This photo taken on the early morning of Jan. 3, 2026 shows a view of the city of Caracas, capital of Venezuela. [Photo/Xinhua]
With his usual Truth Social bravado, U.S. President Donald Trump has announced a "large-scale strike" against Venezuela. According to his statement, President Nicolás Maduro and his wife were "captured and flown out of the country" in an operation carried out "in conjunction with U.S. law enforcement."
Trump's phrasing is doing a remarkable amount of work. The U.S. military kidnapped a sitting head of state, yet the action is being framed as a cooperative law enforcement operation. This is the logic of lawfare: using the language of criminal justice to recast acts of force as a procedural necessity.
This rhetorical move is not accidental. In 2020, the U.S. Department of Justice indicted Maduro and several senior Venezuelan officials on charges including narco-terrorism and corruption. By foregrounding "law enforcement," the administration seeks to collapse a crucial distinction: Maduro is no longer presented as a sovereign leader but as a fugitive. What might otherwise be recognized as an act of war is reframed as the execution of an arrest, albeit on an international scale.
This script feels familiar because we've seen it before. On this exact day, Jan. 3, back in 1990, the U.S. finished its "police action" against Manuel Noriega in Panama. William Barr, who would later become attorney general under both George H.W. Bush and Donald Trump, wrote a now-infamous memo arguing that the president has the "inherent constitutional authority" to order the abduction of foreign nationals, even if it violates international law.
The irony here is thick enough to clog the Panama Canal. The U.S. is essentially claiming that its domestic law enforcement has global jurisdiction. The FBI and DEA are now the world's bouncers, authorized to kick in the doors of foreign presidential palaces if they happen to have an indictment filed in a D.C. district court.
The perils of this "lawfare" are twofold:
First, it erodes the principle of sovereignty. If a state can simply label another country's leader a criminal to justify intervention, sovereignty ceases to be a meaningful safeguard and becomes little more than a courtesy.
Second, it establishes a precedent that will not remain unilateral. If U.S. courts can be used to legitimize military action abroad, other powers can adopt a similar strategy, issuing their own indictments, warrants and justifications for force against foreign officials.
By framing this strike as a "law enforcement" matter, Trump is attempting to seize the moral and legal high ground before international opposition can fully mobilize. It is an attempt to make the world's most powerful military look like it's just "doing its job" and "following the rules" — rules that the U.S. wrote, interpreted and enforced at the tip of a bayonet.
But no matter how often U.S. officials call it "law enforcement," a large-scale strike on a foreign capital still looks, smells and acts like an act of war.
In the 21st century, the most effective weapon in the U.S. arsenal isn't the Tomahawk missile. It's the legal memo that justifies it.
春节假期中国快递包裹投递量日均同比增82.1% 中新社北京2月18日电 (记者 刘育英)中国国家邮政局监测数据显示，今年春节长假期间(2月10日至17日)，中国邮政快递业投递快递包裹6.41亿件，日均投递量与2023年春节假期 国家移民管理局：春节假期1351.7万人次出入境 同比增长2.8倍 中新网2月18日电 据国家移民管理局微信公众号消息，2024年春节假期全国边检机关共保障1351.7万人次中外人员出入境，日均169万人次，较2023年春节同期增长2 新华社南昌2月22日电（记者刘佳敏）“江西银河表计有限公司招普工50名，薪资大约4200至4800元。这个公司离立新很近，你有空可以去参观一下。”近日，在九江市永修县立新乡黄婆井村的招聘会现场，村干部和志愿者 龙年开工首周，记者在多地采访看到，企业加快开工复产、劳动者积极返岗求职，呈现出人勤春来早、供需同发力的繁忙景象。“用工忙”折射开局稳，释放出经济运行回稳向好的信心。从跨省招工、专车专列接人返岗 北京朝阳小红门社区卫生服务中心春节守“医线”不打烊本报记者 | 王春华2月13日，大年初四的早上7点半，北京市朝阳区小红门社区卫生服务中心二楼的一处诊室内，王建萍大夫已经穿好白大褂，准备开始一天的接 中新经纬2月23日电(罗琨 实习生 徐畅)“中国确实是面向未来的全球技术中心，我很高兴又一次来到中国，在这里进行深入研究。”近日，科勒集团全球首席品牌官赛米・巴尔(Samie Barr)在广州接受中新经纬专访时表示。赛米 。本文链接：US attack on Venezuela is warfare dressed as lawfarehttp://www.sushuapos.com/show-5-84986-0.html
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