American Imperialist Exceptionalism : Don-Roe Doctrine, The Trump Corollary

"[There is a will and a determination to] reassert and enforce the Monroe Doctrine to restore American preeminence in the Western Hemisphere, and to protect our homeland and our access to key geographies throughout the region."

"[And to] deny non-Hemispheric competitors the ability to position forces ... or to own or control strategically vital assets in our Hemisphere." 

U.S. (Trump) National Security Strategy 

 

"It's a policy now of might is right -- not only tariff baton to tantrum diplomacy, but might is right."

"And Trump's statements recently about Greenland, about 'fixing' Mexico, even about Colombia and Cuba should put Canada on alert footing."

" -- There's a new sheriff in the hemisphere."

"Canada should not be complacent. [This] should set off alarm bells in Edmonton, Ottawa and beyond."

"[Trump could use the Venezuelan oil economy] as leverage against Canada."  

Michael Bociurkiw, global affairs analyst, senior fellow, Atlantic Council 

Vehicles drive past the El Palito refinery in Puerto Cabello, Venezuela. (AP Photo/Matias Delacroix)

"I don't think Canada is in his sights at the moment. Canada has done quite a good job of diffusing that ... and is benefiting from the fact that Trump is looking elsewhere."

"I think Canada's sort of at the bottom of the list ... but not out of the woods."

Bronwen Maddox, director, chief executive, Chatham House

 

"[Trump's fixation] to exert U.S. military, economic and political will everywhere in the Western Hemisphere without impediment [uses oil as a pretext]."

"[Although the Trump administration talks about taking over Greenland] let's think seriously about what that means. It doesn't mean kidnapping the leader. It doesn't mean putting a thousand forces on the ground and planting a flag." 

"I don't think that's the type of thing the administration is willing to do. They don't want to do anything hard. They just want to do big, flashy things."

Jennifer Kavanagh, senior fellow, director, military analysis, Defense Priorities, adjunct professor Georgetown University Center for Security Studies

U.S. President Donald Trump addresses House Republican lawmakers during their annual policy retreat on Jan. 6 in Washington. His increasingly bellicose stance on taking over Greenland and the capture of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro are triggering questions about what he may have in mind for Canada. (Evan Vucci/The Associated Press)

 

The world is to understand that it was given due notice through the National Security Strategy released by the Trump administration of its seriousness in reasserting itself as the Northern Hemisphere hegemon. Its allies can consider themselves part players in a supporting role to achieve that dominant position on behalf of their more powerful, aggressive neighbour. The first real-time drama to illustrate the direction in which the U.S. is headed was its surprise military raid in Caracas to take Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro into U.S. 'custody'.

 

Instagram / Emery Forbes

American domination of the Western Hemisphere was thus set in motion. A double purpose achieved: freeing Venezuelans from the corrupt, distorted and ruinous reign of a committed Bolivarian revolutionary and setting the rehearsal stage for neighbourly cooperation which some might consider enforced manipulation. Nothing, it seems obvious, is out of the question as a coercive tool; economic, legal, illegal, military coercion practised with ease by the schoolyard bully for the good of all concerned. 

 

Some of the goals have been neatly lined up, merely awaiting fulfillment; stated initially as a proprietary wish list: seizing the Panama Canal, claiming Greenland, and absorbing Canada as the '51st state'. Those concerned nations put on notice. Mr. Trump much prefers diplomacy to act as the cooperative motivator, but to achieve his various goals, he offers his opinion that nothing is out of order, including the last-gasp military option, although economic deprivation could work to his advantage as well. 

 

Following the U.S. intervention in Venezuela, some analysts believe -- Chatham House in this instance -- that "Canada, Panama, and Greenland, which fall within that geographical definition, have good cause for concern about the president's intentions -- and the lengths to which he may go in pursuing them." 

 

Trump aide Stephen Miller's wife Katie Miller posted an image of the American flag superimposed on a map of Greenland, on X. "SOON" appeared on that image, posted shortly after the Venezuela intervention. On CNN, Stephen Miller stated that Greenland "should be part of the United States. Nobody's going to fight the United States militarily over the future of Greenland". That's true. Who would challenge the U.S. over its annexation of a Danish island? Denmark has vigorously and determinedly refused to hand Greenland over to the U.S. and Greenland's autonomous leaders have done the same. 

