We need to think about an approach to international law's control of the use of force that is true to the moral and power political realities of today's world.
"Whether one loves Donald Trump or hates him, this daring operation shows what leadership in the executive branch looks like," Council Board Member Richard Porter writes following the US intervention in Venezuela.
"This administration wants to enlist its friends to help secure its dominance in the Western Hemisphere," Leslie Vinjamuri says. "It's also willing to push the boundaries of what we have come to see as normal, expected, legitimate, international behavior in order to secure that dominance."
The US military captured Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro during a large-scale strike. Experts assess what the unprecedented US intervention means for Venezuela, US foreign policy, and regional and global stability.
"Beijing’s efforts to strike a nationalist chord among Chinese citizens regarding Taiwanese unification might not be easily transmitted," the Council's Dina Smeltz and Craig Kafura write.
As it enters its 250th year, the United States faces an international political system it can neither dominate nor disregard. American leaders will have to do something they have long resisted: learn how to actually play the game.
