The world is quickly speeding towards a global crisis.
With the United States having undertaken a military operation in Venezuela to kidnap Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro so he can face trial for narcoterrorism charges, there is serious tension between the U.S. and its global allies. Such tensions are leading to not only a reassessment of global security commitments but also highlight the growing desire of global superpowers to break down the rules based international order.
The charges of narcoterrorism that the U.S. touts as its primary reason for apprehending President Maduro obscure, in my mind, one of the real reasons the U.S. invaded Venezuela: access to one of the world’s largest oil deposits.
U.S. President Donald Trump has stated that U.S. companies will assume control of Venezuelan oil deposits in a clear attempt to gain a strategic, economic advantage on the global stage. More disturbing is President Trump’s recent rhetoric towards Greenland.
Much like how President Trump has been treating Canada, threatening annexation with his “51st state” rhetoric, he has now turned his eyes to Greenland as his next campaign of threats of annexation.
While some might see this action as the delusions of a man with too much power, there is a clear strategic method to Trump’s madness.
Greenland allegedly has a vast, untapped critical mineral reserve that is crucial to technological development and U.S. economic security. Yet Trump’s recent threats of annexing Greenland are more focused on establishing control of a sphere of influence instead of the economic security he touts.
Trump has coined this new strategic stance the “Don-roe Doctrine,” a play on the U.S.’s former Monroe Doctrine, which stated that Europe would not interfere in the Western Hemisphere lest they invoke the U.S.’s wrath. This doctrine and its predecessor are concerned with ensuring U.S. hegemony in its part of the world. The exploitation of critical minerals furthers that agenda exponentially.
Yet while Trump is focused on the U.S.’s economic security, by alleging that Greenland has this vast reserve of minerals, China is still predicted to dominate the critical minerals industry in the future. Instead of dealing with the threat that this poses, by building up domestic and international supply, he instead chases the fantasy of mineral wealth in Greenland and alienates the allies that have helped ensure U.S. global dominance.
The recent comments Trump has made over Greenland has spawned a dire crisis within NATO. NATO members have decided to send troops to partake in joint military exercises to deter the U.S. from making any incursions into Greenland’s sovereign territory. This is easily the greatest threat to NATO since the terrorist attacks of 9/11, but it also signals that an internationally engaged U.S. is no more.
Even though the U.S. is considering its own global hegemony in trying to secure Greenland, its actions are ultimately isolationist in character. The U.S. has a long history of isolationism, and Donald Trump’s actions are merely another manifestation of this. The U.S. is seeking to become wholly independent of the international system, yet that requires it to fully engage in it through these expansionist actions.
Instead of working with global partners to ensure that proper supply chains that can rival China are built up, The U.S. instead has decided to take aggressive actions against its allies. It is near impossible for U.S. to continue its current aggressive stance without alienating its allies further and having the possibility of a military confrontation. True security is not built through aggressive and isolationist tendencies, but through cooperation. In due time, I hope that the U.S. remembers this but as of now, the world should ready itself for further instability.
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