Trump is a symptom. America is the disease

[Mahmoud Ahmadinejad]

All is explained.


Episode 1: "America's Hidden Empire: Why Trump's Intervention Of Venezuela Was Nothing New"; (Dan Snow's History Hit, guest: Professor Daniel Immerwahr, historian and author of How to Hide an Empire)

• The episode frames recent U.S. actions toward Venezuela under Trump as part of a long-standing pattern of American intervention in the Western Hemisphere, rooted in the Monroe Doctrine (originally from the 1820s to block European interference but later expanded to justify U.S. control for "security and prosperity").
• It traces the shift from formal empire (direct annexations, purchases like the Louisiana Purchase, wars, and dispossession of Native nations) in the 19th/early 20th centuries to an "informal empire" via dollar/gunboat diplomacy—controlling economics, customs, foreign policy, and resources in places like the Caribbean without formal annexation.
• Historical examples include the 1954 Guatemala coup (driven by United Fruit Company interests, using disinformation, psychological warfare, and Radio Swan broadcasts) and the 1989 Panama invasion (to remove Noriega and secure the canal). During the Cold War, the U.S. attempted 64 illegal interventions (tilting elections or coups), succeeding in 25 cases, often leading to instability and authoritarianism.
• Trump's approach—rhetoric of a "Trump Monroe Doctrine," assembling forces off Venezuela's coast, and focusing on oil control without full occupation—fits this tradition of resource protection and regime influence through pressure rather than boots-on-the-ground conquest.
• The discussion emphasizes how post-WWII decolonization reduced formal empires but increased covert methods, and notes that defying U.S. interests often invited coups or economic leverage

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vF3U0Kkm0xs


Episode 2: "Who Owns Greenland? (Not America!); (Dan Snow's History Hit, guest: Professor Robert Rix, University of Copenhagen)

• U.S. interest dates back over 160 years: 1867 purchase attempt for resources (fishing, coal, cryolite); 1910s swap schemes tied to West Indies sales; a secret 1946 offer of $100 million; and WWII protection of cryolite mines and airbases (essential for aluminum production and transatlantic flights). Post-war, the U.S. built and maintains the Thule air base (1951) for NORAD missile warning and satellite tracking.
• Trump's recent rhetoric (military force "always an option" for security and minerals, amid melting ice exposing resources) echoes these past attempts but faces major barriers: Greenland is autonomous Danish territory (part of the Kingdom of Denmark), Danish citizens include many Greenlandic Inuit, NATO implications are huge, and Denmark cannot simply "sell" it without Greenlandic consent.
• The episode stresses that current U.S. presence (Thule base) already exists under agreements, but full annexation would trigger a NATO crisis and ignore indigenous/self-rule realities.

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mmhg6Eunl2Q