(JNS) Just when it appeared that President Donald Trump’s most dramatic threat was to the Iranian regime on Friday, he announced on Saturday that US forces had conducted large-scale strikes on Venezuela. Even more jaw-dropping was his confirmation that dictator Nicolás Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, had been captured and brought to the United States to face trial.

The news reverberated far beyond Caracas. This was not merely a symbolic reckoning for a narco-state spiraling into ruin. Nor was it simply overdue justice for a despot who plundered one of Latin America’s wealthiest nations while exporting corruption and violence.

It was a signal with global reach—directed, among others, at Tehran, Moscow and Beijing. No wonder all three promptly condemned the actions as a “violation of international law.”

But they got the message: that no “sphere of evil influence” is immune from the Trump administration’s wrath; that no client regime is beyond reach, geographically...

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