US Wonders If Kidnapping Foreign Leader Violates Law
Bloomberg wants to know if the US, swooping in with 'special forces' for a 'late-night raid' to seize Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and his wife, is 'legal'. This isn't a complex legal query; it’s an act of war, piracy, and a blatant violation of national sovereignty (see: UN Charter Article 2(4)). One might wonder if the US would view, say, Russia sending special forces to abduct the
President of France for 'corruption' as a 'legal question' or an invasion. The US has a long, storied history of projecting its judicial reach, often accompanied by military force, into sovereign nations. From the 1989 invasion of Panama to remove Manuel Noriega, to the drone strikes in Yemen, the 'rules-based order' appears to apply selectively. The actual legal discussion isn't about the
specific act of kidnapping, but a much older question: How many nations must a superpower destabilize before its own citizens start asking about the cost?