Telegraph today
Trump’s plan to make Greenlanders an offer they can’t refuse
Sounds more than a little ominous?
Really interesting article covering two things
1) Trumps complete “lie” about Russian and China having ships in Greenland water, not ONE local report from Greenland, across many sources, about spitting even ONE ship.
2) Very very interesting info around Greenland’s minerals. A good read if you have time, link below.
It raises yet again how gun-ho Trump is about getting what he wants, lying, cheating and breaking all kinds of protocol because man-child Trump chooses.
My heart goes out to Greenlanders, who appear very content with Denmark and both Greenland and Denmark have cooperated fully with USA re security since the 1950’s.
My view? Come on Europe, pool ALL your resources and stop this idiot before he ruins our entire world with his greed.
What do you think?
Just in case link doesn’t work, salient points from the article are below, warning, it’s long!
.*Trump’s plan to make Greenlanders an offer they can’t refuse
US proposals to buy the island have been met with protests and alarm by locals
Eir Nolsøe is Economics Correspondent at The Telegraph covering stories on government tax and spend, the labour market and monetary policy.
When Aka Binzer-Johnsen prepared her two daughters for school and nursery after the holidays at the start of January, she felt compelled to tell them about Donald Trump. “I asked my daughters if they could remember from last year that Trump really wants our country,” she says. “I tried to explain in a child-friendly way that this is happening again, and if they hear anything, that’s why.”
The 38-year-old mother, her husband Uju and their daughters, aged five and seven, live on the outskirts of Nuuk, the capital of Greenland.
Home to just 20,000 people, life in the quiet town with colourful wooden houses normally feels safe and far removed from the world’s troubles.
But the US president’s threats to seize Greenland have brought a crisis to Nuuk’s doorstep. “This was always like a safe little bubble,” says Binzer-Johnsen, who is a project manager for a charity. “That’s what we are used to from growing up here.”
She adds: “Everything has changed so fast. People are very scared, and emotions are heightened. I’ve felt really bad about what is going on. I’ve had sleepless nights.
“I have so many questions, wondering what we are going to do. If I want to protect my family, is this the time to act?
“I constantly feel ready to flee and leave, just for a period. But at the same time, we can’t just stop living. Everything we’ve invested in is here: our dreams and our life.”
Such considerations are now weighing on the minds of many Greenlanders, regardless of the territory’s status as a Nato member and having served as an American ally for more than 80 years.
The fate of the world’s largest island has been thrust back into the spotlight this month following Trump’s capture of Nicolás Maduro, the Venezuelan president.
Buoyed by his coup in Latin America, Trump has now set his sights on Greenland, the sparsely populated autonomous Danish territory.
“We need Greenland from a national security situation,” Mr Trump said last week, adding that he may have to choose between preserving Nato or expanding America’s influence in the western hemisphere.
“It’s so strategic. Right now, Greenland is covered with Russian and Chinese ships all over the place.”
The threats have sent alarm bells ringing in Copenhagen and Brussels, prompting stunned European leaders to issue a joint statement saying they will “not stop defending” Greenland.
However, it should not come as a surprise.
The US president has long been fascinated by Greenland, which has been part of the Danish kingdom for hundreds of years, like the Faroe Islands.
Trump first proposed buying the island during his first term in 2019, comparing it to “a large real estate deal”.
Seven years later, he has returned to the issue, alternating between threats of military force and offers to make Greenlanders rich.
All in all, last week’s events suggest the US president may be determined to make Greenlanders an offer they can’t refuse.
However, in Nuuk, the mood is one of anger and defiance.
“He can go f--- himself,” is the verdict from a local pensioner.
So why has the world’s most powerful man decided that, come hell or high water, he must own the world’s largest island?
“The Arctic is the crossroads of the world,” says Dwayne Menezes, founder of the Polar Research and Policy Initiative in London.
“Greenland is strategically located along the shortest air and sea routes between three continents: North America, Europe and Asia.”
The country’s position means it would offer the shortest route for ballistic missiles targeting North America, and it is key to surveillance in the Arctic.
“It also is a vast resource frontier, all of which is becoming increasingly strategically important for the US, but also increasingly accessible because of climate change,” Menezes adds.
The US has cooperated with Greenland and Denmark on national security since the Second World War.
Americans operate the island’s only military base. Some 150 US soldiers staff the Pituffik Space Base on the north-west coast, down from 6,000 during the Cold War.
