Gaza has just been added to the list of territories that Donald Trump says he wants to conquer.
It all started with a joke about making Canada the 51st state of the United States. Then he renewed ties with Greenland and threatened to take over the Panama Canal.
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It's up to policymakers to determine where this ends and how seriously they take this latest territorial claim. How can we reconcile the isolationist president and follower of the Monroe Doctrine with the expansionist who seems to think the United States can appropriate any piece of land it wants under the pretext of strategic interests? One way to look at the suggestion of a U.S. takeover of the Palestinian strip strung out between Egypt and Israel is to ask whether Trump is the real estate developer talking.
He said the war-torn enclave had the potential to become the "Riviera of the Middle East." He has made similar statements about North Korea before.
But the implications of his words, particularly for the fate of 2 million Palestinians and their homeland, have a troubling look — as do his comments on land ownership in South Africa.
One of Trump's hallmarks over the years is that he tries out ideas, sees how they work, and then comes back to them. In 2016, his campaign promise to build a wall along the Mexican border was considered ridiculous. But he eventually built part of it. .
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Was it a bargaining chip or a bluff? The mistake was that he dismissed Trump's thoughts.
Currently, Arab countries, led by Saudi Arabia, oppose Trump's proposal and the permanent displacement of Palestinians, a long-held goal of the Israeli far right. But most importantly, the conversations are taking place in private.
China, which has its eyes on Taiwan, is one of many parties in the world with a vested interest in the outcome of the crisis.
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