In the freshly birthed 2026, the Donroe Doctrine is upon us. Euphemistically speaking, this doctrine – with two presidential fathers (Munroe and Trump) – has rendered all game theories redundant that visualised and discussed international relationships as a large playing field, always in motion, occasionally violent but controlled by a set of agreed upon rules.The United States of America’s (USA) abduction of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and the threat to buy Greenland despite loud protests from its European allies has, like Shiv Sainiks pouring mustard oil over a dug up cricket pitch in Mumbai to stop an Indo-Pak match, removed any hope of a level playing field.The official statements released by the White House bulldoze many national conventions and treaties and sound the death knell of the NATO alliance. They reveal a new strategic arena where concepts like national sovereignty or interventions by external powers – barring the USA – may not exist or at least would be rendered meaningless.Illustration: Pariplab ChakrabortyWhere and how do such cataclysmic thinking and bullying originate? The question is as old as the history of the great empires. The great-granddaddy of Greek historians, Herodotus, stepping cautiously with a historian’s objectivity, quotes the wise men of rival Persia, whom he consulted during his travels across most of war-torn Europe and parts of Asia.The Persians maintained that smouldering hostilities between regions and great empires were as old as Time, but it was usually a third party of instigators who struck the first match and set off fires across national boundaries. These instigators were usually not the power hungry warriors from Persia, Greece, Egypt or the Far East, but groups of wily merchants and traders who sought to trade in rare goods across hard to navigate borders – to rake in more and more money.As proof of their observations, the wise men cited the example of the great face-offs between Greece and Persia, tracing their beginning to a band of Phoenician merchants who controlled the trade in Tyrian purple dyes. They ignited trouble in the region by kidnapping women at the Greek port of Argos and, as expected, the Greeks soon retaliated by landing in the Phoenician city of Tyre and abducting the royal daughter Europa. In the chain reaction that followed, several wars broke out, one of which saw Paris of Troy seize and carry off the king’s wife Helen as his war trophy – thus the great war immortalised by Homer.With the USA abducting Maduro and his wife Cilia Flores at midnight, followed by reports of jubilation among MAGA-owned refineries, imperial vanity and power grabs are once again, like Yates’ beast, slouching towards the North to be reborn.Interestingly, Herodotus paraphrases the Persian wise men as saying that although the Persians regarded this abduction as a criminal act, they also claimed it would be silly to get too worked up over it and prolong the war. Why seek revenge for women who may have willingly participated in their own abduction, their logic ran – like the Greek Princess Io, who had reportedly been sleeping with the Phoenician ship’s captain and would be reluctant to face her parents after finding out she was pregnant with his child.On January 4, at 2:50 am, following the Venezuelan capture, a tweet surfaced on X:“Fun fact: Venezuela has six million women of childbearing age. Most of them are desperate for money. If we employ them as surrogates, we could easily make 60 million more Americans in one generation and fight poverty in the global south.”The tweet had 9.9 million views and 3.6K likes by January 9.“The English speakers are mad at me,” tweeted the same handle on January 6, “I can’t understand all the Spanish comments but I assume they’re positive.”Herodotus underscores how the eternal law of revenge (eye for an eye etc.) is historically cited as justification every time. Like the flu virus, violence shall stay alive and well through the centuries. It erupts at certain points in history and sends the towers of an empire up in flames – after a princess is abducted or Draupadi disrobed in the royal court.In our time, as the vital growth indicators of national productivity begin to dip, exports flatline or a crucial election approaches, the ancient doctrine of an eye for an eye is removed from a dark basement of history. Revenge seeking against proclaimed culprits is then dubbed a sacred national obligation.Recently, after a Hindu man was killed in Bangladesh by a mob, Alok Kumar, working president of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad, told ANI: “This is a challenge against the world, our principles, democracy, religious freedom and freedom of speech…”Like the Persians dismissive of the worth of a princess’s return, the president, who is from Uttarakhand, wastes no tears over the ruthless rape and murder back home of 19-year-old Ankita Bhandari, allegedly by a relative of a leader of his own party. He chooses to overlook the lack of safety for women in Dev Bhumi or the country, while appealing to international principles of democracy and free speech over the killing of a Hindu in Bangladesh.It is easy to justify revenge seeking by saying “How else do we keep our national honour intact?” Can a party’s notion of a hostile neighbourhood explain the widening of communal fissures? Or the denial of secure and well paid jobs to women by handing them pitiful cash doles instead? For rushing the completion of SIR lists at suspiciously breakneck speed in the name of weeding out the deemed ‘ghuspaithiyas’ from Bangladesh and Pakistan and disenfranchising millions of voters, most of whom, in Uttar Pradesh at least, are women?Our subcontinent is proof, if any were needed, that the legacy of regimes constantly baying for the blood of infidels can lead to a staggering demoralisation of the majority community. This, in turn, foments the growth of all sorts of gangs that defy or justify the terror created by lynch mobs – and eventually leads to slow criminalisation of bureaucracy and the growth of epic corruption, which the media may report at great risk to its own business.It is not too reassuring to point at GDP growth figures and say the future is bright. Truth be told, futurology is facing a crisis of credibility as the USA, the biggest initiator of regime change across the world in the name of restoring democracy, has suddenly chosen to upend the chessboard and throw away the pieces.After Venezuela, Cuba and Greenland are next on the list. Human imagination, shaped by almost a century of a small, static board and simple game plans, cannot even compute the reality staring it in the face – with the current AI paradigm choking off paths to alternative development. Capitalism at its most primeval, ruthless and aggressive form stands before us, dressed by the best advertising professionals.What should be done? Return to old Indian culture? But that was either aristocratic or peasant and there is no longer an aristocracy or peasantry of that sort left. The middle classes may seem numerous but are atrophying, trying hard to migrate to other lands if they can get visas. The only antidote to the current fake historical discourses, the mysticism of deemed sacred areas and the mirage of tourism led growth is broad based education – one which will make men and women rethink state, justice and faith.Mrinal Pande is a writer and veteran journalist.Saakhi is a Sunday column from Mrinal Pande, in which she writes of what she sees and also participates in. That has been her burden to bear ever since she embarked on a life as a journalist, writer, editor, author and as chairperson of Prasar Bharti. Her journey of being a witness-participant continues.