Opinion Trump's America And The Global Monroe Doctrine: When Power Becomes Policy

(MENAFN- Daily News Egypt) At the dawn of 2026, the world no longer tolerates ambiguity. Diplomatic masks have slipped. Reality stands exposed. Raw power is the only language that requires no translation.

At the centre of this historic shift is the United States. It has assumed the role of chief spokesperson for the law of the jungle. It revives the spirit of a doctrine President James Monroe articulated in 1823. When he declared that“the Americas are for the Americans,” he turned the Western Hemisphere into America's backyard. Europe was kept at bay. Two centuries later, the Monroe Doctrine has outgrown geography. It has become global. A regional principle has mutated into a philosophy of domination.

What began as a warning to Europe is now a universal creed:“the world belongs to the strongest.” It has outgrown simple regional protection. Historically, Washington intervened in Latin America under the guise of shielding it from rival powers. Today, the doctrine justifies intervention anywhere, for any reason.

Venezuela was the first experiment. A laboratory for modern hegemony. Tanks are no longer necessary when sanctions can choke entire populations. Political pressure can topple governments and install others. The world sometimes applauds quietly. Often, it stays silent. History in Latin America repeats itself in a new tongue, with sharper instruments.

In the Middle East, nations are tested amid fire and steel. The Monroe Doctrine is alive here too. This is not merely a struggle over Iran's nuclear programme. It is a blunt message: this region is America's preserve. Any tree that grows without permission will be uprooted. Even long-standing allies are reduced to followers. Survival is exchanged for obedience. Independence is punished with neglect. Protection is now a commodity. Sovereignty is a favour Washington bestows-and can withdraw.

The most unsettling paradox is Greenland. At the edge of the world, all pretences have fallen. Washington's claim on European territory, once firmly within the Old Continent's sphere of influence, is no mere show of strength. It declares that no alliance is sacred. No friendship is inviolable. No boundary is immune to greed.

The Atlantic Alliance, Europe's supposed shield, has become its constraint. Europeans face the crossroads Latin America once knew: bow and become American proxies-or resist and discover that the monster they feared might be a trembling shadow of their own making.

Behind this grand theatre, black gold flows. Oil is lifeblood. It drives both the old and the new Monroe Doctrine. It is no longer just energy. It is control. A chain of subjugation. America wins every wager with it. It strikes anyone who stands in its way. Whoever controls the oil routes controls the world. Whoever dictates its price shapes nations' destinies. This simple equation built Washington's empire-and now it may undo it.

The rest of the world stands paralysed. Two bitter choices remain: submit to the logic of a single dominant power and live under a merciless master, or fight to rewrite the rules of a game long assumed settled.

Some nations seek alternative alliances in secret. Others retreat into silence, waiting for the storm. A few dare to beat the drums of resistance, however faintly-much like countries in the Global South once did, defying the original Monroe Doctrine.

The harsh truth is this: the old world order has collapsed. The new one is not yet born. We live in a terrifying moment of transition. Everything is possible. Everything is dangerous. Greenland is no mere island of ice. It is a mirror, reflecting our fate. It tests whether we are peoples worthy of sovereignty-or flocks awaiting a shepherd. Two centuries ago, earlier generations faced the same test.

The future is not written by the strongest alone. It also belongs to those with the courage to say“no” when the world insists on“yes.” The battle is not just over land or resources. It is a battle of spirit. Of resolve. Of refusing to let the world become the backyard of any power, however mighty.

Do we have enough courage? Enough resolve? The answer lies in our silence before speech, in our fear before courage. History is watching. Waiting. Repeating the test it set for nations two centuries ago: will we be free, or will we be subjects?

Dr Marwa El-Shinawy – Academic and writer

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