Why Greenland? Remote but resource-rich island occupies a key position in a warming world
Why Greenland? Remote but resource-rich island occupies a key position in a warming world
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To play devil's advocate: Greenland has only like 60,000 people. It's bigger than the France, Germany, Switzerland, the UK, Belgium and Greece combined. It is also seeking independence because they aren't interested in being ruled by a random small European country that tried to sterilize them and steal their resources. Denmark has slowly caved-in to their independence demands because it wasn't interested in being a colonial power. Now it just holds on to it on behalf of NATO.
From a nation-state's point of view, this is an unihabited land with era-defining strategic and economic significance.
The US military has an impossible nut to crack with China. It recognizes that climate change will happen, but is going to position itself to come out ahead from it (if it doesn't destroy us all). It's not confident that it will maintain the global relevance it has today by the mid-21st century.
Why not smash and grab while you can? Create Greater Israel, destroy Iran, take Greenland, control the Panama canal, and most likely give Australia nuclear weapons (and perhaps Japan but not likely). Tell the UN and other international institutions to fuck off if they stop serving your national interests. Turn Europeans into vassal states.
That's the post-liberalism future lf America that I see.
Except this assumes that the US can actually do any of that, which is highly doubtful unless Trump is willing to go all scorched earth. We all know that Trump is a complete nutbag, but I'm not sure about scorched earth.
I don't think so. I think that the old MAGAts running the Pentagon think it's a good idea and Trump is oushing the Overton window for them. I can easily see a path toward US incorporation or domination of Greenland that does from US-backed Greenland independence to strategic and economic alliance to US domination and eventual Peurto Rico kind of status. It would all be political. Denmark can't stop that actually.
Trump is a fucking idiot. He should just proclaim support for Greenland's independence and offer the tiny population some great economic and diplomatic deals to get his way.
He should just proclaim support for Greenland's independence and offer the tiny population some great economic and diplomatic deals to get his way.
Greenland is part of one of the greatest social welfare systems in the world already. Trump doesn't have anything other than military protection to offer in that regard. And Greenland is already part of NATO, so not really much there.
But I do think Greenland can and will take advantage of this situation to squeeze much more out of Denmark. And they should. Honestly, they deserve it. They've been overlooked for a long time.
Those are fair points. Greenlanders who want independence generally want to remain a NATO member nation. The main issue is that they'll face political and economic pressure from the US. They have the population of Manhattan... Kansas! I don't see how they have a chance in hell at remaining sovereign if the US approaches them. It's one thing to have social welfare from a nation you have contentious relations with, another to be promised millions by US megacorporations and Congress.
One thing to also keep in mind, Trump is a four year thing. And this is a Trump thing, not a US thing, and probably not even a Republican thing.
I'm pretty sure this is just another one of the crazy-ass negotiation tactics from Trump. He throws a bunch of shit on the wall and maybe some of it will stick.
Maybe. But then again, I saw many "Trump things" become Biden and bipartisan things, from tariffs on China to Golan Heights annexation.