The US is restoring its unipolar hegemony over the hemisphere, beginning with its quarter-sphere, because there are no checks or balances.

Secretary of War Pete Hegseth spoke in early March aboutGreater North America, which includes every sovereign nation and territory north of the Equator, from Greenland to Ecuador and from Alaska to Guyana. He added that It is our immediate security perimeter in this great neighborhood that we all live in. Each one of these countries border either the North Atlantic or the North Pacific. This concept is actually quite sensible, but its also understandable why it elicits fear from some within this space too.

The Russian School of Multipolarism teaches that Great and Regional Powers, especially civilization-states (those that left lasting socio-political legacies on others over the centuries), play the main role in the global systemic transition. They also have spheres of influence, which sometimes overlap with their civilizational footprint, where theyre most sensitive to security threats. Russias is the former Soviet space (Near Abroad), Indias is all of South Asia, and the US is Greater North America, et al.

This is natural, but its also natural that some within these spheres are fearful of these leading countries playing a greater role in their regions, which can be attributed to historical reasons as well as contemporary political ones that are also sometimes exploited by demagogues and third parties. Returning to the earlier examples, the Balts hate Russia, Pakistan feels the same about India (and Bangladesh isfollowing in its footsteps), and ditto how many Mexicans and Latinos feel about the US.

Russia cant directly resolve Baltic-emanating threats due to those countries membership in NATO and India cant fully resolve Pakistani-emanating ones due to its nuclear status, but the US can resolve what its leadership perceives or even just simply claims to be quarter-sphere threats to its security. Its unimportant whether one agrees or disagrees with the US assessments since the point is that none of Greater North Americas countries have nukes or mutual defense pacts with nuclear-armed countries.

This vulnerability, which wont realistically be rectified, emboldens Trump 2.0 to unilaterally reshape Greater North Americas geopolitics in its favor as proven by itsbold capture of Maduroand de facto (butnot strictly enforced) blockade of Cuba forregime tweakingpurposes. It might soon more fully resubordinateMexicotoo, though it remains unclear exactly which means could be employed to this end. The point is that the only restraints upon the US behavior are those that it imposes upon itself.

The demonstration effect of capturing Maduro and de facto blockading Cuba might therefore lead to more bandwagoning instead of balancing against the US and risking Trump 2.0s wrath. In that scenario, the influence of non-hemispheric countries like China and Russia will be reduced to a bare minimum, whilecloser coordinationon tackling the threats posed by illegal immigration and cartels is likely. The end result would be strengthening Fortress America as the US near-exclusive sphere of influence.

Circling back to the introduction, this is quite sensible from its perspective regardless of ones opinion about it, and its understandable why this elicits fear from some in this space too. The US is restoring its unipolar hegemony over the hemisphere, beginning with its quarter-sphere, because there are no checks or balances. Russia, India, and similar powers struggle to do the same within their own spheres of influence in no small part because the US weaponizes their adversaries for containment purposes.

Andrew Korybko