents who ran out of road domestically, Trump finds the world stage provides more opportunities for the application of authority and self-importance. He is building a legacy in blood.

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