World order now resembles 'world disorder': Shashi Tharoor on Venezuela crisis

New Delhi: Describing the current state of global geopolitics as "world disorder," Congress MP Shashi Tharoor on Monday said India’s response to the US capture of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro must be guided by national interest and diplomatic sensitivities.

Reacting to the escalating situation following the US operation, Tharoor, a former UN under-secretary-general, adopted a cautious stance on New Delhi's potential diplomatic positioning.

"As far as the situation in Venezuela is concerned, I believe it is best left to the government to decide how to respond in India’s national interest, given the sensitivities of the countries involved," Tharoor said.

However, he used the occasion to offer a broader critique of international relations, arguing that global institutions are failing to uphold their founding principles. "As a general principle, it is clear that international law and the UN Charter have been more often violated than upheld over the past quarter-century," he observed.

Tharoor added that the current global system has increasingly failed to live up to its stated ideals. "Sadly, what is termed the world order today increasingly resembles a world disorder," he remarked, highlighting concerns over the selective enforcement of international rules.

His comments reflect India’s traditionally non-aligned and cautious approach to geopolitical crises, particularly those involving sovereignty disputes between major global powers.

Meanwhile, the Trump administration has sought to blunt international criticism, arguing that the operation to capture Maduro was a narrowly targeted law enforcement action rather than a military intervention.

Speaking on multiple US television networks over the weekend, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio rejected claims that Washington had initiated a conflict. "There’s not a war," Rubio asserted, stating that the United States was targeting drug trafficking organisations rather than the Venezuelan state itself.

Rubio maintained that the operation, carried out on Saturday, was conducted under US legal authority to arrest an indicted narco-trafficker. He emphasised that US forces were deployed briefly to execute the arrest before withdrawing. Moving forward, the administration’s strategy would rely on sanctions, maritime enforcement, and sustained economic pressure rather than continued military action, he added.

(Inputs from IANS)