Trump, Xi and Putin in the struggle for dominance in the world of 'strength, force and power'

We analyze how the US, China and Russia use military, economic and political leverage to influence not only neighboring countries, but also states around the world.

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Photo: Getty Images
Photo: Getty Images
Disclaimer: The translations are mostly done through AI translator and might not be 100% accurate.

"The dominance of the United States of America (US) in the Western Hemisphere will never again be questioned," President Donald Trump declared after US forces captured Nicolas Maduro, President of Venezuela.

While Trump demonstrates Washington's strength, China and Russia continue their efforts to consolidate and expand their own spheres of influence.

Many analysts believe that all three powers are striving to establish a new world order, which would have serious consequences for Europe and other regional powers.

We analyze how the US, China, and Russia use military, economic, and political leverage to influence not only neighboring countries, but also states around the world.

A world where "power rules"

The US, under the leadership of the Donald Trump administration, is changing its foreign policy and national security strategy, placing particular importance on the Western Hemisphere.

This is a significant change from previous American presidents from both parties (Democratic and Republican) who viewed American power and authority in a broader, global context.

Trump administration officials argue that pursuing an "America First" foreign policy focused on on migration issues, crime and drug trafficking, has a more direct impact on the daily lives of American citizens.

Recent statements by Trump's top adviser, Stephen Miller, about a world "where strength rules, where force rules, where power rules," are reminiscent of a pragmatic and non-idealized foreign policy. Henry Kissinger and Richard Nixon in the 1960s and 1970s.

Yet perhaps it is best to draw a parallel with the efforts of Presidents William McKinley and Theodore Roosevelt to build an American empire at the beginning of the 20th century.

Building on to the Monroe Doctrine In 1823, a presidential declaration that European countries should not interfere in the Western Hemisphere, Roosevelt argued that the United States must play an active role in maintaining order and securing both American continents.

During that period, the US provided financial assistance to Venezuela and the Dominican Republic, and American soldiers were deployed in Haiti and Nicaragua.

Since the beginning of his second term, Donald Trump has often shown a special interest in territories and events in the immediate geographical vicinity of the United States.

The most dramatic example is his military operation to arrest Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro.

She followed after American attacks on ships in the Caribbean suspected of transporting drugs, introducing customs measures to put pressure on Latin American countries, openly supporting individual candidates and parties in national elections, as well as calls for the annexation of the Panama Canal, Greenland, and all of Canada.

"The United States must be the dominant power in the Western Hemisphere as a condition for our security and progress."

"It is a condition that allows us to confidently assert ourselves where and when needed in the region," the National Security Strategy recently published by the White House states.

However, part of this new foreign policy strategy also includes rejecting attempts by other powers, primarily China, to influence the US's regional neighbors.

It is here that America's new focus on influence in the Western Hemisphere could directly clash with global political interests.

In addition, Trump has shown interest in brokering peace agreements around the world and has expressed a particularly strong interest in strengthening economic and security relations. with Arab countries such as Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

He and his close associates, including Miller, advocate the position that the US is defending Western civilization from forces that would try to undermine its culture and traditions.

All of this suggests that, while the strategic foundations of American foreign policy are tied to a new “America First” outlook, Trump’s personal views and interests will continue to strongly shape the US international agenda.

Over 250 years of American history, foreign policy has ranged from isolationism to foreign intervention and back to isolationism, with a shifting balance of idealism and pragmatism, always depending on American military power and the interests of the people and their leaders.

Although the situation appears to be changing significantly during Trump's second term as president, there is no evidence that these cycles and turns in American foreign policy are over in the long term.

'The Great Rejuvenation of the Chinese People'

China's influence in the world is not limited to a "sphere" or region.

Beijing's presence is felt in every corner of the world today: from the South Pacific, through South and Central Asia, the wider Middle East, Latin America, and other countries.

In the fight for global dominance, China relies on its key strength - manufacturing.

Almost a third of all products in the world come from China: from the gadgets in our pockets, to the clothes in our closets, to the furniture we sit on while watching television.

Beijing has also positioned itself in a leading position to take control of the future, securing the largest share in the world's reserves of rare earth metals.

It is a group of elements necessary for the production of modern technology, including smartphones, electric cars, wind turbines, and weapons.

China processes about 90 percent of the world's rare earths and has recently took advantage of Donald Trump, limiting exports during the trade war with the US in 2025.

That may explain why Washington is now rushing for ores in Greenland and beyond.

The two superpowers are clearly fighting a battle to secure strategic resources.

It's a huge turnaround for the People's Republic of China, which in 2000 was a minor player in a world dominated by the US.

