“To the victor belong the spoils.” This is what President Donald Trump told leaders of the world’s nations in the middle of his rambling address to the United Nations General Assembly’s annual meeting in New York last week. It was an unequivocal repudiation of the very principle on which the institution he was speaking to was founded. This signals a dangerous global future at a time when the U.N.’s ability to spur collective solutions to global threats is more essential than ever.

Trump was referring specifically to the extortion of Venezuelan oil assets following the abduction of its leader Nicolás Maduro earlier this year. The administration secured the oil through a deal made with Delcy Rodríguez, the acting president of Venezuela whom Trump threatened earlier this year with a fate “probably worse” than Maduro if she did not cooperate. Trump’s aggressive posture was not limited to Venezuela, though. He also claimed he could “annihilate” Iran and would “bring fundamental change” to Cuba.

Daniel DePetris: Venezuela has bent to US will. Is that good for Venezuelans?

Daniel DePetris: Venezuela has bent to US will. Is that good for Venezuelans?

That Trump brought this message to the floor of the U.N. is particularly startling because this institution was created to bring an end to the disastrous world order of “might makes right” that had set the stage for two world wars and the centuries of violent state interactions that preceded them.

Over the years, the........

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