American Empire

Pax Americana

Greenland, Canada, Cuba, Nigeria, Venezuela:  the “Pax Americana” that prevented a third World War for eighty years is at an end.  The Trump Administration clearly wants a new era of expansionism.  It doesn’t matter that Trump himself isn’t going to be a “King”.  Imperialism isn’t based on crowns and thrones, it’s based on the root word of  “imperial”.  That’s “empire”.  And Trump is determined, far more than any other US President in history, to build an American Empire.

To mirror history, just a little bit.  Around the beginning of the Christian Era (“zero year”), the Western World was dominated by Rome.  The Romans not only were conquering the Mediterranean coasts, but also attacking deep into Northern Europe.  And, in the process of building an empire, they lost their Republic, the “elected” form of government that lasted for almost 500 years.  A byproduct of these conquests was that the Generals became the Emperors.  That’s concerning, history “rhyming” again.

Manifest Destiny

Empire building isn’t new to the United States.   Even the Founding Fathers looked west to the vast North American continent, with Thomas Jefferson doubling the size of the new United States with the Louisiana Purchase.  The US fought wars of conquest:  the Mexican-American War, the Plains War against the Native Americans, the Spanish-American War.  And the US pursued expansionist policies, Manifest Destiny of the 19^th Century. America purchased Alaska and land in the Southwest, took Pacific Islands as coaling stations, built the Panama Canal, and developed a large Navy to project power around the world (Teddy Roosevelt’s “Great White Fleet”).  

America is the largest power in the world, and has been since the 1940’s.  In the past, that strength contained an obligation, to try to keep peace in the world, a peace we failed to keep after World War I.  And before my more “cynical” friends attack:  the United States has clearly profited from our strength.  We have, time and time again, stepped into the internal affairs of other nations in order to gain economically.

War with Eastasia

In Orwell’s novel about authoritarian government, “1984”; the government switches alliances in a single day.  From war with “Eurasia”, they flip to war with yesterday’s ally, “Eastasia”.  Then the government claims;  “We have always been at war with Eastasia”.  But in our real world, we’ve never done this kind of “1984” style flip.  

Denmark is a NATO ally, nominally in charge of Greenland’s foreign policy.  The US already has treaties with Denmark and Greenland, giving full US military access to the entire island.  There were fifty US bases in Greenland over the past eighty years.  Today one remains, Pituffik Space Force Base (formally called Thule).   But instead of exercising rights and obligations under the current treaties, the United States is threatening to “take over” Greenland.

That “take over” would be an attack on Greenland and Denmark, a clear violation of the NATO agreement.  US military action would require that the rest of NATO to invoke Article 5, and come to the support of Denmark/Greenland against a US invasion.  It is the end of NATO, the end of Pax Americana.  And it plays directly into the hands of the true rivals of the United States, Russia and China.

Why Greenland

There is plenty of speculation that this is some conspiracy by Trump and Putin to “divide the world” to their own benefit.  But, speculation aside; to what advantage is a “full possession” of Greenland to the United States?

It’s not about defense, even defense of the anticipated new sea lanes across the climate-changed Arctic Sea.  What was once a full ice cap for most of the year, has shrunk enough that the fabled “Northwest Passage” from Europe to the Pacific is coming into view.  Trump spokesmen will say that we need to “control” those new routes, and only “possession” of Greenland (and maybe Canada) will assure it.

But NATO already controls from the Norwegian border west to Siberia, the vast majority of the Arctic Southern coast.  The rest is Russia itself.  So if it’s not military, not even commercial shipping; then why Greenland?

Is it just Trump’s ego?  Does Trump need to match Jefferson’s Louisiana Purchase; match Seward’s purchase of Alaska?  Certainly that’s possible.

Real-Politik

But, whispering in Trump’s ear, are the “real-politik” voices of Project 2025.  And they are telling him that the future isn’t about Arctic passages.  It’s about access to minerals, the “rare earth” that powers batteries and silicon chips and the future of artificial intelligence.  China is the number one country in the world for “rare earth” minerals.  The United State is second.  But assured supply of those minerals is assured access to the future economy.  

And as climate change continues, unabated by the now-fractured governments cooperating to control it, the Greenland icecap is shrinking.  And what is likely underneath that ice? That’s what Donald Trump really wants.  

So when he talks about Greenland, he’s really talking about assured mining rights.  When Trump talks about supporting Ukraine, he really talking about the right to mine Ukraine’s vast mineral wealth.  When he talks about Venezuela, it’s not just about oil.  It’s about the minerals buried far beneath the jungle. The same is true about Nigeria, and even Canada.

Trump doesn’t want to negotiate for those mineral rights.  He just wants to take them, no matter the sovereign rights of the peoples there, or “old treaties” from other eras.  His America not only wants an empire, it wants to rip the wealth from the Nations it conquers.

There is a trilogy of block-buster movies about humans from Earth ripping the wealth and the soul from another planet, the Avatar series.   If you need a vision of what Donald Trump wants America to be, check them out.  

I can assure you, WE aren’t the “good guys”.