ANDRES INN ⟩ The Paper Empires: Why the New Spheres of Influence are a Mirage

2026-01-25 - 21:07

The geopolitical rhetoric of 2026 feels increasingly like a discarded draft of George Orwell’s 1984. We see Donald Trump articulating a «Donroe Doctrine,» a transactional reimagining of the Western Hemisphere where Venezuelan oil and regional resources are treated as personal property under American management. In a dark reciprocity, Vladimir Putin asserts a divine right to the fractured pieces of the Romanov and Soviet maps, while Xi Jinping stakes a claim to every rock, reef, and «historical territory» within the reach of the Chinese dragon. It would appear, at first glance, that we are sliding into a nightmare of a world carved into three immutable, warring blocs: Oceania, Eurasia, and Eastasia.