THIS is with reference to the report ‘US grabs Maduro in outrageous Venezuela raid’ (Jan 4). In today’s global map, it is difficult to find a country that has not been lectured by the United States on democracy, human rights and liberal values. Long regarded as self-acclaimed champion of democracy and liberalism, the US is now rewriting the global order with the red ink of realism.

The ideological successors of Woodrow Wilson — the founding father of liberal internationalism — are now blatantly abandoning the cherished legacy. Under Donald Trump, American foreign policy has sharply diverged from its proclaimed liberal foundations.

This shift in American policy, however, is not entirely new. The US has historically demonstrated a chameleon-like ability to switch its mask — from liberalism to realism — whenever its interests demand. Realism has always existed beneath the surface of American liberal rhetoric.

What is new, though, is technology: it has exposed the Big Brother behind the mask. Today, the gap between American discourse and practice is visible to the entire world.

The rather aggressive policy towards Venezuela has sent a clear message not only to Iran and Yemen, but also to all developing countries: survival in the international system depends solely on realism, self-help and balance of power.

Institutions, such as the United Nations, can do little more than issuing statements. International law, particularly Article 2(1) of the UN Charter, which guarantees the sovereign equality of states, stands openly violated.

The arrest or targeting of Venezuela’s president has constituted a direct breach of its sovereignty and is a serious crime under international law.

Furthermore, recent American actions raise troubling questions about the politicisation of the Nobel Peace Prize. Many political philosophers have argued that the Peace Prize has often functioned as an instrument of US soft power. In 2025, the Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to Venezuelan opposition political leader Maria Corina Machado. When soft power failed to produce the desired outcome in Venezuela, Washington shifted to a harder approach in the shape of coercion and military pressure. This transition marks the failure of liberalism, and has exposed its conditional and selective nature.

Trump’s militarised interventions do not merely signal the decline of the liberal world order or international law; they also threaten democracy within the US itself. The expanding and unchecked use of presidential powers undermines consti-tutional norms and weakens democratic institutions at home.

Consider a hypothetical scenario: if Russia had captured Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelensky, and his wife, the West would have unanimously condemned the act as a violation of international law and national sovereignty. But, when the violator happens to be the US itself, the interpretation changes.

Such an erratic, ‘Trumpian’ behaviour is creating a strategic vacuum. Developing countries are increasingly turning towards Russia and China for security guarantees. If China attacks Taiwan tomorrow, on what moral or legal grounds would the US and the European Union condemn Beijing? The so-called ‘rules-based international order’ is rapidly eroding, and its collapse will ultimately harm the US the most.

Zahid Marri
Kohlu

Published in Dawn, January 10th, 2026