The ignominious capture of Nicolás Maduro proves, if nothing else, that America no longer bothers with pretences.
It wasn’t always so. Back in the autumn of 2002, the US military machine was gearing up to invade Iraq and destroy Saddam Hussein’s regime.
Yet instead of sending his forces into action as rapidly as possible, George W Bush chose to place the case for war before the United Nations General Assembly, promising on Sept 12 2002 to “work with the UN Security Council for the necessary resolutions”.
