Doing something
It’s a very rapey thing to say.
Greenlanders “don’t want to be Americans” and must decide the future of the Arctic island themselves, politicians in the self-governing Danish territory have said, after Donald Trump warned the US would “do something whether they like it or not”.
All it needs is replacing “they” with “the bitches”.
Trump of course actively loves doing things to people that they don’t “like”. It’s his happy place, his meaning of life, his Valhalla.
At a meeting with oil and gas executives at the White House earlier on Friday, Trump had said Greenland was crucial for US national security. “We’re not going to have Russia or China occupy Greenland. That’s what they’re going to do if we don’t. So we’re going to be doing something with Greenland, either the nice way or the more difficult way,” he told reporters.
That’s the slightly euphemized version of doing something whether they like it or not.
The US has operated a military base on the northwestern tip of Greenland since the second world war, where more than 100 military personnel are permanently stationed. Existing agreements with Denmark would allow Trump to bring as many troops as he wanted to the island.
But Trump told reporters on Friday that a lease agreement was not enough. “Countries have to have ownership and you defend ownership, you don’t defend leases,” he said. “And we’ll have to defend Greenland,.”
But the ownership that countries have to have is ownership of themselves, not of other countries. Trump is not the owner of Greenland, and the US is not the owner of Greenland either. Some Greenlanders murmur that Denmark is also not the owner of Greenland, but at this point Denmark is not the one throwing its flabby weight around.
What does Denmark offer Greenland that Trump doesn’t? Aside from a sane goverrment. . .
Cheese danish?
Yes we must acquire land like the Roman Empire. Land acquisition puts the USA firmly in the category of aggressors, not historically an American posture. We are a defensive nation, one of being protectors and defenders. Trump is committed to being the big bad bully, with the DOD being renamed the Dept of War and all that ridiculous bullly bullshit. He can try to remake the US in his image, but his image is grotesque and unAmerican. it goes against fundamental American principles.
– Mark Twain.
twiliter – I think Cuba, Puerto Rico, the Philippines, and Panama would take issue with the claim that the US is not historically an aggressor.
Guam, Hawaii, American Samoa …
I’d include the US Virgin Islands as well since the original inhabitants didn’t get a say, but they were purchased from Denmark. Interestingly, that purchase treaty also recognised Denmark’s right to Greenland.
The US actually has a pretty aggressively expansionist history. I’m sure if they’d got off to an earlier start the US would have had a much larger empire. It might do yet if Trump sets a precedent for just taking whatever can be taken by force or coercion.
Between Russia, China, and now the US, it is logical for any nation with the capability to develop atomic weapons to do so as fast as possible. Dangerous for the planet, but reduces the risk of invasion or annexation significantly in a world where rules and treaties mean nothing.