Urgent| "Spread eagle" and"Rough Knights" and"White fleet".. Dark days await the world
Over the past few weeks, President-elect Donald Trump has courted controversy when he suggested that the United States seek to expand its territorial holdings by encouraging Canada to join the union as the 51st state, purchase Greenland from Denmark, and regain control of the Panama Canal.< /p>
Speaking to Newsweek magazine, an American history expert said that Trump’s policies are a “return to the nineteenth century,” which witnessed the expansion of the United States westward across North America and even the occupation of Cuba. And the Philippines.
A second academic specializing in American imperialism said that Trump seeks “an older form of power projection.” Which “goes back to the bloody days of President Theodore Roosevelt.”
After his election victory over Vice President Kamala Harris in November, Trump announced that he plans to impose new tariffs of 25% on all goods entering the United States from Canada and Mexico until "stop" The two countries smuggle drugs and illegal immigrants into the country.
This move prompted Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to quickly head to Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida to discuss the issue, after which the president-elect sarcastically called the Canadian leader a nickname. "Governor Trudeau" On Truth Social.
When contacted by Newsweek for comment, Trump transition spokeswoman Anna Kelly said: “World leaders are flocking to the table because President Trump is already making good on his promise to make America strong again.
When he officially takes office, foreign countries will think twice before tearing our country apart, America will be respected again, and the whole world will be more… “Safety.”
On December 18, Trump explicitly called for Canada to join the American Union.
In a post on the Truth Social website, he said: "No one can answer why we support Canada with over $100 million a year? This doesn’t make sense! Many Canadians want Canada to become the 51st state.
This would save them a lot of taxes and military protection, and I think it’s a great idea, the 51st state!!!"
< p>No major Canadian political party or politician announced its support for joining the United States.
An opinion poll conducted by the Leger Institute from December 6 to 9 last year showed that only 13% of Canadians They support such a move, while 82% strongly oppose it.
Trump also repeated his proposal during his first term that the United States buy Greenland, an autonomous region of Denmark that extends over It covers more than 835,000 square miles and has a population of just under 60,000.
In a post on the Truth Social website on December 22, Trump wrote: “For the purposes of national security and freedom throughout In the world, the United States of America feels that ownership and control of Greenland is an absolute necessity.
The Danish authorities had previously indicated that they did not want to sell Greenland.
In 2019 Trump canceled a scheduled visit to the Scandinavian country after Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen described his previous proposal that the United States buy Greenland as “ridiculous.”
It was The United States seriously considered bidding for Greenland and Iceland during Andrew Johnson’s presidency in 1867 and 1868.
In 1946, President Harry Truman offered Denmark $100 million in gold bullion in exchange for the territory, but none of Both attempts were unsuccessful.
On December 21st, Trump also suggested that he might demand the return of the Panama Canal to sovereignty. The canal was funded and built by the United States, but was handed over to Panama in 1999 according to an agreement signed by President Jimmy Carter in 1978.
In a post on the Truth Social website, “The tariffs imposed by Panama are ridiculous, especially given the extraordinary generosity that the United States has shown to Panama,” Trump said.
“If the moral and legal principles of this are not followed, With this generous gesture of giving, we will demand that the Panama Canal be returned to us in full and without a doubt.”
In his interview with Newsweek magazine, Professor Sean Adams, an expert in American history at the University of Florida, compared Trump’s proposals to American imperialism in the nineteenth century.
Adams said, “The plan to acquire Greenland takes us back to the nineteenth century, when many American politicians – especially Democrats – were very aggressive about expansion.” Regional”.
In fact, by the 1850s, the phrase "American Spread Eagle"" To describe this imperative.
The idea of expanding republican government across the continent and the world – whether the population wanted it or not – was the ideological force that fueled this idea.
"From the 1840s to the 1860s, we witnessed America’s acquisition of vast areas of Mexico and Russian Alaska, and failed attempts to annex Santo Domingo "Dominican Republic Now" and the purchase of Greenland and Iceland from Denmark.
The idea was that republican government was America’s gift to the world, and it had to be expanded as much as possible.
The economic opportunities that came with expansion were a bonus Nice too.”
Adams compared Trump’s ambitions to those of President Andrew Jackson, who oversaw the Alaska Purchase.
However, he claimed that the next president is less interested in expanding government. The Republic.
“President Trump has hung a portrait of Andrew Jackson in the Oval Office, and the recent shift toward territorial expansion is quite reminiscent of Jackson’s attitudes toward aggressively expanding America’s borders,” Adams said.
“However, the Trump version appears to be based more on realpolitik than on a campaign to expand Republican government.”
This appears to constitute a dramatic departure from the current American style of global engagement, which appears to rely more focused on treaties, alliances, and military campaigns rather than on the rapid expansion of American possessions.”
Throughout its history, the United States has expanded dramatically by purchasing territory from other countries, including The Louisiana Purchase from France in 1803, the Florida Purchase from Spain in 1819, the Gadsden Purchase from Mexico in 1854, and the Alaska Purchase from Russia in 1867.
And in his speech For Newsweek, Daniel Immerwahr, an expert on US imperialism who teaches at Northwestern University, agreed that Trump’s proposals would be “a return to an older vision of power, where security is achieved through space.” Instead of alliances and trade.
Immerwahr, who wrote the book How to Hide an Empire: A History of the Greater United States, said: Issued in 2019: “Since approximately 1945, the United States has sought more diffuse forms of influence through trade agreements, security partnerships, arms flows, and bases.”
All of this requires close relationships, he said. With foreign governments.
By contrast, Trump’s vision of a strong United States looks like a large piece of real estate, surrounded by high walls, posing nuclear threats And another dangerous militarism – he wants to control the world, but not to be in it.”
Immerwahr continued: “So, instead of obtaining the strategic benefit of Greenland by operating a military base or trading with Denmark, he seeks other to the purchase of Greenland.”
However, Immerwahr questioned the suggestion that Trump’s policies amounted to “a return to the age of empire,” considering that the current era is not un-imperial, as it resembles American global influence is the influence of empire.
He said: “It would not be an exaggeration to view the hundreds of American military bases outside its borders as a kind of empire… But it is clear that Trump feels more comfortable with an older form of projecting A force that goes back to the bloody days of President Theodore Roosevelt. US victory in the conflict hands Spain over Puerto Rico, Guam, and the Philippines to the United States, while relinquishing sovereignty over Cuba.
As president between 1901 and 1909, Roosevelt oversaw the beginning of construction of the Panama Canal and sent the "Great White Fleet" Famous on a world tour to demonstrate American military power.
- For more: Follow Khaleejion 24 Arabic, Khaleejion 24 English, Khaleejion 24 Live, and for social media follow us on Facebook and Related
