You may not need legitimacy, all you need is mighty. The U.S strike on Venezuela and the abduction of its President Maduro signals clearly that it is the culmination of the end of strategic restraint.
When Russia launched its invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, the reaction extended beyond a simple violation of sovereignty. It concerned the disintegration of an entire normative framework that had characterized post-Cold War international relations.
The End of ‘Strategic Restraint’ : Naked Power returns to U.S Foreign Policy