IT seemed almost miraculous when the east coast of the US transitioned into 2026 on a pleasant note, occasioned by the inspiring inauguration of New York City’s young mayor. Any joy was short-lived. A couple of days later, Zohran Mamdani felt obliged to inform the president of his discomfiture over the display of predatory imperialism in Caracas last Saturday. Less clear-headed Democrats have also expressed their alarm at the abduction of a sitting head of state in a military raid, and the concomitant violation of both the US Constitution and the UN Charter.

Donald Trump’s excitement over last Saturday’s successful bout of thuggery has spurred wild threats against Colombia, Mexico and Iran, not to mention Greenland. President Nicolás Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, were meanwhile arraigned in a federal court in Manhattan.

US attorney general Pam Bondi annou­nced on X that Maduro “has been charged with Narco-Terrorism Conspiracy, Cocaine Importation Conspiracy, and Conspiracy to Possess Machineguns and Destructive Devices against the United States”. Putting aside her illiteracy, she might have noticed how her boss has stepped back from the absurd “narco-terrorism” allegation — which has been deployed to justify, without evidence, the........

© Dawn