US scrambles geopolitics with stark attack on Venezuela

Ousted Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and his wife were transported to New York by helicopter, ship and plane within hours of their capture for arraignment in a US federal court as the world woke up Sunday to a new era of brazen US military might.

In a press conference from his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida shortly after the raid on Maduro’s compound in Caracas, US President Donald Trump held forth on the strength and precision of the US military, warned that other politicians could follow suit and pointedly underscored that his presidency was not afraid to use power in ways that all but brushed aside the US-led post-war order.

Trump said the US will “run the country” for the foreseeable future until a “judicious transition” takes place and made it clear Washington will take control of Venezuela’s enormous oil reserves.

The jarring US attack has sparked global reactions ranging from praise to condemnation as leaders grappled with the decapitation of a highly repressive regime that caused widespread emigration and economic decline against an empowered Trump administration willing and potentially eager to take down an unwanted government with naked force.

The US attack reverses a vow Trump made when campaigning for his second term that Washington would stop, not start, wars under his watch and focus on domestic priorities, including revitalising the US economy, spurring manufacturing jobs and bringing factories back from China.