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.
多地多部门走访逾80家深市公司 集中“会诊”破解发展难题 本报记者 田 鹏 在部署走访上市公司工作、推动上市公司高质量发展全国视频会议1月29日召开后，多地紧锣密鼓组织专班调研走访上市公司，深交所作为证券 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 “竞争”正日益成为华盛顿对华政策的高频热词。1月30日，美国总统国家安全事务助理沙利文在一次智库活动中，一方面坦承美国“几十年来为塑造或改变中国所作出的努力都没有取得成功”，另一方面呼 从广州市区驱车一个多小时，到达依山傍水的从化区。香港赛马会从化马场就坐落在从化流溪河畔的半山腰上，四周树木葱郁，山峰连绵。五年前的2月18日，《粤港澳大湾区发展规划纲要》正式发布，提出加强 中新经纬2月23日电 (周奕航)“和以往相比，今年的订单量足足翻了四五倍。”山东省菏泽市曹县的汉服加工厂老板陆平(化名)对中新经纬表示。 这个春节，马面裙火了。许多年轻人身穿马面裙，行走在大街小巷、灯展庙会间 印度等不及了！当地制药商开始仿制“减肥神药” 财联社2月22日讯(编辑 夏军雄)为了从新型减肥药市场分一杯羹，印度制药商已经开始开发他们自己版本的“减肥神药”。 作为新一代减肥药物，诺和诺德的Wegovy和礼来 。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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