U.S. President Donald Trump speaks to House Republican lawmakers during their annual policy retreat in Washington on Tuesday.Evan Vucci/The Associated Press

If it came in isolation, one might look at the toothless debates over the legality of the U.S. abduction of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and chalk it up as another American intervention in Latin America. But the context is not the same.

It’s not just that U.S. President Donald Trump warned Colombian President Gustavo Petro that he could be next. He left the rest of Mr. Maduro’s repressive regime in power, under threat, and, according to his social-media post on Tuesday, extracted a payoff of US$2-billion in Venezuelan oil. Then he told reporters he still doesn’t rule out taking Greenland from Denmark by force – not for the benefit of Greenlanders, but because the United States wants it.

No one should shed a tear for Mr. Maduro. But so far, there is no sign of a U.S. intention to free Venezuelans from tyranny. There is certainly no need to liberate Greenlanders from the Danes. There is no pretense of nation-building........

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