At first glance, Venezuela and Denmark appear to occupy opposite ends of the international order. One is a Global South country long subjected to sanctions, coups, and covert operations; the other is a wealthy Nordic state, firmly embedded in NATO and the European Union, often portrayed as a model of liberal democracy and “values-based” governance. Geography, climate, culture, and economic standing could not be more different. Yet recent developments suggest that, in the eyes of Washington, these differences are becoming increasingly irrelevant.

What unites Venezuela and Denmark today is not ideology or history, but exposure to the same raw logic of power. Under the United States’ current strategic posture-sharpened, but not invented, by Donald Trump-the distinction between ally and adversary is eroding. What remains is a blunt calculus: resources, location, and usefulness. Those who have them are pressured; those who resist are punished; and those who submit discover that submission buys only temporary mercy.

Venezuela has long been a target of US aggression. Its insistence on sovereignty over its oil, its refusal to subordinate itself fully to Washington’s geopolitical agenda, and its alignment with non-Western powers made it an early candidate for regime change. Sanctions devastated its economy, covert operations sought to destabilize its leadership, and its elected president was subjected to internationally publicized kidnapping attempts and threats. The law, whether international or domestic, was treated as an inconvenience. What mattered was compliance.

Denmark, by contrast, has been among Washington’s most loyal European partners. A founding NATO member, a reliable supporter of US-led military interventions, and a state deeply integrated into Western political and economic structures, Denmark seemed insulated from such treatment. Yet Trump’s repeated insistence that the United States “needs” Greenland-an autonomous territory legally belonging to the Kingdom of Denmark-has shattered that illusion.

In Trump’s worldview, “need”........

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