The Trump administration's announcement of territorial expansion ambitions (Panama Canal, Greenland, Gaza) represents not a reassertion of American confidence but rather bullying behavior toward smaller countries and a dangerous legitimization of nationalism-based territorial conquest at a time when Russia, China, and Israel are already normalizing similar aggression, thereby further eroding the post-WWII international order based on state sovereignty.
causalpending
Speaker
Ben RhodesEvidence Quote
“picking on Panama and Denmark... it does not feel like kind of a reassertion of American confidence these are smaller countries kind of feels like a bully on the schoolyard looking for someone small to beat up... this is a US president in word and deed kind of ignoring the principle of State sovereignty... at a time when there's already been a normalization of a return to nationalism based Conquest”
Source
Ben Rhodes: The Warren and Anita Manshel Lecture in American Foreign Policy— Weatherhead Center for International AffairsCreated: 8/11/2026, 7:23:32 AM
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