In a dramatic escalation of rhetoric, Donald Trump has taken aim at NATO allies, intensifying his critique just as the United States seized a Russian-flagged tanker in European waters and amid rising tensions involving Greenland.
The former President pointed fingers at NATO members, accusing them of failing to meet financial obligations. He reminded the alliance’s supporters that most members were not contributing the agreed-upon 2 percent of their GDP towards defense, a commitment that falls short of the 5 percent target established during last summer’s Hague summit.
“Until I came along,” Trump stated on Wednesday morning, “the USA was, foolishly, footing their bills.”
He expressed skepticism about NATO’s reliability in a crisis, stating, “Russia and China have zero fear of NATO without the United States, and I doubt NATO would be there for us if we really needed them.”
Trump affirmed America’s commitment to the alliance, declaring, “We will always be there for NATO, even if they won’t be there for us. The only nation that China and Russia fear and respect is the DJT-rebuilt USA.”
His remarks coincided with a demonstration of U.S. military prowess as American forces captured a Russian-flagged oil tanker off Scotland’s north coast. This vessel was being pursued by Moscow, which had deployed a submarine to escort it following its flight from Venezuela.
Europe is on edge after Trump threatened to seize Greenland, a Danish territory, following his capture of Venezuelan dictator Nicolas Maduro in the early hours of Saturday.
Britain, France and Italy released a statement backing Denmark on Monday after the White House announced that the President was exploring plans to take control of Greenland, including buying the land or taking control of its defense.
Trump signs an executive order in the Oval Office in the White House on December 18
The US seized the Russian-flagged oil tanker Bella 1 in the North Atlantic waters between Iceland and Scotland on Wednesday.
Dramatic footage showed US special forces storming the ship after pursuing it for weeks in an operation inflaming tensions with Moscow.
The Coast Guard also captured a second tanker , the Sophia, off the coast of the Caribbean in the coordinated operation this morning as America strangles the flow of oil from Venezuela to its adversaries including Russia, China and Iran.
Secretary of War Pete Hegseth put the world on notice by saying that the blockade of Venezuelan oil is in full effect, and said no ship is safe anywhere in the world.
‘The United States continues to enforce the blockade against all dark fleet vessels illegally transporting Venezuelan oil to finance illicit activity, stealing from the Venezuelan people,’ he wrote on X.
‘Only legitimate and lawful energy commerce – as determined by the US – will be permitted.’
Russia’s Transport Ministry responded: ‘No state has the right to use force against vessels properly registered in other countries’ jurisdictions.’
Trump in the last week has thrown decades of precedent out of the window in his treatment of NATO allies and Congress.
The President consulted neither parties before launching his audacious snatch-and-grab raid of Maduro on Saturday, and now chills relations further with threatening to invade Greenland – a neighbor which the US has vowed to protect since 1951.
Trump, emboldened by Maduro’s capture, touted the ‘Donroe Doctrine’, his version of the Monroe Doctrine, the 1800s-era policy that warned against European colonization in the Americas articulated by President James Monroe.
‘They now call it the ‘Donroe Doctrine.’ American dominance in the Western Hemisphere will never be questioned again,’ he told reporters.
The ‘Trump Corollary’ to the Monroe Doctrine, as detailed in the National Security Strategy published last month, is now clearly in full effect.
Pictures in Russian media purportedly showed helicopters approaching the vessel today
American forces captured a separate ‘dark fleet’ tanker called the M/T Sophia
The vessel was described as a ‘stateless, sanctioned dark fleet motor tanker’
The Trump Corollary – meaning a proposition that follows from one that is already proved – establishes three non-negotiable pillars: denial of strategic assets, expanded hemispheric boundaries and militarized law enforcement.
The significance of this corollary cannot be overstated.
Trump has signaled in his recent threats to Greenland that US national interests in its own sphere of influence override the sovereignty of allies.
Seizing the Russian-flagged tanker in international waters shows that the US now effectively treats the Atlantic and Caribbean as ‘American lakes,’ where it claims the right to board any vessel it believes is a threat.
For Russia and China, this is ‘keep out’ sign.
For Europe, Trump is showing that NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte wasn’t far off when he joked last summer that the President is ‘Daddy’.
The President has revived the Monroe Doctrine as a cornerstone in American foreign policy to justify an aggressive, interventionist approach in the Western Hemisphere.
The administration views the presence of China, Russia and Iran in Latin America as a modern violation of the Monroe Doctrine.
China in particular has created foreign companies to build infrastructure in the region as part of its global Belt and Road strategy to make nations around the world reliant on its technology and services.
Trump wants to force these adversaries out of the region and deny them the ability to control vital resources such as minerals and energy. Venezuela has the word’s largest proven oil reserves.
The President had used the doctrine to frame mass immigration and drug smuggling as foreign attacks which America has a right to throttle.
Drug cartels have been designated as foreign terrorist organizations (FTOs) and the governments of Mexico and Colombia have been threatened with US military intervention inside their territories.
Playing to his MAGA base, Trump argues that the American people rather than globalist institutions, such as the UN and NATO, should decide the fate of the Western hemisphere.
The administration has struck lucrative trade deals with El Salvador, Argentina and Ecuador to shore up control of critical supply chains.
