photo by: Creators Syndicate

Keith Raffel

Donald Trump has won the American presidency twice while vowing to make America great again. He’s not the only national leader who seeks policy guidance by looking back at 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 the head of the largest of the 15 countries established after the dissolution of the Soviet Union, Putin believes his mission is to reestablish “what had been built up over a thousand years.” A major step was the invasion of Ukraine which he has stated “is historically Russian land.” If Russia wins that war, which parts of the former Soviet Union will he turn to next? Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Georgia and Moldova are on notice.

According to estimates, the Chinese economy represented about 30% of the world’s output in 1600. Today it is 19%. China was humiliated by Britain in the Opium Wars of the mid-19th century. Japan seized Taiwan in 1895. Chinese President Xi Jinping has told Putin: “Right now, there are changes, the likes of which we have not seen for 100 years. And we are the ones driving these changes together.” Xi seeks to reclaim Chinese economic primacy in the world and undo American protection of Taiwan’s current democratic government. He’s out to restore his country’s greatness by undoing what he sees as the “all-around containment, encirclement and suppression of China” led by the U.S.

The state of Israel was established under a 1947 United Nations resolution. Hamas, which had ruled Gaza since 2007, launched its terrorist attack against Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, with the objective of reversing the U.N. vote. As the Hamas Covenant says, “Israel will exist and will continue to exist until Islam will obliterate it, just as it obliterated others before it.” The covenant goes on to call for holy war “until liberation is achieved, the invaders vanquished and Allah’s victory comes about.” So, Hamas stands for turning back the calendar by three-quarters of a century or more.

At one time, the Ottoman Empire ruled over 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 Ottoman successor state, was a firm ally of the United States and Israel. No longer. The current Turkish president, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, has taken to harking back to Ottoman times. His party calls its supporters “grandchildren of Ottomans.” He declared in 2020 that “our civilization is one of conquest. Turkey will take what is its right in the Mediterranean Sea, in the Aegean Sea, and in the Black Sea.” Turkish troops are occupying 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, expansionist policies of Putin, Xi and Erdogan, we must add those of incoming U.S. President Donald Trump. The United States grew in the 19th century by displacing Indigenous peoples in its Western expansion, by war against Mexico and by buying land from other nations. About 40% of the territory in the current United States stems from purchasing the Louisiana Territory from France in 1803 and Alaska from Russia in 1867. Now Trump and his team speak of wanting to make America great again through territorial growth.

There’s the demand that Denmark sell the self-governing 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 the U.S. tried to conquer Canada in the War of 1812 and failed miserably.) He threatens to retake the Panama Canal Zone despite a 1977 treaty turning it over to Panama.

Trump ought to cut out his bullying rhetoric. His efforts to return to 19th century expansionism are bound to add to global instability and to encourage war. He is emboldening and excusing Russian, Chinese, Hamas and Turkish aggression in their attempts to reestablish past glories. Why should they hold back if the U.S. does not?

Where will it all end? Taken to its absurd extremes, Greece might as well claim Egypt, Iraq, Iran and western India as the successor to Alexander the Great’s empire, while Mongolia claims Russia and China as the successor to Genghis Khan’s.

The United Nations Charter 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 of the charter gives others permission to disregard it, too. But that’s who Trump is. He’s a destroyer of norms, a wreaker of havoc and an enabler of aggression.

— Keith Raffel is a syndicated columnist with Creators.