An Astronaut's Worldview: Alliances Over Adventurism
A perspective from 1.32 million feet.
A note from Garry Kasparov: We’ll be hosting our next premium subscriber Zoom call on Tuesday, February 3 at 5pm ET. This isn’t a lecture. It’s an opportunity to actually get some face time with one another. ICE. Iran. Venezuela. Russia-Ukraine. Greenland. It’s all fair game for discussion. Click here to register.
Colonel (ret.) Terry Virts is a retired US Air Force fighter pilot, test pilot, and NASA astronaut who has spent over 213 days in space, including serving as commander of the International Space Station (ISS). He is currently running for Congress in Texas’s 9th district.
From Greenland to Venezuela, the United States is trading stability for erratic adventurism. Donald Trump calls it “the Donroe Doctrine,” but there’s no coherent strategy in the personal whims of a flattery-prone president. Americans need a thoughtful foreign policy that delivers consistent peace and prosperity rather than quick photo ops and Truth Social posts.
As a former astronaut and commander of the International Space Station, I know a little bit about the “big picture” view from 30,000 feet (or from 1.32 million feet, aboard the ISS). Here is what my strategic approach to the world would look like:
Fundamentally, we need to recognize that our prosperity depends in large part on hard-earned friendships. The oil refineries that employ tens of thousands of working Americans in the Houston area—where I live and am currently running for Congress—process crude from, among others, Mexico and Canada, countries that we have been insulting and threatening.
My district is also home to the Houston Ship Channel, the nation’s largest, through which $230 billion in goods passes every year. These operations rely upon stable diplomacy with our partners. If we damage those relationships, trade will suffer and my neighbors will lose their jobs. Even worse, losing alliances like NATO will make all Americans less safe and make our defense much more costly.
Yes, America can and should be a tough negotiator, putting our interests first. But those interests must always include mutual respect for our partners and allies. Being a good neighbor is what made American friendship so valuable until 2025. Countries knew that they could do business with the United States—even host US troops on their soil—without the threat of bullying and intimidation. The same could not be said for Soviet-Russian and Chinese “friendship.” Bullying our friends does not benefit America. On the contrary, a fractured West is precisely the objective of Beijing and Moscow—and we are handing that to them on a platter.
Today, there is an urgent question to answer—are we going to reclaim our competitive advantage or squander it?
Disastrously, the current administration is doubling down on the latter.
Take the capture of Venezuelan dictator Nicolas Maduro, for example. Operation Absolute Resolve was an impressive accomplishment and a testament to the professionalism of our armed forces. Maduro was a murderous dictator who ruined millions of lives, completing Hugo Chavez’s destruction of Venezuela’s once-soaring economy.
But the mission was also a unilateral action with no coordination with Congress or the international community. Because Trump simply replaced Maduro with his hand-picked deputy, Delcy Rodriguez, the operation may actually end up accelerating the migrant crisis that has impacted millions of Venezuelans and Americans alike.
President Trump also learned the wrong lessons from the operation in Venezuela. Instead of pursuing democracy in that country, he felt emboldened to threaten others, including American allies like Canada and Mexico while bragging about seizing oil. Ultimately, the Venezuela incursion undermined global trust in America.
To make matters worse, the Venezuela operation imposes a significant cost on American companies. Processing of Venezuelan crude oil will not be possible for many years and even then only with massive investment. I recently spoke with the CEO and several senior executives of major American energy firms and I can say without a doubt that they have no appetite to invest billions of dollars without profound reform in Venezuela. Now the President is seizing oil tankers and setting up offshore accounts where he alone will control the proceeds, an unprecedented and highly illegal arrangement that further undermines America’s credibility.
Now, Trump’s fixation on acquiring Greenland and imposing tariffs on any NATO ally that defends it has pushed the world order to the breaking point—a world order that, led by America and its allies, had brought America unprecedented peace and prosperity for the past 80 years.
We cannot reap twenty-first century rewards with nineteenth-century behavior.
More than a century ago, the US began regularly intervening in Latin America, fighting in Cuba, Nicaragua, Haiti, and the Dominican Republic.
Those decades of interventionism offer a stark warning. Overreach in Latin America proved extremely costly and unpopular, both in America and, of course, the affected countries. There were certainly some war profiteers in the US, but the average citizen didn’t benefit. In the same way, invading Venezuela or Greenland won’t help my constituents pay the bills, though a handful of the president’s buddies stand to make a lot of money. It won’t make America great; it will leave us isolated.
At the recent World Economic Forum, Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney announced a “rupture” in world affairs. It was a devastating rebuke to MAGA foreign policy. Earning a standing ovation from dozens of world leaders, Mr. Carney’s plain-spoken remarks foreshadow real consequences for working Americans—after all, trade with Canada alone sustains more than half a million jobs here in the Lone Star state. The attitudes of our allies have a tangible impact on the future of the average American. That fact won’t change just because our president fails to take it into account.
Vanity-driven adventurism in Venezuela, Greenland, Canada, and who knows where next, will hurt the economic well-being of working Americans who are already falling behind in a system that serves the ultra-wealthy. It will break trust with our partners, damage trade, and hurt working Americans. While this administration uses diplomacy to enrich a small number of billionaires, our representatives should actively work to ensure that our foreign relationships make everyday Americans more prosperous and more secure.
Our Constitution was designed with checks and balances, and it’s time that Congress reasserts itself as a check on the executive branch. Americans will continue to prosper only if our representatives lead confidently on the world stage, reaffirming a world based on rules and respect, not one where might makes right. It is partnership that powers our economy and our security. Bullying and personality politics are for the weak.
It’s time for Congress to do its duty and ensure that American leadership promotes a world that will be safe, secure, and prosperous for all. That’s a world in which America truly wins—not only through strength, but through partnership. It’s a world in which America’s global success is not reserved for the few, but is shared broadly with the many working folks at home.
More from The Next Move:
Space United Us. Putin Tore Us Apart.
Watching my Russian cosmonaut friends turn to the dark side was a troubling lesson in how easily normal people can be bribed into supporting a tyrant.
 | A guest post by
|
''You don’t negotiate with evil. You don’t compromise with evil. You must stop it altogether. Where possible—difficult in this world though it may be—you must try to eradicate it. Never Compromise with Evil. [Voter-suppression reasons-] Zero tolerance. That is what evil demands.''
Oil? Oil?
You're out of your mind, sir.