{"id":60015,"date":"2026-01-16T19:09:19","date_gmt":"2026-01-16T16:09:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sudanevents.com\/?p=60015"},"modified":"2026-01-16T19:09:19","modified_gmt":"2026-01-16T16:09:19","slug":"imperial-washington-a-partner-that-alarms-europe","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sudanevents.com\/index.php\/2026\/01\/16\/imperial-washington-a-partner-that-alarms-europe\/","title":{"rendered":"\u201cImperial\u201d Washington: A Partner That Alarms Europe"},"content":{"rendered":"

Dr. Yasser Mahjoub Al-Hussein<\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

What caught my attention was the focus of the British think tank Chatham House\u2014historically linked to the UK\u2019s governing establishment, decision-making circles, and intelligence community\u2014on placing the recent U.S. operation at the top of its agenda. The institute has devoted a major panel discussion, scheduled for February 19, under the title: \u201cA New Threat? America as an Imperial Power.\u201d<\/em> This interest cannot be separated from the profound transformations underway in U.S. foreign policy, nor from the growing unease in European capitals over the nature of America\u2019s global role during President Donald Trump\u2019s second term. Chatham House\u2019s very use of the term \u201cimperialism\u201d is sufficient to reflect the depth of European concern, particularly in the wake of the arrest of Venezuelan President Nicol\u00e1s Maduro.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Has the United States shifted from a hegemonic power that cloaked its influence in the language of international law and alliances to an overt imperial force, unhesitant to use direct power to secure its interests? This question is no longer merely academic. It is now being seriously debated within European decision-making circles and Western think tanks that have long defended the \u201cliberal international order\u201d as a less brutal alternative to classical imperialism.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The current U.S. administration\u2019s foreign policy is characterized by a transactional, utilitarian mindset, disregard for international norms and institutions, and indifference toward traditional allies, coupled with a growing readiness to use military force without collective cover or international legitimacy. The arrest of Venezuelan President Nicol\u00e1s Maduro highlighted this shift, appearing less as a purely security-related measure than as a political message: Washington sees itself as empowered to act as a global enforcer beyond the bounds of national sovereignty, based on criminal charges filed against Maduro since 2020.<\/strong><\/p>\n

For Europe, the implications of this transformation are both profound and troubling. The issue is not limited to the future of NATO or Europe\u2019s defense architecture, which relies heavily on the American security umbrella; it extends to direct threats to regional security. Trump had previously floated the idea of annexing Greenland, a Danish territory and NATO member\u2014rhetoric that is now read as evidence of eroding boundaries between ally and imperial partner. Moreover, recent U.S. national security documents have criticized the European Union in unprecedented language, calling for the \u201ccultivation of resistance\u201d within European societies and emphasizing American dominance in the Western Hemisphere.<\/strong><\/p>\n

This approach places NATO itself under strain, as it is increasingly perceived as an instrument of U.S. hegemony rather than a balanced defensive alliance. As a result, several European states are seriously considering strengthening their strategic autonomy and reducing their dependence on Washington.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The use of the term \u201cimperialism\u201d here is not rhetorical posturing so much as a reflection of a clear historical definition: the expansion of political, economic, and military influence beyond borders, the imposition of will by force, and the erosion of other states\u2019 sovereignty. What is new in the American case is not the pursuit of influence, but the abandonment of \u201csoft persuasion\u201d and multilateral alliances in favor of coercion and diktat\u2014evident in new trade policies and tariff regimes that have harmed allies before adversaries.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Maduro case underscores the U.S. administration\u2019s willingness to use force as a central tool of foreign policy, within a worldview that treats Latin America as Washington\u2019s exclusive sphere of influence. In this context, states are confronted with a binary choice: submission or confrontation\u2014a dynamic that has drawn international \u0627\u0639\u062a\u0631\u0627\u0636 from major powers such as Russia and China, which described the move as a violation of international law.<\/strong><\/p>\n

For Moscow and Beijing, this American shift represents both a threat and an opportunity. Russia faces a more impulsive and less predictable adversary, while China confronts a more openly confrontational U.S. policy that combines economic warfare and sanctions with reinforced military alliances. Some analysts argue that this approach accelerates the erosion of the existing financial order and hastens the transition toward a multipolar world.<\/strong><\/p>\n

If Europe is uneasy, anxiety is even more pronounced in the developing world. Weaker states now find themselves facing a harsher international system in which international law is marginalized and relations are reshaped according to raw power. In such a world, the arrest of a sitting head of state risks becoming a precedent rather than an exception\u2014signaling a more volatile and dangerous phase in global politics.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Dr. Yasser Mahjoub Al-Hussein What caught my attention was the focus of the British think tank Chatham House\u2014historically linked to the UK\u2019s governing establishment, decision-making circles, and intelligence community\u2014on placing the recent U.S. operation at the top of its agenda. The institute has devoted a major panel discussion, scheduled for February 19, under the title: …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2231,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[19],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-60015","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-opinion"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sudanevents.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60015","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sudanevents.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sudanevents.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sudanevents.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sudanevents.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=60015"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/sudanevents.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60015\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":60016,"href":"https:\/\/sudanevents.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60015\/revisions\/60016"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sudanevents.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2231"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sudanevents.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=60015"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sudanevents.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=60015"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sudanevents.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=60015"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}