Greenland Can Be Protected (without bullying)
Greenland is always in the news at present, not least because the Mad Emperor has decided that he wants the country at whatever cost, even though the USA has permission to send as many troops as it wants, without needing to ‘own it’, against the wishes of its people.
Let’s hope Greenlanders don’t succumb to one idea that is the US government may simply give each resident a million dollars (there are only 57,000 or so residents) to emotionally blackmail them. It looks hopeful, as Greenlanders live simply, and are not mass-materialists like Trump.
A similar thing happened a few years back, when he tried to bully a crofter (and his elderly mother) off their land to build a Scottish golf course. He won the contract (shamefully backed by the Scottish government) and now a former site of scientific interest is no more, as the sand dunes have vanished.
The crofter himself never moved, and the golf course had to be built around his home. He received marriage proposals for refusing to budge no matter how much money Trump threw at him. He later said ‘All he talked about was money. My only regret is that I didn’t knock him on his arse’.
Environmental Concerns in Greenland
No matter what the outcome, nobody is talking about the main issue: that if Trump gets his hands on Greenland, he’ll start drilling for oil and mining for minerals, and this will put endangered wildlife like polar bears, whales, Arctic foxes and caribou at risk.
Like our Isle of Man, Greenland is presently self-governed, but covered by the Kingdom of Denmark. Some people want independence, but right now, it looks safer for them to have all of Europe’s arms around its people, to protect them from becoming American, which they don’t want at any cost.
The entire northeast of Greenland is a protected National Park, just like Northumberland. So it does not bear thinking about what would happen, if he sent troops in en-masse or put ‘boots on the ground’.
80% of Greenland is covered in ice, so few crops grow here. It is mostly in the news due to the massive ice sheet that is already cracking, due to climate change. If melted, it could raise sea levels by around 6 feet worldwide. Just one centimetre of rising seas can cause coastal erosion of three feet.
So not only is Trump trying to buy Greenland, but his (non-environmental policies) is likely going to have catastrophic effects, unless someone replaces him to sign up to the Paris Agreement. Even the former environmental lawyer Robert Kennedy has now watered down policies, to please his new friend, in exchange for power. It’s a sad world, at present.
Greenland only has one airport (reached only from Iceland or Denmark), so most people travel by boat. And like Finland, its remote location means it has some of the world’s cleanest air and water.
And the fact that tariffs are now the major threat, brings us back to what the issue is all along. Why do we need to rely on the US (and them on us) to make and buy things?
If people at local food, made local items and lived natural lives with the seasons, tariffs would not be a threat to anyone.
Why Does Trump Want to Buy Greenland?
It’s not for security, as he has permission now to secure it as much as he wants. It’s because if he doesn’t own something, he doesn’t want it. He said recently that he did not even know how the Premier of Greenland was and that ‘he liked winning’, it is more an ego trip.
At time of writing, he is firing off a letter to the Prime Minister of Norway, telling him off for not giving him the Nobel Peace Prize, and won’t let the democratically elected (of Venezuela) woman who did win it return to govern the country. Instead keeping the deputy of the dictator he removed (which caused over 100 civilian deaths, including an old woman).
A recent poll found that 85% of the population (mostly native people) and all five party leaders are in favour of a referendum to become an independent country.
We don’t want to be Americans. We don’t want to be Danes. We want to be Greenlanders. Jens-Frederick Nielsen (Greenland’s leader)
Could Trump Really Take Over Greenland?
Previously, you could say unlikely. He can’t legally do it (you can’t just buy a country, like was done with Alaska, as there are international laws in place). But who knows? He is obviously not well, and the yes-men around him, won’t tell him that he’s unfit to rule the world.
The only advantages for Greenland being owned by the US, would be military bases and finance (things locals are not concerned about), and the right to live/work in the US (again, not interested).
Trump has countered this by saying that if he does not buy Greenland, world peace is at stake. This is nonsense, and a warning when bullying TV shows (The Apprentice, Traitors etc) lead to huge egos not realising that running the country, is more complicated than running a business or hosting a game show.
Trump has recently appointed the governor of Louisiana as a volunteer envoy, for Greenland. Many Danes, Greenlanders (and Americans) are upset and incensed. One reader on The Independent’s website wrote:
Everyday I coach two-year olds on the unacceptability of ‘I want that’, usually resulting in children throwing themselves on the floor, and flaying arms and legs. Here we have the leader of the supposed free world, who lacks the very basic emotional literacy required to grasp such a concept!
Worst of it is, he’s getting away with it in many instances. We’ll have Trump towers in very town and village at this rate! When is somebody going to grow a pair and find the guts to give him some ‘time out to think’.
Kyiv Independent website has an expert who says that the charge that Russia and China will invade Greenland, is nonsense. They quote the chief executive of the European Policy Center:
There is no serious or immediate security threat to Greenland from Russia or China, that would justify US talk of using force. Moscow and Beijing do have interests in the Arctic, but those interests are being managed through existing diplomatic, economic and security mechanisms. Framing this as an urgent military threat, is therefore misleading. Fabian Zuleeg
The Problem with ‘American Exceptionalism’
If you’ve ever wondered what the phrase is that you’re looking for in circumstances like this, this is it. American Exceptionalism is the term giving to mostly political Americans who somehow think that they are more important than everyone else on earth, despite being less than 1 in 50 of the world population.
This is obviously what is going on here: US Republicans cannot fathom why ‘poor’ Greenlanders don’t want to be part of their rich big nation, because (well, it’s big and rich):
One thing must be clear to everyone. Greenland does not want to be owned by the United States. Greenland does not want to be governed by the United States. Greenland does not want to be part of the United States. Premier of Greenland
We can see this in many areas of life. For instance, ‘religious right’ Christians in the US disagree with abortion (as they would, it’s their faith). But don’t seem to have any issue with bombs from US armies dropping on pregnant women and babies in other countries.
Consider the children’s hospitals being bombed in Gaza, which some say is genocide. That’s a lot of unborn babies being killed, but the US government never condemns it.