 

But these are two members of NATO. NATO is invested in its stout military alliance among democratic states with the proviso that an attack against one is answerable in defence by the entire membership. NATO would crater under that kind of pressure from the United States, an indefensible move to destroy the sovereignty of a member-nation. Trump hasn't ruled out diplomacy or direct purchase before resorting to military action; the first two options have been refused, the third would destroy the integrity of the alliance. Inconveniences that Mr. Trump is convinced he can overcome.

 

The Trumpian mercantile and military domination, its ongoing moves to ensure that there are none who would attempt to block his intentions represent a disorder in the community of which the U.S. is an integral part. U.S. Secretary of State Marc Rubio, the standout member of the senior Trump administration whose principles leave nothing yet to be desired, had done his best to negate the prospect of the military option. Chatham House's Bronwen Maddox believes that while Greenland may face a real threat, the risk that Canada faces seems more hypothetical -- despite President Trump having mused that he wouldn't need a military move when he could accomplish an economic collapse for Canada.

 

Both Maddox and Kavanaugh are of the convinced opinion that Europe should have expressed more concern regarding Trump's Venezuela adventure, even if sympathy lies with freeing Venezuela from a corrupt dictator. In that failure to express concern enough to condemn the military aggression in a sovereign country, it now sets the stage for future U.S. Action: "They've accepted a precedent now that opens the door for Trump to do the same thing toward them or Greenland and to coerce them even more...I think it's a mistake", noted Kavanaugh. 

 

The fixation of controlling part of the Arctic through Greenland focuses a secondary risk for Canada. A challenge of Canada's Northwest Passage and Ellesmere Island, interconnecting the Canadian Arctic archipelago will see other challenges as climate change melts glaciers and the sea ice, creating shipping channels from the Atlantic to the Pacific. Russian interests in expanding its Arctic territory, China's declaration of its interests as a "near-Arctic" player all interplay with America's eyes on the Canadian Arctic. 

"The president's been very clear. He wants Greenland to be part of the United States."

"There are a lot of things [Trump] can do to bring Greenland closer to the U.S."

"Venezuela is a unique situation. I think what is likely to happen, what I hope will happen, is that the United States pays more attention to destabilizing regimes in the hemisphere like Cuba. Like Nicaragua."

"I think it's a great thing for Canada to have America focused on the Arctic. [Canada's ramped up defence spending] could do more in the high North to free the U.S. up to handle other things."

"I think that would be a tremendous boon for both countries...as kind of the NATO anchor in the high North, Canada should want a Western Hemisphere-focused United States."

Alexander Gray, former chief of staff, U.S. National Security Council  

 

101: Making Friends and Influencing People

"As you all know, it's a big issue and it's only going to get bigger over the coming decades."

"It's cold as s--- here. Nobody told me."

"[Danish leaders have] spent decades mistreating the Greenlandic people, treating them like second-class citizens and allowing infrastructure on the island to fall into disrepair."

"Denmark has not kept pace and devoted the resources necessary to keep this base, to keep our troops, and in my view, to keep the people of Greenland safe from a lot of very aggressive incursions from Russia, from China and other nations."

"I think that they [Greenlanders] ultimately will partner with the United States. We can make them much more secure. We could do a lot more protection. And I think they'd fare a lot better economically as well."

U.S. Vice-President JD Vance

JD Vance in Greenland BBC

"[The United States] needs Greenland for international security."

"Greenland's very important for the peace of the world. And I think Denmark understands, and I think the European Union understands it. And if they don't we're going to have to explain it to them."

"We’ll get Greenland. Yeah, 100%." 

U.S. President Donald J. Trump 

"It is a time when we as a population are under pressure."

"We must stick together. Together we are stronger."

"[The U.S. visit signaled a] lack of respect."

Greenland's PM-designate Jens-Frederik Nielson

 

"[Donald Trump Jr's visit in January first sparked concerns] that’s when we realized that his words are no longer just words, he actually means what he says."

