No One is Safe: The Maduro Kidnapping Changes Everything

The world has just fundamentally changed.

The apparent abduction of Nicolas Maduro, President of Venezuela, from Caracas has changed politics for ever, and culture must respond.

A foreign head of state has been abducted from his home country and brought to the USA, by military and law-enforcement officers. to stand trial in New York state. This is a fundamental break to how we understand the world is to work. It is a return to the middle ages, a time when kings could be kidnapped and ransomed, like when Richard I, Lionheart, was captured by Leopold of Austria, handed over to Holy Roman Emperor, Henry VI, who then ransomed him for 150,000 Marks or about 100,000 pounds of silver.

It is a return to an absence of international law. It’s a type of warlordism where might makes right. The Trump doctrine is really, that if you can do it, you should. Like Henry VI demanding ransom money, the US is demanding access to Venezuela’s oil. This is pure gangsterism.

To give a thin veneer of legality, the Trumpians have wrapped this up in a narrative claiming Maduro is a drug trafficker. This is laughable, and even if it were true (which it is not), it would not justify the actions of the mafia dons in the US administration. Through word and deed, the US is claiming that New York state law applies across the world and, in particular, in Venezuela. It also thinks that US law enforcement officials can arrest people outside US jurisdiction.

Remember those statements from cop movies, when a cop is “outside his jurisdiction”? That’s a joke now. A US cop is never outside his jurisdiction; he can arrest someone anywhere at any time. Thanks to the Trump regime, we know that US law enforcement officials can arrest anyone anywhere in the world without the consent of the government of that country. The UN, the principles of the Westphalian Peace, on which international relations have been based, be damned. It’s the will of the US administration that rules now.

Diplomatic immunity counts for nothing. Heads of state are normally immune from this sort of thing by virtue of their office. There are a number of reasons for this, but most notably on the international stage a country, say the US, needs someone to negotiate with.

Because the actions of the US are illegal under the norms of international law and the, ahem, international rules-based order, which is the network of rules and institutions that “Western” leaders claim that they operate under, they have thrown the world into chaos. There are further repercussions. It means, for one, that the collective West can no longer claim to be law-abiding. It can’t even pretend to be moral and to believe in the human rights that form part of the US’s founding documents.

It means that the West and the US in particular can no longer be considered a Rechtstaat, an état de droit, a právní stát, or, in English, a state governed by the rule of law. Being governed by the rule of law is fundamental for the West’s moral authority. Look at, for example, the EU’s own definition:

the core meaning of the rule of law is the same in all of them and can be defined along six principles: legality, implying a transparent, accountable, democratic and pluralistic process for enacting laws; legal certainty; prohibition of the arbitrary exercise of executive power; effective judicial protection by independent and impartial courts with effective judicial review including respect for fundamental rights; separation of powers; and equality before the law. These principles have been recognised by the European Court of Justice and the European Court of Human Rights. In addition, the Council of Europe has developed standards and issued opinions and recommendations that provide well-established guidance to promote and uphold the rule of law.

It is difficult to overstate just how much the West’s moral authority is based on the principle of the rule of law, whether enshrined in constitutions or common law. The principles include the idea that no one is above the law, not even if you’re the King, or president and everyone is entitled to due process and a fair trial.

The U.S. has now thrown all of that out. Hereafter, we must expect government by the whim of those who have the biggest bombs. We cannot expect that the government will be fair or impartial. Rather, government is a plaything of the unscrupulous.

In the olden days, when governments outwardly tried to comply with the law, if someone was suspected of committing a crime, you go through the proper channels and in this case it would be to ask Venezuela to hand over the appropriate officials to stand trial in a US court. Of course, Venezuela might refuse, but that would be in accordance with the operation of the international system.

The international system, however, no longer applies. States, as long as they have the fire power, can act to steal resources and murder those they disagree with. The U.S. has redefined war. It is no longer formally declared with certain rules applying. War is waged through subterfuge, raids and kidnapping. A state’s goals may be achieved with decapitation strikes, strikes on infrastructure or personnel and the creation of chaos.

That’s if “states” exist any more. By its actions, the U.S. has redefined what is meant by “state”. The U.S. acts as an unruly bunch of tribal bandits, who, if they want something, will just grab it.

This state of affairs have been a long time in the making. In 1989 the US invaded Panama to capture the then president, Manuel Noriega, and have him tried in the US. In September 2024, Israel weakened Hezbollah by bombing and assassinating key officials, even though these were situated in another sovereign country, Lebanon, with which Israel was not at war. Israel assassinated key government officials in Yemen in August 2025, and sought regime change in Iran by assassinating key scientists and officials in June of the same year. The US doing the same with Venezuela is a continuation of this form of banditry.

Extra-territorial kidnapping has also been practised before. Notably, Israel kidnapped Adolf Eichmann in Argentina in 1960 so as to stand a war-crimes trial in Israel. Similar too is the “extraordinary rendition” regime, which started under the Clinton administration, whereby “enemy combatants” - whatever that means - would be kidnapped to be tortured and interrogated in states where human rights law didn’t apply.

All this while the US denies the jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court, which is an attempt to set up an international body to try those committing crimes in international law. Yet, the US claims its own laws apply across the world.

The conclusion to be drawn is that no one anywhere is safe. With the breakdown of the international rules-based order and the principles of the Peace of Westphalia, it’s now a free for all. All government officials can expect a kidnapping at the whim of whoever is in the White House or any other official building. Of course, if the US can do it, so can North Korea, China, Iran or any other state.

It is this writer’s speculation that the kidnapping of Maduro was coordinated with an attempt to assassinate President Putin of Russia with 91 drones aimed at the President’s residence in Valday a few days previously. It would have been a neat one-two if the US administration had pulled this off. The Russian Ministry of Defence handed evidence to a representative of the US military attaché indicating US targeting was involved. Even if, Trump, the President of the US didn’t have direct knowledge of this attack, ex officio he has imputed knowledge.

These sorts of shenanigans can only be attempted once. Now that the international rules have changed, we will see a more paranoid ruling class who will have to ensure legions of body guards and vast surveillance networks. In turn, we should expect to see the same techniques used against the US. What’s good for the goose is good for the gander, after all.

For many people, even private citizens, it means that anyone might have broken a law in the US, even without knowing it, and could be kidnapped and taken there to stand trial.

The response must be to disengage from the US as much as possible, not to use US financial institutions and software products. Your own government won’t protect you. In previous eras, how did normal people behave in periods of warlordism? Fealty to your local strongman is necessary as is ensuring that you are armed well enough to resist. If a local strongman doesn’t exist, it will be necessary to create one, so that the dark forces of the Trumpistan don’t snatch you from your bed in the middle of the night.

For our culture it means bland truisms about democracy, freedom and fair trials no longer apply. We must assume that a corrupt, venal ruling class will abuse the institutions of state to satiate its debauched appetites. Ordinary people must do whatever is necessary to protect themselves.