THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) — From the smoking remains of the last century's two catastrophic world wars, nations came together to build a web of international rules and laws. The goal was to prevent a repeat of such devastating conflicts in the future.

Now, that world order—the epicenter of which is at the United Nations headquarters in New York, near the courtroom where Nicolás Maduro was tried Monday after his ouster in Venezuela—appears in danger of crumbling as the doctrine of “strength makes might” once again makes its way onto the global stage.

UN Undersecretary-General Rosemary A. DiCarlo He told the UN Security Council on Monday that the “maintenance of international peace and security depends on the continued commitment of all member states to adhere to all provisions of the UN Charter.”

United States President Donald Trump insists that capturing Maduro was legal. His government maintains that drug cartels operating from Venezuela are illegal combatants and said the United States is now in an "armed conflict" with them, according to a White House memo obtained in October by The Associated Press.

The mission to capture Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, at their home on a military base in the Venezuelan capital, Caracas, meant that they now face charges for participating in an alleged narcoterrorism conspiracy. The US ambassador to the UN, Mike Waltz, defended the military action as a justified “surgical law enforcement operation.”

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The move fits into the Trump administration's National Security Strategy, which was made public last month and establishes restoring “American preeminence in the Western Hemisphere” as a key goal of his second term.

But could it also serve as a model for future actions?

Concern about future actions

On Sunday night, Trump also put Venezuela's neighbor, Colombia, and its leftist president, Gustavo Petro, on notice.

In a conversation with reporters, Trump said that Colombia is "run by a sick man who likes to make cocaine and sell it to the United States." The White House sanctioned Petro, his family and a member of his executive in October over accusations of alleged involvement in the global drug trade. Colombia is considered the epicenter of global cocaine trafficking.

Analysts and some world leaders—from China to Mexico—have condemned the operation in Venezuela. Some expressed fear that Maduro's removal could pave the way for more military interventions and a further erosion of the global legal order.

French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot said that Maduro's capture “goes against the principle of non-use of force, which forms the basis of international law.”

In addition, he warned of the “increasing number of violations of this principle by nations invested with the important responsibility of being permanent members of the Council.” The United Nations Security Council will have serious consequences for global security and will spare no one.”

Below are some situations that could be affected by the change in attitude on these issues:

Ukraine

For almost four years, Europe has been grappling with Russia's war of aggression in neighboring Ukraine, a conflict that affects the continent's eastern flank and the NATO transatlantic alliance and has been widely described as a serious violation of international law.

The European Union relies heavily on US support to keep Ukraine afloat, especially after the White House warned that Brussels must ensure its own security in the future.

Vasily Nebenzya, the Russian ambassador to the UN, said the mission to capture Maduro amounted to “a return to the era of anarchy” by the United States. During the emergency meeting of the entity's Security Council, he urged the 15-member panel to “come together and resoundingly reject the methods and tools of Washington's military foreign policy.”

Volodymyr Fesenko, chairman of the board of the Penta think tank in kyiv, Ukraine, said that Russian President Vladimir Putin has long undermined the global order and weakened international law.

“Unfortunately (...) Trump's actions have continued this trend,” he noted.

Greenland

Trump fueled another growing concern for Europe by openly speculating about the territory's future. Dane from Greenland.

“Right now it is very strategic. Greenland is full of Russian and Chinese ships everywhere,” the US president told reporters on Sunday while flying back to Washington from his mansion in Florida. “We need Greenland from a national security point of view, and Denmark is not going to be able to do it.”

Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen said in a statement that Trump “has no right to annex” the territory. In addition, he reminded him that Denmark already provides the United States, a NATO member, with extensive access to Greenland through existing security agreements.

Taiwan

The operation to capture Maduro has sparked speculation about the possibility that China will launch a similar initiative against the president of Taiwan, Lai Ching-te. Last week, in response to a US plan to sell a huge arms package to Taipei, Beijing held two days of military exercises around the self-ruled island that China claims as its territory.

However, Beijing is unlikely to replicate Trump's actions in Venezuela, something that could prove destabilizing and risky.

China's strategy has been to gradually increase pressure on Taiwan through military harassment and propaganda and political influence campaigns rather than singling out Taiwan. Lai as his target. It seeks to pressure Taipei to eventually accept a status similar to that of Hong Kong and Macau, which have semi-autonomous governments on paper but in reality are subject to increasing control by the government in Beijing.

For China, Maduro's capture also adds a layer of uncertainty to the Trump administration's ability to act quickly, unpredictably and boldly against other governments. Beijing criticized the operation in Caracas, calling it a “flagrant use of force against a sovereign state,” and noted that Washington is acting as “judge of the world.”

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning said on Tuesday that the United States had “deliberately trampled on the sovereignty and security of Venezuela.”

Middle East

Israel's relentless campaign in Gaza following the October 7, 2023 attacks, led by the insurgent group Hamas, revealed the inability of the international community to stop a devastating conflict. The United States, Israel's strongest ally, vetoed Security Council resolutions calling for a ceasefire in the besieged Palestinian territory.

Trump has already demonstrated his willingness to confront Iran, Israel's neighbor and Washington's former adversary, over its nuclear program, with military attacks on facilities on Iranian soil in June 2025.

On Friday, the US president warned the Islamic Republic that if Tehran "violently kills peaceful protesters", Washington “will come to your rescue.” Violence surrounding protests sparked by the country's ailing economic situation has left at least 35 dead, activists said Tuesday.

Iran's Foreign Ministry, for its part, condemned the "illegal attack by the United States against Venezuela."

Europe and Trump

The European Union, another post-World War II institution meant to foster peace and prosperity, is debating how to respond to its traditional ally under the Trump administration. In a clear indication of the increasingly fragile nature of the transatlantic relationship, Trump's national security strategy described the 27-nation bloc as weak.

While insisting that Maduro has no political legitimacy, the EU said in a statement about the mission to capture him that "the principles of international law and the UN Charter must be respected," adding that members of the United Nations Security Council "have a specific responsibility to uphold those principles."

But the prime minister of In Hungary, Viktor Orbán, a close Trump ally, spoke disparagingly about the role international law plays in regulating countries' behavior.

International rules, he declared, "do not govern the decisions of many great powers. This is completely obvious."

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Associated Press journalists around the world contributed to this report.

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This story was translated from English by an AP editor. with the help of a generative artificial intelligence tool.