Venezuela has accused Donald Trump of making a “colonialist threat” after he said the airspace around the country should be considered closed.
The country’s foreign ministry called Trump’s comments “another extravagant, illegal and unjustified aggression against the Venezuelan people”.
The US does not legally have the authority to close another country’s airspace, but Trump’s online post could lead to travel uncertainty and deter airlines from operating there.
Imagine a world where the USA, after 9/11, took up Iran’s offer to negotiate with Afghanistan in order to extradite Osama bin Laden and dismantle al Qaeda. (Iran together with Pakistan were positioned to succeed at this, and practically begged the USA to let them do so.)
Imagine Osama bin Laden goes to the Hague and is tried for his crimes. He goes to prison, no death penalty and no martyrdom, to rot away while the world gets on without him.
Imagine no black sites, no Guantanamo Bay. No Iraq war, and therefore no Daesh. No Afghanistan war, and therefore no opiates epidemic.
Imagine how Russia and the Middle East might have evolved in such a climate. Where would Europe be today, in that timeline? Would democracies across the globe have progressed, instead of backslide?