WHEN I think about it, all of my life I have only ever remembered Britain and the European Union sucking up to the United States.

They were always bending over to appease Washington, especially when it violated international law or embarked on an illegal aggression. 

So it was no shock when Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro was forcibly extracted from his home and kidnapped. Donald Trump’s relentless violation of international law and the United Nations Charter is again enabled by Britain and Europe’s complicity or cowardly acquiescence.

Trump regularly boasts about the US’s open contempt for international laws and lack of respect for sovereignty.

He treats Europe with utter contempt and it is no surprise that Trump is exploiting their weakness by now demanding he takes control of Greenland. Troops from Britain, Denmark, France, Germany, the Netherlands and Norway arrived in Greenland to show solidarity against Trump, as if that would make him change his mind.

Nato is scared and yet again accepts the lawlessness and impunity demanded of it by the US.

We should not be surprised. The international order established after WWII is now being broken up. Joe Biden’s four years of failure gave Trump the vision of a full-on rogue state, believing it can do whatever it wants, because “might is right.”

All rules-based orders have been shredded. Trump is clear there is no such thing as international law and that there are no limits on the unilateral exercise of US power.

His reckless lies about attacking Venezuela to combat alleged narco-terrorism have now been abandoned.

Russia and China have condemned the aggression and the rest of the developing world sees the US for what it is — an imperialist regime with absolutely no respect for international law, human life and peaceful coexistence.

How does Trump get away with this? Well, all of it is in the latest US National Security Strategy which seems to have been ignored by 99 per cent of the world.

It is hilarious but also a declaration of a new world, stating: “To ensure that America remains the world’s strongest, richest, most powerful, and most successful country for decades to come, our country needs a coherent, focused strategy for how we interact with the world. And to get that right, all Americans need to know what, exactly, it is we are trying to do and why. After years of neglect, the United States will reassert and enforce the Monroe Doctrine to restore American pre-eminence in the western hemisphere, and to protect our homeland and our access to key geographies throughout the region. We will deny non-hemispheric competitors the ability to position forces or other threatening capabilities, or to own or control strategically vital assets, in our hemisphere.”

“This ‘Trump Corollary’ to the Monroe Doctrine is a common-sense and potent restoration of US power and priorities, consistent with US security interests.”

It goes on to say: “We count among our many allies and partners dozens of wealthy, sophisticated nations that must assume primary responsibility for their regions and contribute far more to our collective defence. President Trump has set a new global standard with the Hague Commitment, which pledges Nato countries to spend 5 per cent of GDP on defence and which our Nato allies have endorsed and must now meet.”

In other words, “ha ha, you are on your own now Europe.”

All of this can be found in the US National Security Strategy which was released on December 4 2025. It is a truly dreadful read but it does make it clear that “the days of the United States propping up the entire world order like Atlas are over.”

Please read the US National Security Strategy. What has happened to Venezuela will happen to others — Cuba, Colombia, Nicaragua and Brazil are all in Trump’s firing line — and we must do everything we can to support them, along with any others who are also attacked.

No Cold War Britain urges everyone to join us  at www.nocoldwarbritain.org.

Bob Oram is chair of No Cold War Britain.