Rajan Menon, Spitzer Professor Emeritus of International Relations at the City College of New York and senior research scholar at the Saltzman Institute of War and Peace Studies, warns that Donald Trump’s decision to use U.S. force to remove Venezuela’s president, Nicolás Maduro, represents a dangerous break with international law and political norms. In a recent article in The Guardian, Menon argues that the operation, justified by what he describes as fictitious claims, contradicts Trump’s campaign promise to end foreign entanglements and instead signals a return to unilateral military action.
Menon identifies two major dangers arising from the decision. First, Venezuela itself could descend into instability. Removing Maduro does not resolve the country’s deep political and institutional problems and may instead provoke unrest, power struggles, or fragmentation within the state. Second, Menon cautions that the precedent set in Venezuela could encourage further escalation elsewhere, particularly toward Iran, where the risks of retaliation and wider conflict would be far greater.
Taken together, Menon argues, the episode highlights the perils of using military force without clear legal grounding, international support, or a realistic plan for what follows — a pattern that could leave the United States facing deeper insecurity rather than greater stability.
Read the full article here.
