The year 2026 has begun with the American capture of the Venezuelan President, Nicolás Maduro, and his wife, Cilia Flores, on January 3, from his palace, after a lightning military action, including air raids and bombings by the US forces in at least four districts, including the capital city of Caracas.

The US action has left the strategic spectators across the world shocked, awed, and alarmed, in equal measure, reminding them of the US interventions in Iraq and Libya.

Many concerned voices from the intellectual and diplomatic community are calling it the end of the rules-based world order and a revival of 19th-century principles and norms of international relations.

US President Donald Trump’s decision needs to be seen in the context of the “Trump Corollary" to the Monroe Doctrine, outlined in the 2025 US National Security Strategy paper, which explicitly states the US intent to “restore American pre-eminence" in the Western Hemisphere.

The NSS 2025 clearly signals that the administration “will deny non-Hemispheric competitors the ability to position forces or other threatening capabilities, or to own or control strategically vital assets, in our Hemisphere". Further, this move aligns with Trump’s “America First" foreign policy, aimed at building a safer, more secure, and more prosperous Western hemisphere, with a clearly defined active role for the US in the region. Trump has repeatedly stated that his era will be known for the wars he has supposedly ended and the ones the US chose not to join under his leadership. Implied in this dictum is also his fundamental belief that the US needs to withdraw from the long-standing global conflicts. However, at the same time, he envisages compensating this withdrawal with an........

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