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.
公安部：开展整治“飙车炸街”专项行动，去年查处案件7.4万起 中新网1月11日电 据公安部网站消息，2023年，全国公安交管部门持续强化违法犯罪打击整治和问题隐患治理，不断深化便民利企改革，推动公安交管服务迈上新台阶 中新经纬1月11日电 据《华尔街日报》中文网11日报道，据Cognizant Impact周三发布的一份研究报告称，在未来10年内，生成性人工智能对美国经济的影响力将达到惊人的1万亿美元，但这可能会让工人付出代价。 报道称，这项 刘德华新片撤档背后：巨亏巨冒险 春节档迎来“撤档潮”。 2024年2月17日，电影《八戒之天蓬下界》发布声明退出春节档，延后上映。该片上映至今，累计票房323.2万元。 这并非个案。2月16日晚，电影《红毯先生》在 新华社记者付敏、姚雨璘在寸土寸金的厦门岛市区，面积约3公顷的骑马山片区保护区隐匿在林立的高楼大厦中。该保护区设置于2011年，是厦门五缘湾栗喉蜂虎市级自然保护区的重要组成部分——一种 约7折“抄底”剩余50%股权，领展全资吞下上海万科七宝项目，6个月过渡期后拟更名 对于此次7折收购七宝万科广场剩余50%股权，领展资产管理发言人向《每日经济新闻》记者介绍： 七宝项目规模庞大且兼具长期增长潜力， 2023年市场监管部门检查涉企收费单位7.9万家 本报讯 记者万静 近日国家市场监督管理总局对外披露数据显示，2023年我国各级市场监管部门共检查涉企收费单位7.9万家，罚没4.3亿元，退还企业21.6亿元。其中，检查政府部 。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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