Will the empires strike back in 2025?, by Keith Raffel

Donald Trump won the US presidency twice while promising to make America great again. He is not the only national leader to seek political direction by looking to his country's past glories.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has called the breakup of the Soviet empire “the greatest geopolitical catastrophe of the century.” As leader of the largest of the 15 countries created after the dissolution of the Soviet Union, Putin believes his mission is to restore “what was built for a thousand years.” A major step was the invasion of Ukraine, which he said “is a historically Russian land.” If Russia wins this war, which parts of the former Soviet Union will it turn to next? Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Georgia and Moldova are on alert.

China's economy was estimated to account for about 30% of global output in 1600. Today, it accounts for 19%. China was humiliated by Britain during the Opium Wars in the mid-19th century. Japan seized Taiwan in 1895. Chinese President Xi Jinping told Putin: “Right now there are changes like we haven't seen in 100 years. And we are the ones driving these changes together. Xi seeks to reclaim Chinese economic primacy in the world and undo U.S. protection of Taiwan's current democratic government. He wants to restore his country's greatness by dismantling what he sees as the U.S.-led “widespread containment, encirclement and repression of China.”

The State of Israel was established under a 1947 United Nations resolution. Hamas, which had ruled Gaza since 2007, launched its terrorist attack on Israel on October 7, 2023, with the aim of overturning the vote of the UN. As the Hamas Pact says, “Israel will exist and continue to exist until Islam wipes it out, just as it has wiped out others before it.” The alliance continues by calling for holy war “until liberation is achieved, the invaders defeated, and victory to Allah.” Thus, Hamas wants to move the calendar back three-quarters of a century or more.

At one time, the Ottoman Empire ruled what is now the State of Israel as well as southeastern Europe, Lebanon, Syria, northern Iraq, Cyprus, North Africa and the holy city of Mecca. For years, Turkey, the successor state to the Ottoman Empire, was a strong ally of the United States and Israel. Not anymore. The current Turkish president, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, has made a habit of returning to the Ottoman era. His party calls its supporters “grandchildren of the Ottomans”. He declared in 2020 that “our civilization is a civilization of conquest. Turkey will take what is due to it in the Mediterranean Sea, the Aegean Sea and the Black Sea.” Turkish troops occupy parts of Syria and Cyprus as Erdogan continues to seek influence and leadership in the lands of the former Ottoman Empire.

And to the retrospective and expansionist policies of Putin, Xi and Erdogan, we must add those of the new American president Donald Trump. The United States grew in the 19th century by displacing indigenous peoples as it expanded westward, waging war against Mexico, and purchasing land from other nations. About 40% of the territory of the current United States comes from the purchase of the Louisiana Territory from France in 1803 and Alaska from Russia in 1867. Today, Trump and his team talk about wanting to restore greatness to America through territorial growth.

There is the demand that Denmark sell the autonomous territory of Greenland to the United States for strategic reasons. Trump says making Canada the 51st state is “a great idea.” (I wonder if he knows that the United States tried to conquer Canada in the War of 1812 and failed miserably.) He threatens to take back the Panama Canal Zone despite a 1977 treaty ceding it to Panama .

Trump should stop his bullying rhetoric. His efforts to return to 19th century expansionism are sure to add to global instability and encourage war. It encourages and excuses Russian, Chinese, Hamas and Turkish aggression in their attempts to restore past glories. Why should they hold back if the United States won't?

Where will it all end? Taken to the extreme of absurdity, Greece could just as easily claim Egypt, Iraq, Iran and western India as successors to the empire of Alexander the Great, while Mongolia claims Russia and China as successors to that of Genghis Khan.

The Charter of the United Nations states that “All members shall refrain, in their international relations, from the threat or use of force against the territorial integrity or political independence of any State.” Trump doesn't care. His disregard for the Charter gives others permission to ignore it too. But that’s Trump. It is a destroyer of norms, a maker of havoc and a catalyst for aggression.

A renaissance man, Keith Raffel served as chief counsel to the Senate Intelligence Committee, launched a successful Internet software company, and wrote five novels, all of which can be found at keithraffel.com. He is currently spending the academic year as a resident scholar at Harvard. To learn more about Keith and read articles from other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators website at Creators.com.

DIST. BY CREATORS

Photo credit: Mathias Reding at Unsplash