Newsweek Discovers Geopolitics, Forgets US Bought Alaska
The mainstream media, in its infinite wisdom, treats Trump's 'purchase' suggestion as an unprecedented diplomatic crisis, rather than a crude, albeit historically rooted, land grab. Conveniently omitted is the fact that the United States itself has a rather extensive history of purchasing territories, from the Louisiana Purchase in 1803 to the Seward's Folly acquisition of Alaska from Russia in
1867. One might almost think that powerful nations attempting to buy strategically valuable land is, dare I say, a recurring theme in global affairs. So, while Denmark is urged to contemplate this 'threat,' perhaps Newsweek could offer a sidebar on the US State Department's own land portfolio or, better yet, ask why the outrage over a proposed purchase eclipses that over ongoing military
occupations and resource extraction in other sovereign territories. How many 'decisive moments' does it take for the media to acknowledge its own nation's imperial past, let alone its present?