Conflicting Spheres

Europe was surprisingly quiet when a president — one could reasonably call him a dictator — was kidnapped in Venezuela. There was little concern about threats directed at Cuba or about moves to take control of the Panama Canal. There was some discussion about the renaming of the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America, but all of this remained firmly within what is understood as the US sphere of power. This is how great regional powers operate.

Europe, however, reacted very differently when Greenland was mentioned. The European Union, which presents itself as a liberal project based on shared economic interests rather than realist power politics, suddenly drew a clear line. Greenland, it turns out, is considered part of the European hemisphere because it remains a Danish colony. The threat to take over Greenland — which is deeply disturbing — brought the island’s military and strategic importance into sharp focus. Climate change is opening new Arctic shipping routes, and Russia is already a major power in this region.

Here we encounter the next spherical conflict. Russia considers itself a great regional power and therefore claims strong interests in its former Soviet states, now independent countries. In Russian thinking, this constitutes its hemisphere, just as Latin America has long been treated as part of the US sphere of influence. Europe, however, takes a different view. Through its support of Ukraine, the hawkish positions of governments in the Baltic states, and the continued prospect of EU membership — coupled with NATO expansion — Europe seeks to extend its influence into this space. Unlike the United States, Russia is denied the legitimacy to think or act in explicitly regional terms, regardless of whether such thinking should exist at all.

All of this is complex, but it reveals a credibility problem rather than a moral one. Europe insists it does not engage in great power politics, yet under the banner of liberal democracy it actively intervenes across multiple spheres of influence. The language has changed. The behaviour has not.