“Under all circumstances, the principles of international law and the UN Charter must be respected. We call for restraint,” she wrote.
Her comments were echoed by European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and European Council President António Costa, with Commission Vice-President Teresa Ribera adding that “we need a rules-based world.”
France went a step further with its foreign minister condemning the American operation on social media. According to Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot, Maduro “gravely violated” the rights of Venezuelans, but the military operation that led to him being grabbed “contravenes the principle of non-use of force, which underpins international law.”
Unfortunately, considering the basic human psychology that world leaders are subject to, there is a need for a deterrent with greater power than the temptation. There is always a calculation of “is it worth it”, and it is up to us civilized to ensure the answer is “no” in situations like this. By what means we create this deterrence however, I fear it is always either way too little (just talk) or way too much (military force, aka. war).
We live in trying times…