Alexander Dugin outlines how Trump is tearing off the veil of civility in geopolitics, reclaiming the Western Hemisphere for a New World Empire that challenges the Old World to rise to the occasion with avant-garde maneuvers and no-holds-barred force.
Radio Sputnik, Escalation Host: These past holidays and the beginning of 2026 were marked by a flurry of events on the international stage. The US president is keeping the world on its toes: American foreign policy actions are becoming increasingly eccentric and harsh. Let’s start our discussion with the situation around Greenland. The news here is extremely interesting. The US President’s Special Envoy for Greenland, Jeff Landry, made a sensational statement: he noted that after World War II, Denmark restored its control of the island by actually bypassing UN protocols, calling it a “reoccupation.” The Danish Foreign Ministry has already expressed its protest, emphasizing the inviolability of its sovereignty. Why have Trump and his people suddenly decided to appeal to UN norms and historical protocols now, even though they previously have openly stated that this organization is essentially meaningless?
Alexander Dugin: I think Trump is truly changing international politics. This is very serious. The occasional inconsistencies in his behavior, the apparent confusion and contradictions that frame his actions — all of this, in a sense, represents the “fog of war.” Sometimes he speaks directly about what is really going on and acts accordingly, and sometimes he uses this fog to hide or veil his true intentions.
When he talks about the “Trump corollary” to the Monroe Doctrine (remember: the Monroe Doctrine is a concept formulated in the first quarter of the 19th century that America should be a zone free from European colonial influence), he is returning to his roots. Initially, this idea implied not only US hegemony, but also a kind of liberation struggle on the part of Latin American peoples against European metropolises under the slogan: “America for Americans.” That is, America would belong to Americans, not Europeans. Russia had no colonies there, so this did not directly affect us — these were their internal problems with strengthening independence from the Old World.
Today, this is expressed in Trump’s completely wild actions against the president of sovereign Venezuela: he simply kidnapped Nicolas Maduro and his wife. Moreover, Trump announced yesterday on social media — perhaps jokingly, perhaps seriously, creating that very same “fog of war” — that he is now also the president of Venezuela, that he is both the president of the United States and the acting president of Venezuela. If we look closely at world history, we will see that this has always been the case: someone declared himself emperor, someone was proclaimed supreme ruler by the army, someone seized power through a coup or revolution, as in our country. Therefore, by and large, there is no need to be too upset about the form. Let’s look at the essence: Maduro has been kidnapped, he is not in the country, America is advancing on Venezuela, preparing to trade its oil and has de facto annexed the territory under the slogan “America for Americans.”
How does “Trump’s corollary” work here? From his point of view, Venezuela was allegedly “ruled by the Russians and Chinese,” and now its “decolonization” is taking place in favor of the United States. Of course, the Russians and Chinese did not rule Venezuela, but Trump will. And in the same vein, but now applying it to the North, Trump is claiming rights to Greenland. He says that geographically it is a continuation of the North American continent, and that it is home to the Inuit, the same Eskimos who live in Alaska. Let’s “liberate” them, because someone else might encroach upon them — again, the Russians and Chinese. Trump argues that two dog sled teams are not enough to protect this vast territory, which is rich in resources and strategically important in the future battle for the Arctic. It must be “saved.”
He sees Denmark and the European Union as a bunch of morons, stupid and pathetic squealing liberals. He sees no strength in them, considering them mentally disabled. Someone like Kaja Kallas is just a misunderstanding to him, but Greenland and its strategic position are important. Canada is equally important, which, as it suddenly turned out, still formally belongs to the British Crown — Trump sees this as an “oversight” in the process of the American continent’s decolonization. And he is implementing this corollary to the Monroe Doctrine at full speed.
