Not like the others

Written by

Ophelia Benson

in

Do they even hear themselves?

Donald Trump and his team are considering “a range of options” in order to acquire Greenland — including “utilizing the U.S. Military,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told CNBC on Tuesday.

That’s not “acquiring”; it’s violently stealing. There’s no such thing as casually and cheerfully “acquiring” other countries, there is only invasion and imperialism.

Trump said Sunday that the U.S. needs Greenland for national security purposes, pointing to Russian and Chinese activities in the region near the Arctic island.

What the US needs or doesn’t need is irrelevant to whether or not Trump gets to annex Greenland by force.

There are situations where need is relevant. If a person using a cane or carrying a toddler gets on a full bus, someone has to give up a seat because the person using a cane needs it. That kind of need does have a moral claim on us. It’s easy to think of other examples.

Violently annexing Greenland is not that kind of situation.

Comments

3 responses to “Not like the others”

  1. Tim Harris Avatar
    Tim Harris

    After the ‘acquisition of’ Greenland, boxed-in Canada will be the next ‘prize’ to be sought.

  2. Omar Avatar
    Omar

    Trump’s firm belief appears to be: “What’s yours is mine, and what’s mine is my own.” Stand by for this to generate by reaction, unprecedented unity of purpose and organisation in Western Europe, and from the north of Canada to the southernmost point in Patagonia; including a hefty fraction of the US itself.

  3. Mike Haubrich Avatar
    Mike Haubrich

    Since we’ve got a treaty organization in place for North Atlantic mutual security, it’s difficult to make a case for our security being dependent on taking Greenland. I mean, the treaty is weaker now than it was before Trump…but still.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

More posts