BEIJING, Jan. 9 (Xinhua) -- Far from a triumphant display of strength and Western Hemisphere dominance as Washington claims, the U.S. assault on Venezuela in fact marks a defining moment in the rapid erosion of American global hegemony.
The invasion, a brazen use of force, has exposed America's diminishing capacity to achieve objectives through diplomacy or influence. Its forcible seizure of Venezuela's president and overt calls to take control of the country's oil industry further reveal the United States as a super-disruptor of international law.
At the height of its power, the United States cast itself as the guardian of international law, crafting the rules and wielding them to serve its own interests. Today, confronted with deepening domestic strains and an increasingly contested global position, Washington has shed its veneer of moralism and is resorting more openly to naked force to impose its will on other countries.
In justifying its invasion of Venezuela, the United States offered little beyond assertions of self-interest. As The Guardian observed, "The days of the U.S. trying to convince the world that Saddam Hussein did in fact have weapons of mass destruction ... were, in fact, the good old days."
The operation aligns with Washington's recently released National Security Strategy, which signals a retreat from its traditional role as the unchallenged global power in the past three decades.
Declaring that "the days of the United States propping up the entire world order like Atlas are over," the strategy prioritizes hemispheric dominance, vowing to reassert and enforce the Monroe Doctrine to restore U.S. preeminence in the Western Hemisphere.
Moreover, the U.S. invasion represents a reckless squandering of America's credibility as a major power and a grave blow to the international system it once claimed to uphold. Following its military operation in Venezuela, President Donald Trump issued threats against Colombia and Greenland, and signed an order withdrawing the United States from 66 international organizations.
Washington's overreliance on force and large-scale exit from multilateral institutions not only alienates much of the world, including its own allies, but also systematically undermines the global governance framework. The so-called "rules-based international order" and alliance systems once formed the cornerstone of America's hegemonic dominance. By dismantling these very foundations in pursuit of unilateral supremacy, Washington is only accelerating its decline into self-imposed isolation.
History offers a stark lesson: America's reckless wars harm not only other nations but ultimately backfire on itself. In Afghanistan and Iraq, the initial "moments of glory" following regime change were soon succeeded by chaos and instability, leaving the United States mired in costly, protracted conflicts and strategic setbacks. The same pattern is poised to repeat in Venezuela.
As The Guardian observed in a separate commentary: "As Venezuela's skyline lit up under U.S. bombs, we were witnessing the morbid symptoms of a declining empire." ■
