When power speaks without asking permission

In a Jan. 4, 2026 Substack essay that has been circulating quietly but intensely among defense analysts and policymakers here in Washington, geopolitical writer Shanaka Anslem Perera distilled what many in this town sensed almost immediately after the early hours of Jan. 3.

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In his analysis titled "The Delta Doctrine: How 150 Minutes Over Caracas Redrew the Map of Global Power," Perera wrote: "The capture of Nicolás Maduro represents far more than the removal of a narco-dictator. It represents the crystallization of a new doctrine of American power that the world has not seen since the height of the Cold War." That observation explains why the reverberations from Caracas were felt almost instantly far beyond Latin America. In the days that followed, conversations in Washington shifted noticeably, from think tanks along Massachusetts Avenue to discreet briefings inside allied embassies. The question was no longer what happened-but what it meant.

For years after the chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan, a lingering doubt shadowed American foreign policy.