Russia now has a “Monroyev Doctrine,” courtesy of Vladimir Putin. Like James Monroe’s original of 1823, it can be distilled into two words: “Keep out!”
Monroe ordered the Europeans to stay away from “this hemisphere,” as their intrusion would be “dangerous to our peace and safety.” It was bluster. The young U.S. Republic had no navy and army to enforce the ban, and the Old World shrugged off Monroe’s grandstanding. They had more pressing business at home, given the devastation of the Napoleonic wars and revolutionary unrest across the Continent.
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