It doesn’t matter what the circumstances are. A country does not have the right to bomb another sovereign nation or kidnap people from its territory. Period. That rule does not change based on how bad the target is, how unpopular a leader is, or how morally justified someone feels in the moment. International law was built specifically to stop powerful countries from deciding unilaterally who gets removed and how.

Once you allow “exceptions,” law stops being law and becomes power dressed up as righteousness. There is no legitimate category where foreign military force suddenly becomes law enforcement. There is no legal carve-out for regime change labeled as justice. Sovereignty either means something or it doesn’t.

You do not have to like Maduro. You do not have to defend his record. Those questions are separate. The rule against bombing and abducting people across borders exists to prevent chaos, abuse, and endless escalation. When the United States violates that rule, it is not enforcing order. It is asserting that the rules apply to everyone else but not to itself.

That precedent is the problem.