"We’re afraid of being colonized again. We’ve been a colony for the past 300 years under Denmark, it still feels like it. Now another colonizer is interested in us."

"[Greenland needs to be] open-minded [and consider strengthening relations with the US to secure a sustainable independence strategy]."

"Trump is only going to be president for the next four years so we also need to think about what’s going to happen in 10 years, 15 years."

Qupanuk Olsen, Greenland politician, pro-independence party Naleraq

U.S. Vice-President J.D. Vance was in Greenland on Friday, slamming Denmark for not doing a good job in keeping its semi-autonomous territory safe. But as Greenland content creator Qupanuk Olsen explains, many Greenlanders did not roll out the red carpet for Vance.   CBC

 

It's hard to say whether President Trump's representatives in his White House Cabinet really expected to be welcomed with huge enthusiasm by Greenlanders in their shared trip to Greenland on Friday. Originally the trip was to have lasted longer, and be more expansive, but in the face of obvious push-back by offended Greenlanders who consider their semi-autonomous government under Denmark's protection the arbiter of who should embark on a state visit to their island, and that by special invitation, an invitation that hadn't been extended. 

 

As far as Greenlanders were concerned, the visit by US. Vice-President Vance, his wife and other senior American officials took it upon themselves as an act of hubris to visit unannounced and uninvited; their home, as it were, invaded by strangers. Strangers, no less, with designs on their homeland that are extraordinarily offensive; offering to buy a home that is definitely not for sale. In the end, the visitors confined their trip to visiting the American military outpost at Pituffik on the northwest coast of Greenland. In the process, evading the risk of violating diplomacy through an uninvited delegation.

 

With U.S. President Donald Trump threatening to take over Greenland, the country’s prime minister has called a visit by a U.S. delegation a provocation and highly aggressive. The Americans on the trip include national security adviser Mike Waltz and Usha Vance, the vice-president’s wife.  CBC

Nonetheless both Greenlanders and Danes were offended that the trip took place at all, but even more so that the original itinerary had been planned without customary diplomatic consultation beforehand. Addressing American troops at the U.S. Space Force Pituffik outpost informing them that the Trump administration is very interested in "Arctic security", Vice-President Vance advanced the Trump agenda. His entourage that included national security adviser Mike Waltz, Energy Secretary Chris Wright, and Senator Mike Lee of Utah then received briefings from military officials present at the base.

 

"As you all know, it's a big issue and it's only going to get bigger over the coming decades", Mr. Vance advised  his listeners, as the first U.S. vice-president to ever visit Greenland. In the process of President Trump expressing his intention to 'buy' Greenland from Denmark, relations between the two nations have become extremely strained, with the U.S. President repeatedly suggesting the U.S. should control the mineral-rich territory of Denmark. It is highly unlikely that any two such allies, both NATO members, have ever collided over an issue where one coveted the territory of the other. 

Pituffik Space Base is pictured as Vance visits, on Friday in Greenland. (Jim Watson/The Associated Press)

President Trump alluded to rising Chinese and Russian interest in the Arctic, where sea lanes have begun to open in the North West Passage as a result of climate change melting sea ice. Access to the Passage -- part of Canadian territory -- will be yet another issue of aggravated presumption between the U.S. and Canada where at present, diplomacy argues that before embarking through the Passage, permission must be sought from Canada. Which feeds once again into President Trump's argument about U.S. 'security' in his wish to control Canada through annexing it into the U.S.

 

Canada, its government and its population are no more anxious to accommodate the American President's desires of territorial expansion than is Denmark/Greenland. The Pituffik Space Base owned and operated by the United States with Denmark's permission, is situated remotely, 1,100 kilometres north of the Arctic Circle. Residents of Nuuk, Greenland's capital, about 1,500 kilometres south of Pituffik, voiced their concern with the U.S. delegation's visit underscoring their misgivings about the most powerful nation on earth coveting their Arctic island.