This is part of a defence agreement that has been in place between the US and Denmark since 1951.
“The US has had such critical infrastructure in Greenland since the Second World War, through the Cold War, and more recently, even now, it plays a very, very important role for the Space Force,” Menezes says.
Experts and locals are also sceptical of US claims that the island’s waters are full of ships from hostile states that pose a threat.
“If there are so many Chinese and Russian ships here, then how can it be that only Donald Trump has seen them?” says Frans Heilmann, the boss of fishing company Sigguk.
Heilmann adds: “All of Greenland is full of fishing trawlers. I have not heard of a single trawler that has spotted either a Russian or Chinese vessel near our coasts.
“I am not sure he [Trump] has much of a conscience. He says Greenland’s strategic position means he needs us for national security.
“But he already has that. That argument is worthless. He’s just after the minerals. He’s a trophy hunter.”
The suspicion that Trump’s interest in Greenland is its vast deposits of rare earths is widespread.
“It’s not really any more about wanting to get Greenland because of security reasons, but coming up with security reasons to get Greenland,” says Menezes.*
The island is rich in resources ranging from uranium that can be used to power nuclear plants to obscure minerals critical for modern-day electronics.*
apple.news/ADUBx4ZdcRbmK5xmG_p4znw
Allira
Blustering, posturing and a storm in a teacup?
It's really not very statesmanlike.
I listened to Peter Mandelson being interviewed a few days ago.
Every time in the interviewer asked him want is going to happen, his answer was nothing
The interviewer kept pushing for an answer. Mandelson answered: diplomacy.
This is where Mark Rutte came into his own at Davos.
If you have heard Mark Rutte talking you will know that he is the consummate diplomat.
Inuit’s culture would be very difficult for Trump to assimilate.
They don’t own a foot of land in Greenland.
So they can’t sell it. It isn’t theirs to sell.
foxie48
"The US pays nearly 100% of Nato's budget"
Rubbish the figures is nearly 16%
Yes, about 16% of the NATO budget but 65-70% as the US share of NATO combined national defence expenditure.
From what I can learn, the majority of Greenlanders are largely or entirely Inuit by heritage, ie the native people of the land.
They can probably see very clearly what happens when America takes over land occupied by the native peoples who have lived there from time immemorial. Quite reasonably, the Greenlanders don't want to sell their birthright. They have not always been well treated by Denmark, but better the devil you know....
MaizieD total assumption on my part here, but as the USA has had multiple military bases dotted all over Greenland previously as opposed to the solitary one they have now.
I am guessing that there is a good chance that minerals could be found at previous sites. If they are Sovereign Territory USA can do as they please regarding mining.
GrannyGravy13
DaisyAnneReturns
MaizieD
BBC Live at about 8.30am
Greenland's sovereignty 'cannot be negotiated', Denmark says, after Trump holds talks with Nato
So really, nothing much has happened?I got the impression that America was going to have "Soveriegn Bases" similar to our Cyprus bases. Whether this is in anyway different to what was already on the table isn't clear.
Yes, it’s definitely Sovereign Bases which are required by POTUS
And the Danish PM says 'Greenland's sovereignty cannot be negotiated'
I understood from what GG13 said earlier that the 'sovereignty' would be over sites for extraction of minerals. Whereas it's usually over military bases.
I don't see the Greenlanders or Denmark surrendering the potential wealth of the island to the US.
DaisyAnneReturns
MaizieD
BBC Live at about 8.30am
Greenland's sovereignty 'cannot be negotiated', Denmark says, after Trump holds talks with Nato
So really, nothing much has happened?I got the impression that America was going to have "Soveriegn Bases" similar to our Cyprus bases. Whether this is in anyway different to what was already on the table isn't clear.
Yes, it’s definitely Sovereign Bases which are required by POTUS
MaizieD
BBC Live at about 8.30am
Greenland's sovereignty 'cannot be negotiated', Denmark says, after Trump holds talks with Nato
So really, nothing much has happened?
I got the impression that America was going to have "Soveriegn Bases" similar to our Cyprus bases. Whether this is in anyway different to what was already on the table isn't clear.
Whitewavemark2
Note to Starmer.
When Europe is strong, firm and United, it is incredibly effective.
Time to actively pursue closer working.