By early 2026, President Xi Jinping had established himself as an ambitious world leader, expanding his power and influence through trade, technology, and investment, backed by a growing military force.

China's rise from one of the poorest countries in the world to a major industrial and technological power has a strong impact on many developing countries.

They see this example as a possibility of modernization without moving closer to the West – that countries can develop their economies without adopting Western political systems and harmonizing with the foreign policies of those countries.

This strategy has proven very successful.

In 2001, more than 80 percent of the world's economies had a larger volume of trade with the United States than with China.

Today, about 70 percent of the world trades more with China than with America.

Beijing is also strongly focused on development and is investing significant resources in growing economies. through the "Belt and Road" initiative.

It is a huge global infrastructure project aimed at connecting Asia, Europe, and Africa, via land and sea routes, with major Chinese investments in ports, railways, roads, and energy facilities.

This is why more and more countries are borrowing more and more from Beijing.

One of the biggest questions after Trump's operation in Venezuela was whether it could encourage China that he is considering invading Taiwan.

However, China considers the self-governing island to be its internal matter - as a breakaway province that will one day be reunited with the mainland.

If President Xi decides to invade the island, it will not be because the US has set a precedent.

China will continue its strategy of pressure and coercion to exhaust the population of Taiwan and force it to sit at the negotiating table, most analysts believe.

President Xi's vision has always been "the great rejuvenation of the Chinese people."

At a military parade held in September 2025, while watching his troops from a balcony, he said that China's rise was "unstoppable."

He wants a world that respects and admires Beijing, and describes the current upheaval in the world due to Donald Trump's moves as a period of "transformation."

President Xi will see this as an opportunity.

His message is that the world is at a crossroads and he believes China is in the best position to help show the way forward.

Russia's 'near abroad'

Vladimir Putin is famously, or perhaps ominously, collapse of the Soviet Union called the "greatest geopolitical catastrophe" of the 20th century.

It provides valuable insight into his view of what Russians often call the "near abroad" - the former Soviet republics that gained independence in the 1990s.

To many, the term suggests that these countries somehow have less right to full state independence than countries "far abroad."

According to this way of thinking, which forms the basis of the Kremlin's ideology, Russia has legitimate interests in these countries and has the right to protect them.

The boundaries of that sphere of influence are unclear, and the Kremlin is deliberately vague about exactly where it believes they end.

"Russia's borders do not end anywhere," Putin once declared.

Some supporters of his expansionist policies believe that Russia's sphere of influence encompasses all the lands that historically belonged to the Russian Empire, and perhaps even beyond.

This is one of the reasons why Moscow calls the annexed parts of Ukraine "historical regions."

On paper, the Kremlin respects the sovereignty of former Soviet republics and other countries in which it claims to have "interests."

However, in practice, it has a long history of using economic and military pressure on former satellites as soon as they start thinking about leaving Russian orbit.

Ukraine experienced this the hard way.

For more than a decade after the collapse of the USSR, the Ukrainian government pursued policies that were largely aligned with the Kremlin's goals, and a large Russian naval base was located in Crimea, on the Black Sea.

The Kremlin was happy with that relationship until Ukraine elected a reform-oriented, pro-Western president. Viktor Yushchenko.

During his term, Russia suspended gas supplies to Ukraine twice - in 2006 and 2009.

When economic pressure and political interference failed, Russia invaded in 2014. Krim and took control, and eight years later launched an invasion of Ukraine.

Similarly, Russia went to war with Georgia in 2008, while it was led by reform-oriented President Mikhail Saakashvili.

In doing so, it consolidated and expanded control over about 20 percent of Georgia's territory.

Since then, Russian troops have been moving border posts and barbed wire deeper into Georgian territory.

The West's lack of serious response to Russia's invasion of Georgia in 2008 and Ukraine in 2014 only reinforced Putin's belief that the "near abroad" was his.

Although Ukraine and Georgia have resisted Moscow's political dominance, leading to military intervention, the policies of some former Soviet republics have remained aligned with Russia.

Russian units are still present in five former Soviet republics - Belarus, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, and Armenia.

The problems for Ukraine and Georgia began when they elected governments that announced they wanted to move out of Russia's sphere of influence by implementing democratic reforms and strengthening ties with the West.

What followed was nothing new.

In the past, there have been many conflicts that were fought under the pretext of defending one's own interests and protecting ethnic minorities.

After World War II, and then after Cold War, much effort has been made to make the world community a community of equals, regardless of their size and armaments.

But the return of the concept of spheres of influence could take us all back to a much darker era in history.

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