“The US operation to kidnap Maduro is seen by many observers as the opening of Pandora’s box, which will be followed by similar operations from other countries.”, — write: www.unian.ua
The US operation to kidnap Maduro is seen by many observers as the opening of Pandora’s box, which will be followed by similar operations from other countries.
The “president” of Venezuela was simply stolen by another state / screenshot from the videoThe kidnapping of Venezuelan dictator Nicolas Maduro by the United States has caused a wave of criticism, including among congressmen. One of the critics’ arguments is that now Moscow and Beijing have received the “green light” to conduct similar operations in Ukraine and Taiwan. However, this argument is extremely controversial, analyst Decker Eveleth writes on the pages of Foreign Policy.
Russia and China do not recognize the legitimacy of the governments of Ukraine and Taiwan, respectively, so in theory if they tried to capture Volodymyr Zelenskyi or Taiwanese President Lai Ching-de, the US would now have no reason to condemn such actions.
However, such an analogy is false from the beginning, Eveleth believes. According to the analyst, critics of the operation to kidnap Maduro are mistaken if they believe that Russia and China have so far been restrained due to political or legal consequences.
Eveleth recalls that Russia tried to neutralize the president of Ukraine in the first weeks of the full-scale invasion, but the sabotage groups were destroyed, and the airborne troops that went to their aid were defeated. The analyst also notes that China has included the assassination of Taiwan’s leaders in its plans for a military invasion of the island. Therefore, political or moral factors do not restrain Moscow and Beijing here anyway. Moreover, there is no question of respect for international law.
According to the analyst, Russia and China will not kidnap the presidents of Ukraine or Taiwan not because of any moral or legal reasons, but solely because they are not capable of carrying out an operation of this level of complexity.
“Last weekend’s operation required thousands of U.S. military personnel and intelligence agencies to coordinate closely using state-of-the-art technology. It was carried out by the most elite force the U.S. could field, including cyber operations, covert intelligence, preparatory attacks on Venezuelan air defense systems, and the use of highly specialized helicopters operated by highly skilled pilots likely equipped with secret opportunities known to very few,” Eveleth writes.
The analyst emphasizes that the United States has a rare combination of advanced technology and years of experience in conducting high-risk special operations. No other state has such a combination of experience and capabilities.
Eveleth also notes that Venezuela is a very weak country in terms of advanced military and counterintelligence capabilities. What cannot be said about Ukraine and Taiwan. Where it was enough for the Americans to hit a few dozen targets to clear the way for special forces, China and the Russian Federation will have to hit hundreds of such targets, which is more like a total bombardment than a surgically precise covert operation.
The capture of Maduro: the latest newsAs UNIAN wrote, the US operation to capture Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro is causing a conflicting reaction in Ukraine: on the one hand, Kyiv fears that such actions undermine the principles of international law and may weaken Ukraine’s arguments about the illegality of Russian aggression, and on the other hand, perceives it as a positive blow to Putin’s ally, which potentially weakens Russia economically and politically.
Ukrainian experts emphasize the importance of consistent compliance with international law, because its selective application can play against Ukraine, while the actions of the United States in Venezuela raise additional doubts about the reliability of American security guarantees, which is why Volodymyr Zelensky insists on their legally binding form and avoids public comments that could harm relations with Washington.
You may also be interested in news:
- Russia Sent Submarine to Escort Tanker Pursued by US – WSJ
- Trump demands that Venezuela expel agents of Russia and China from the country, – Axios
- US prepares to deport more than 600,000 Venezuelans after Maduro’s arrest – Axios