By Philip Yeung
Trump is a faithfully law-abiding global leader. He obeys the law of the jungle. In fact, he dictates them. Welcome to Venezuela, Trump's new jungle. In a surgical operation, its leader was snatched from his sleep, handcuffed, leg-shackled and taken to New York. Within 24 hours, American oil executives were air-dropped into Venezuela to oversee the management of the world's richest oil reserves. What a textbook, shock-and-awe, silky-smooth bank job!
The era of lawlessness is here. The rest of the world looks on, open-mouthed and dumbstruck. Henceforth, speak no more about rules of international behavior. This is pure highway robbery, broad daylight kidnapping and regime change rolled into one.
The situation is thick with irony. Several months ago, Trump was drooling over the Nobel Peace Prize and begging to take it home. But to his chagrin, it went to a virtually unknown Venezuela opposition critic. Perhaps the Nobel Committee now owns its biggest blunder. Had Trump landed the Peace Prize, the world might have been spared the naked Venezuela violation. When Trump lost out on the Peace trophy, I felt uneasy, as this meant Trump no longer had any incentive to play nice on the world stage. He could then be his true ugly self and start a war or two just to spite his Nobel Committee naysayers. Sure enough, he began by bombing Iran for no reason.
We now know that the Venezuela break-and-enter and kidnap had been carefully planned around the time of the Nobel decision, as Trump's taunting payback to the Nobel Committee.
Venezuela might have taken home the Nobel Peace Prize, but it has now lost its sovereignty. We have been forewarned that Trump is a danger man, unhinged and unpredictable. Now all doubts are removed. This is a half-mad man who is wholly amoral.
This is only the first year of his second presidency. We must survive three more years of his insanity.
In Trump's universe, only two other countries and their leaders loom large: China and Russia. The rest are just ornamental players on the world stage. Unfortunately, Venezuela is in the wrong geographical sphere. America considers the western hemisphere its own backyard, where it can bully its neighbors at will. Just ask poor Canada and Mexico.
He knew that Russia and China are too far away to defend the defenceless Venezuelans. There is method in Trump's madness.
What does the naked violation of Venezuela forebode for the world? The EU is now irrelevant, and the UK is reduced to a helpless on-looker. You cross Trump at your own peril. International agencies from the UN to the WTO are impotent eunuchs who wouldn't dare say boo to a goose.
But things are not that simple. Trump's flouting of international law has sent a strong signal to the world's two other biggest nuclear powers. His brutish behavior has stiffened their spine. China now knows that any signs of weakness are strategically self-defeating. America's allies are fools if they are not having second thoughts about the value of the US alliance. Will Greenland be next?
Domestically and internationally, Trump has nothing but disdain for the rule of law. A recalibration of the relationship with China must be high on the agenda of the rest of the world. Russia is a pariah with its ongoing brutal invasion of Ukraine. China is the only rule-abiding major nuclear power with teeth that can stand up to America.
Because of China's hypersonic, unstoppable aircraft carrier killer missiles,I seriously doubt the US 6th fleet would provoke a fight in China's backyard. Perhaps, the Taiwan separatist leader with a sickly 30% popular support is now worried about the mainland doing a "Maduro" on him and snatch him from his "presidential" bedroom. What works for Trump in Venezuela might just work for China in Taipei.
Trump did it, not against drugs but for oil. For China, it is for overdue national reunification. Against a re-militarizing Japan, China may be justified in acting preemptively. Trump might be an adventurist, but he is no fool. He is not going to piss off a near-equal with nuclear teeth and sacrifice American lives to settle China's domestic dispute. He also knows the compelling logic about the right to keep your own backyard safe.
As a failed former casino owner, Trump knows the odds. As a born bully, he only acts when he enjoys overwhelming superiority of power as is the case in Venezuela.
These will be sleepless nights for Lai Ching-Te and his separatist cohorts. The Venezuela chapter may be closing. But on the far side of the Pacific, the Taipei story might be just unfolding.
The views do not necessarily reflect those of DotDotNews.
Read more articles by Philip Yeung:
Opinion | Who is the paper tiger now: US or China?
Opinion | The high priest of China-bashing sinks to a new low
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