A day after the\u00a0US captured Venezuelan dictator Nicolas Maduro, President Trump\u00a0renewed his calls for an American takeover of the Danish territory of\u00a0Greenland, while his top diplomat declared the communist government in\u00a0Cuba\u00a0is \u201cin a lot of trouble.\u201d<\/b>
\nA day after the audacious US military operation in Venezuela, President Donald Trump on Sunday renewed his calls for an American takeover of the Danish territory of Greenland for the sake of US security interests, while his top diplomat declared the communist government in Cuba is \u201cin a lot of trouble.\u201d
The comments from Trump and Secretary of State Marco Rubio after the ouster of Venezuela\u2019s Nicol\u00e1s Maduro underscore that the US administration is serious about taking a more expansive role in the Western Hemisphere.
With thinly veiled threats, Trump is rattling hemispheric friends and foes alike, spurring a pointed question around the globe: Who\u2019s next?
\u201cIt\u2019s so strategic right now. Greenland is covered with Russian and Chinese ships all over the place,\u201d Trump told reporters as he flew back to Washington from his home in Florida.
\u201cWe need Greenland from the standpoint of national security, and Denmark is not going to be able to do it.\u201d
Asked during an interview with The Atlantic earlier on Sunday what the US-military action in Venezuela could portend for Greenland, Trump replied: \u201cThey are going to have to view it themselves. I really don\u2019t know.\u201d
Trump, in his administration\u2019s National Security Strategy published last month, laid out restoring \u201cAmerican preeminence in the Western Hemisphere\u201d as a central guidepost for his second go-around in the White House.
Trump has also pointed to the 19th century Monroe Doctrine, which rejects European colonialism, as well as the Roosevelt Corollary \u2014 a justification invoked by the US in supporting Panama\u2019s secession from Colombia, which helped secure the Panama Canal Zone for the US \u2014 as he\u2019s made his case for an assertive approach to American neighbors and beyond.
Trump has even quipped that some now refer to the fifth US president\u2019s foundational document as the \u201cDon-roe Doctrine.\u201d
Saturday\u2019s dead-of-night operation by US forces in Caracas and Trump\u2019s comments on Sunday heightened concerns in Denmark, which has jurisdiction over the vast mineral-rich island of Greenland.
Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen in a statement that Trump has \u201cno right to annex\u201d the territory.
She also reminded Trump that Denmark already provides the United States, a fellow member of NATO, broad access to Greenland through existing security agreements.<\/p>\n