The United States has abandoned respect for state sovereignty — the bedrock principle of international politics. The events of this week and brazen statements of President Donald Trump’s administration have made clear that the attack on Venezuela was not an isolated event justified on a specific set of facts, but rather an abrupt introduction to a world in which Venezuela, Mexico, Denmark and others can’t assume the United States will abide by even the most basic international rules or expectations. This sea change to U.S. foreign policy is dangerous because respect for state sovereignty was the foundation for the world order created after World War II explicitly to bring greater peace and stability to a world that had, until then, seen almost constant cycles of war and violence. The United States isn’t immune from the hazards of a world in which sovereignty is based on strength alone. We are safer, more prosperous and more powerful as a leader of this world order than we are as a global bully demolishing it. Why should we care whether the Trump administration spurns state sove