If you look at Starmer’s actions over the past year, there has been a clear pattern of actively seeking closer cooperation with European partners, from a UK-EU summit renewing strategic ties, to new defence and trade cooperation agreements with EU countries, to explicit talk of closer alignment with the single market where it’s in the UK’s interest. That doesn’t mean reversing Brexit, but it does signal a shift from confrontation to pragmatic partnership. The government has been steadily building practical bridges ratger than shutting anything down as the previous government did.
I think spectators are overthinking Trump and it’s a bit worrying that he seems to live permanently inside our heads. I have never known a politician quite like him or is it just the very keen reporting that follows relentlessly with every word?
I hope that actual Greenlanders are asked if they want to accept the money offered rather than Denmark simply saying no deal. That’s not very democratic either.
MaizieD
BBC Live at about 8.30am
Greenland's sovereignty 'cannot be negotiated', Denmark says, after Trump holds talks with Nato
So really, nothing much has happened?
Absolutely nothing.
Except - Trump has managed to damage the USA ‘s relationship with Europe almost beyond repair.
Blustering, posturing and a storm in a teacup?
It's really not very statesmanlike.
BBC Live at about 8.30am
Greenland's sovereignty 'cannot be negotiated', Denmark says, after Trump holds talks with Nato
So really, nothing much has happened?
Oh no I meant to listen to that - will do so whilst ironing this morning☺️
Chocolatelovinggran
Most reputable historians agree with Fallingstar that it was the Soviet dead, in their countless millions, that stopped the Nazi was machine in its tracks, David.
Of course, this may, or may not, be what is written in American history books.
Well, they did, of course.
But then marched over Eastern Europe and took it themselves.
Have you heard The Rest is Politics special on Davos yet WWM2 ?
I loved the bit about the heckling and the mention of financial markets was very interesting.
Note to Starmer.
When Europe is strong, firm and United, it is incredibly effective.
Time to actively pursue closer working.
Trump has got nothing that he couldn't have agreed without this charade. The US has been closing it's bases in Greenland until it only had one and Greenland has always been open to investment in it's country for mining. This is all about keeping the Epstein files off the front pages.
I didn't know that - ie Trump being bankrupt 5 times!!!!! I can feel a google coming on re that - as being bankrupt tells me all I need to know about someone and their money management (or lack thereof). The only bankrupt I know is the neighbour who stole part of my garden off me - and kicked himself hard up the arse in the process.
Exclusive article on today's online "Daily Mail" re Trump is hinting he'll give the Greenlanders a million dollars each if they accept America taking over Greenland. Huh! The first thing I thought was "The language he's used on that is calculated to con them into believing he really would - but it's not cast iron legalese that they'd even stand a chance of actually getting that money if they do agree".
So he's now onto "divide and rule" tactics in saying that - as he's figured most people would believe they really would get that money and vote for their own immediate self-interest. Me- I wouldnt even believe he really would hand over the money in the first place...
So from comments so far - nothing has changed.
Trump was always able to have a military presence and apply to drill in Greenland.
Has been able to do since 1951 -
This has been all about Epstein.
It really is time everyone ignored his announcements.
Most reputable historians agree with Fallingstar that it was the Soviet dead, in their countless millions, that stopped the Nazi was machine in its tracks, David.
Of course, this may, or may not, be what is written in American history books.
The basics of this fledgling deal have been reported on Breakfast News.
Looks like POTUS has been blustering as per his USP and eventually managed to get what he actually wanted all along.
Paraphrasing USA will have several ^sovereign sites on Greenland, for them to mine/dril as they please along with keeping and having the ability to launch missiles on military bases for their safety, leaving the rest for the Greenlanders^
It’s all a bluff David49, he hasn’t struck a deal. This article from Sky News is a good summary of what the position is currently.
news.sky.com/story/the-truth-behind-trumps-greenland-deal-13497401
Another example of TACO because of the associated fall in the financial markets by the sound of it.
(Trump Always Chickens Out).
This is reported in the Telegraph how accurate I have no idea but we can all hope.
"Donald Trump announced on Wednesday night that he had struck a deal on the future of Greenland after talks with the head of Nato.
Mr Trump said he had agreed upon a “future framework” for Greenland and the “entire Arctic region” during a “very productive meeting” with Mark Rutte, Nato’s secretary general.
The US president dropped his threat of punitive 10 per cent trade tariffs on the UK and other European countries after announcing a “long-term deal” on Greenland. The European allies had refused to support his plan to annex Greenland. "
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