Rubio and the Return of the Monroe Doctrine
Venezuelan president Maduro meets with Chinese officials (Lintao Zhang/Pool/Getty Images), Marco Rubio (Reuters/Octavio Jones/File Photo)Mike Watson
November 16, 2024President-elect Donald Trump on Wednesday tapped Florida senator Marco Rubio (R.) to lead the State Department. Rubio is, among other things, a full-spectrum opponent of China's nefarious activities, and the news of his nomination dismayed the soft-on-China crowd. He is also tough on Iran and should focus America's diplomats on promoting the nation's interests rather than exporting the culture wars. But Rubio's most distinctive foreign policy contribution is likely to be in Latin America, where he can bring the Monroe Doctrine back to the center of U.S. foreign policy.
America's benign neighborhood should be one of its great strategic advantages. German chancellor Otto von Bismarck is said to have quipped, "The Americans are a very lucky people. They're bordered to the north and south by weak neighbors, and to the east and west by fish."
Getting to that point took a lot of work. Ever since the French Revolution set off a global conflagration that ultimately doomed France's and Spain's American empires, Americans have feared hostile powers intervening to their south. The Monroe Doctrine was an attempt to, in quiet partnership with Great Britain, keep Latin America out of Europe's imperial games. Starting with Joel Roberts Poinsett, John Quincy Adams's minister to Mexico, the United States has tried to promote pro-American democratic groups in the region.
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https://freebeacon.com/policy/rubio-and-the-return-of-the-monroe-doctrine/
