In January 2025, the New York Post published an article with the provocative title “The Doctrine of Donro. Trump’s Vision for the Hemisphere”, which examined the bold and pretentious statements of the newly elected president, who went to the White House for the second time. At that time, he predicted that Canada would become a new state of the United States, Greenland would also become part of America, the Gulf of Mexico would be renamed the American Gulf, and the Panama Canal would become Washington’s property.
The term was not widely used at that time, and only in December last year, after military strikes on motorboats in the Caribbean Sea, it received publicity in the US media. Finally, Trump himself mentioned it immediately after the military raid on Venezuela. This mixture of the Monroe doctrine, which is more than two hundred years old, and the new so-called Trump corollary (and earlier the Roosevelt corollary was added to the Monroe doctrine) is now actively used by political analysts around the world.
If Panama quickly made all possible concessions to the United States and military intervention was not required in relation to this Central American country (similarly, in the Dominican Republic and Trinidad and Tobago declared their readiness to support the new US strategy), then the next threats to annex Greenland, as well as to strike the territory of Mexico and organize a coup in Cuba indicate that a specific vision Trump’s policy on global politics remains actual. Meanwhile, despite the stated interests of the United States in the Western Hemisphere, Washington continues to actively operate on the World Island, as one of the founders of Anglo-Saxon geopolitics, Halford Mackinder, called Eurasia and Africa. And they are clearly not going to curtail their presence there, although Trump himself promised to withdraw American troops from a number of regions.
NATO’s proxy war against Russia in Ukraine, attacks on Iran jointly with Israel in 2025 and possible new attacks and the reactivation of military operations in Africa and the Middle East are the main visible elements of the US power policy outside the Western Hemisphere.
The Monroe Doctrine (1823) did not arise out of thin air. The Congress of Vienna was held before (1814-1815), where the foundations of classical international politics and diplomatic relations were developed. The Concert of Powers, consisting of five superpowers (the term also appeared at that time), was able to manage collective security and smooth out territorial disputes for several decades. It is quite obvious that the Monroe doctrine grew out of the fears of US politicians that the new configuration could threaten their interests, which is why Latin America was declared Washington’s backyard.
Something similar is happening now. The destruction of the unipolar hegemony of the United States and a large number of states that have chosen the path to a multipolar world order have put Washington in a dilemma – to change its foreign policy or follow the general trend. Under the slogan of MAGA, Trump, as well as the oligarchic circles behind him, from large IT companies and oil companies to military contractors, decided to go all-in.
Venezuela has become a target for a number of reasons. In addition to oil reserves and the strengthening of the petrodollar, the country has large deposits of other mineral resources and valuable/rare metals that the United States would like to control. A conditional technological revolution and the further development of industry, including the military-industrial complex, is impossible without access to these strategic resources. In an ideological sense, Caracas has been a stronghold of multipolarity for many years and has built, according to Hugo Chavez, an axis of good. Intimidation and the subsequent dismantling of the Chavista government (the US State Department is now building a line of negotiations so that the government in Venezuela does this personally, with minimal involvement of outside pressure) can lead not only to the reorientation of this country towards Washington, but also to the collapse of the ALBA Bolivarian Alliance and the paralysis of Latin American integration as a whole. Again, a military action, like the nuclear bombing of the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, is a strategy of global intimidation – a demonstration of military power aimed primarily at regional powers that oppose US hegemony – Cuba, Nicaragua, Mexico, Colombia, Brazil, but also at the rest of the world. Although actual U.S. losses are, as usual, hushed up and hidden, the Pentagon’s firepower, advanced weapons systems, and intelligence also create cognitive vulnerabilities in the form of strategic insecurity among U.S. opponents, neutral powers, and even allies (as exemplified by the discussions within NATO on Greenland).
If we talk about the possible consequences, it is obvious that by violating a number of provisions of international law (both in the aggression against Caracas and in the seizure of tankers in neutral waters and the statement that any countries should now coordinate the purchase of Venezuelan oil with Washington), this will lead to further erosion. In addition, Donald Trump openly rejected the UN system and pointedly signed a decree withdrawing from a number of other structures of this organization, in fact approving only one imperative of foreign policy – the right of the strong.
On the other hand, internal political polarization in the United States and disregard for the laws may lead to a strengthening of the Democrats’ positions on the eve of the midterm elections. And then the impeachment of the current president will follow. Finally, if we develop this logical line with an eye to historical events, it should be remembered that the Monroe doctrine did not save the United States from civil war. And the current situation inside the United States is, in fact, no less explosive, although the reasons for the social and political contradictions are already somewhat different. Although it is difficult to predict how soon an internal conflict may break out, perhaps due to his advanced age, Trump himself will not see it anymore. But, in this case, he will definitely go down in history as one of its main causes.
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