Nigeria, Jan. 6 -- The forceful seizure of Nicolas Maduro from Venezuelan territory and his appearance before a court in New York has received equal measure of criticism and celebration, depending on which side of the divide you pay attention to. But that is not my focus. The episode raises a question far more unsettling than whether Maduro deserves prosecution. It asks who now decides how international law is enforced, and by what means.

The publicly known sequence matters. An armed intervention on foreign soil. Custody secured without the consent of the territorial state. A rapid shift to domestic criminal proceedings in the United States. And, hovering over it all, political rhetoric about control, transition, and stewardship of anoth...