India, Jan. 15 -- Although consistent with the long-term trend in American foreign policy, the US's invasion of Venezuela and abduction of its leader Nicolas Maduro, break from the pattern of recent years.

Since the end of the Cold War, the US had become less interventionist and more tolerant of ideological diversity in South America. More broadly, a wariness about foreign interventions took shape during the Obama years and was articulated clearly by President Donald Trump during his first presidency. For instance, Trump's first two speeches at the United Nations General Assembly in 2017 and 2018 mount a strong defence of the principle of sovereignty of all nations. Both Trump and Joe Biden wanted to scale down American entanglements in ...