The United States arrived in 2026 as a Republic aged 250 years. What will the United States be at the end of 2026, de facto if not necessarily de jure?
It's a relevant question at a time when the Trump administration seems intent on bringing about not just regime change but territorial ownership minus any participation of Congress, the most evIdent manifestation of a political entity that can call itself a republic.
The operation that brought Venezuelan president Nicolas Maduro from a supposedly safe location in Caracas to a courtroom in Manhattan will be argued over for some time, likely all this year and beyond.
But it seems that there will be other arguments taking shape as the 250th anniversary year progresses.
President Trump and Secretary of State Marco Rubio are now turning hostile eyes towards Cuba. There's nothing new in this. The U.S. has been hostile towards Havana from the moment that Fidel Castro lit his first cigar as Cuba's leader. And Secretary Rubio, the son of Cuban exiles, is no friend of Castro's threadbare legacy.
Castro came to power by way of a revolution. Revolutions can be positive things, especially if they are peaceful and merely the catalyst for beneficial political evolution. More often than not they are anything but peaceful. The American Revolution stands tall in this regard.
But revolutions are starting points. What follows them can vary. The American and French revolutions ultimately resulted in democracy. Revolutions such as those in Russia, Iran and Cuba did not.
A revolution can stand still, fester and grow stale. Such has been the case in Iran - lately and once again shooting dead protesting citizens - and Cuba.
Suffice it to say, Greenland does not fit into this picture of stale revolutionary entities. That's why it is so alarming that the Trump administration is making noises about annexing what is an autonomous territory of a democratic friend and ally of the U.S., Denmark.
This idea of taking over Greenland is quite simply mad, something that more resembles the desire of an imperialist power than a republic.
Denmark is a member of NATO so Greenland, too, is effectively NATO territory. It already hosts a U.S. military base. Denmark is in the European Union while Greenland is an associate member. Its citizens are considered EU citizens.
The EU has stated that it will not stop defending the principle of territorial integrity, particularly when it comes to a member state.
“The EU will continue to uphold the principles of national sovereignty, territorial integrity and the inviolability of borders,” the EU’s lead foreign policy spokesperson, Anitta Hipper, has stated.
“These are universal principles, and we will not stop defending them, all the more so if the territorial integrity of a member state of the European Union is questioned.”
Ireland (Republic of) presumably, stands by such universal principles. So if the U.S. makes a move against Greenland that would presumably bring Ireland into direct conflict with the United States, at least politically and diplomatically.
George Washington and his fellow revolutionaries fought to shed the yoke of a controlling imperialist foreign power.
Whatever about toppling regimes deemed hostile to American interests and national security, they would surely turn in their graves if the American Republic used its military might to take over the territory of a friend and ally.
But this is where we are, 250 years into America's story. Who would have thought?
