Demonstrators hold placards during a protest against US strikes against Venezuela,桂阳新闻网 桂阳房价 in London, Britain, Jan 5, 2026. [Photo/Agencies]

The unprovoked military attack by the United States against Venezuela and the abduction of its president Nicolas Maduro and his wife Cilia Flores on Jan 3 and the subsequent claim by US President Donald Trump that the US will "run" Venezuela are perhaps the biggest seismic change in the international order after World War II.

The US actions have seriously violated Venezuela's sovereignty and territorial integrity, the United Nations Charter and international laws. No wonder they have been condemned by many countries as well as UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk. Protests erupted in cities around the world, from Latin America to Asia to Europe and even in major US cities, where people denounced the US interventions and called for the release of Maduro and his wife.

The remarks made afterwards by Trump and other senior US officials were even more outrageous. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio's claim that the West Hemisphere belongs to the US is an insult to every sovereign nation in that part of the world. The claim that Venezuela's oil should first and foremost be sold to the US and other Western nations is outlandish because those are the very countries that had sanctioned and boycotted Venezuela's oil.

If China, Russia and some other countries should not be allowed to have a presence in Latin America and trade with countries in the region, as top US officials claim, then how can Washington explain the US presence in East Asia and the 800 US military bases all over the world.

The latest US action is a painful reminder for many Latin American countries of the sufferings they endured during the incessant invasions, coups, regime changes and assassinations engineered by the US in the past.

Unlike earlier, this time the US government officials did not even hide their true ulterior motive, which has nothing to do with fighting the drug trade but all about controlling Venezuela's heavy crude oil, the largest reserve in the world.

Besides Venezuela, the US has renewed its threat to purchase Greenland or take it over by force. Trump declared this week that "we need Greenland from the standpoint of national security" and his advisor Stephen Miller told CNN that "Greenland should be part of the US".

The US no longer touts or pretends to care about the global order it helped to build after WWII. The Jan 3 attack is its latest large-scale assault on the global order. It is truly acting like a rogue nation and a 19th century imperialist power. Bragging about such 19th century gangsterism in front of the whole world in the 21st century is shameless and appalling.

While most of the world has condemned the US actions, reactions from traditional US allies in Europe are sadly mild, with a few countries even showing support for the illegal operations. Of the 27 EU member states, only Spain had the courage to join major Latin American countries in denouncing the US actions. Many countries are hesitant to condemn or even point out the US violations of the UN Charter and international law.

This appeasement by Europe will only embolden the US to conduct more reckless violations, including on Greenland.

Top US officials have talked at length about the success of the illegal military operation in Venezuela, but this very operation will go down in history as the biggest damage to US reputation and its standing in the world. It will cost the US far more than the 50 million barrels of heavy crude it wants to extort from Venezuela.

What happened on Jan 3 seems to be the beginning of a larger US strategy to defy the UN Charter, violate international law, destabilize the global order and drag the world back to the 19th century.

It is critical for the world, including the people in the US, to show strong solidarity in condemning and opposing the US government's actions. If the world is unable to uphold the UN Charter and maintain global order today, we will all be responsible for the potentially chaotic world that lies ahead.

The author is a China Daily columnist.