In the days since the US captured Venezuelan dictator Nicolás Maduro, lots of doctrines have been thrown around. Donald Trump claims he is maintaining the Monroe Doctrine against foreign interference in the Western Hemisphere, updating it to the typically self-admiring and asinine Donroe Doctrine. Others talk about a new era of Great Power sphere-of-influence theory.

These serious-sounding ideas suggest some sense of intellectual coherence to Trump’s actions. But in truth this does not exist. He is just a jumble of disparate reflexes, a ball of venomous id destabilising a planet. His only consistent principle is that he admires strength, wishes to project it, and demands the right to take whatever it is he might want. It is the geopolitics of the high-school sociopath.

In the face of this kind of petulance, our old theories of international relations dissolve. And leaders like Keir Starmer are left adrift, trying to pursue their priorities in a world that no longer makes sense, looking increasingly feeble and desperate.

Part of the reason for this current sense of heightened crisis is that several foreign policy stories are dominating at the same time. There are, in effect, three separate potential crises erupting simultaneously: Venezuela, Greenland and Ukraine.

In Latin America, Trump has basically kidnapped Venezuela’s president and now threatens Colombia, Mexico and........

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