Gunboat diplomacy is back in business with Donald Trump ordering the abduction of Nicolás Maduro and his declaration that the US will in future control Venezuela and its vast oil reserves.

We are returning to the world of 19th-century imperialist states with the greatest military power stripping those without the power to resist of their political independence and economic assets. Trump might equally use the allegations against Maduro – of supporting “narco-terrorism” – against Colombia and Mexico, which, unlike Venezuela, really are major producers of cocaine and fentanyl, respectively.

Trump scarcely bothers with the traditional US justifications, such as the introduction of democracy, used in the past to justify regime change in Iraq and Afghanistan. He clearly states that the US will in future rule 31 million Venezuelans directly or indirectly, but there is no doubt about who will be in charge. The one accusation that cannot be made against Trump is that he conceals his motives and intentions.

“We’re going to run the country until such time as we can do a safe, proper, and judicious transition,” he said during his news conference on Saturday at his Mar-a-Lago resort. “We don’t want to be involved with having somebody get in and we have the same situation that we had for the last long period of........

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