 

Denmark's Foreign Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen expressed his exasperation following the Vance trip to Greenland, stating that although Denmark can deal with criticism, there is a collegial, diplomatic way of speaking to a friendly democratic ally. Through a video he posted on social media, he declared he had a message "for our American friends." 

"Much is being said these days. Many accusations and many allegations have been made."

"And of course, we are open to criticism. But let me be completely honest, we do not appreciate the tone in which it's being delivered."

"This is not how you speak to your close allies."

Larrs Lokke Rasmussen

 

Not The Expansionism of Divine Destiny

"So you have to ask yourself: How are we going to solve that problem, solve our own national security?"

"If that means that we need to take more territorial interest in Greenland, that is what President Trump is going to do, because he doesn't care about what the Europeans scream at us."

U.S. Vice-President JD Vance

 

"The U.S. has a vested security interest in the Arctic region and it should not be a surprise the National Security Adviser and Secretary of Energy are visiting a U.S. Space Base to get first-hand briefings from our service members on the ground."

Brian Hughes, spokesman, National Security Council

 

"[The visit of] the wife of the United States vice-president and the United States president's highest security adviser cannot be seen only as a private visit."

"We can already see now,  how big a mess it's caused."

"[If allied countries] do not speak out loudly about how the USA is treating Greenland, the situation will escalate day by day, and the American aggression will increase."

"[Greenland's allies should show support]; the only purpose [of a trip by Waltz is] a demonstration of power to us, and the signal is not to be misunderstood."

"We have been treated unacceptably."

Greenlandic Prime Minister Mute Bourup Egede

Demonstrators protested at the United States consulate in Nuuk, Greenland, earlier this month. Credit...Christian Klindt Soelbeck/Ritzau Scanpix Foto, via Associated Press

Second lady Usha Vance, it appears, is preparing to travel to the autonomous Danish territory of Greenland even as her husband, the American vice-president, ratchets up U.S. security and "territorial" interests in the Arctic island the new Trump administration has well-ventilated designs on acquiring. The prime minister of Greenland has responded by warning of "American aggression", lamenting a "mess" the upcoming visit has caused, even as JD Vance accused Denmark of "not doing its job" and "not being a good ally".

 

Presumably, a "good ally" would fall into U.S. arms, swooning of its aspiration to become part of the United States. Denmark, for which Greenland has historically been a protectorate, even though Greenlanders themselves have an understandable preference for total sovereignty -- separation and independence from Denmark -- or any other country with designs on the largest island on Earth which the indigenous population considers their very own ancestral gift to themselves, anxious to be shed of the avarice of other countries.

 

The Trump administration may have inadvertently overlooked that Denmark, completely resistant to American overtures to 'sell' Greenland, is, of course, a member of NATO, as is the United States. Member-nations all submit to the leading tenet of membership, that all members are obligated to ensure the security of other members. 

 

Greenlandic news outlet Sermitsiaq posted photos of two U.S. Hercules workhorse military aircraft on the tarmac in Nuuk, the capital, disgorging four bulletproof vehicles awaiting the arrival of the American elite scheduled to visit, and not by invitation. National security adviser Mike Waltz and Energy Secretary Chris Wright are scheduled to travel to Greenland, along with "the wife of the United States vice-president". 

 

During his first term in office, President Trump had mused over buying Greenland, despite Denmark responding that it wasn't for sale. Since his return to the White House, Mr. Tramp repeatedly states that the U.S. will control Greenland, insisting that it is a requirement for strategic national security purposes, and certainly not because America is fulfilling her divine destiny by expansionism. 

A Greenlandic member of parliament told POLITICO a protest was planned for Vance’s arrival. | Ritzau Scanpix/AFP via Getty Images

"When foreign dignitaries travel to our country on what are called private visits, it rightly causes concern."

"There is no reason to panic. But there is good reason to stand together and to demand respect."

"I do. And I will continue to do so."

Jens-Frederik Nielsen, Demokraatit, next Greenlandic leader

 

"A lot people from Greenland [would] like to see something happen with respect to their being properly protected and properly taken care of."

"They're calling us. We're not calling them."

"People from Greenland are asking us to go there. [And] some officials [were among those doing so."

U.S. President Donald J. Trump