August 26, 2019

"An agreement to transfer Greenland’s sovereignty must also serve the interests of our good friends, the Danes, and the 56,000 Greenlanders as well."

"Their considerations ought to include the fact that despite Greenland’s long-term potential, a lack of infrastructure and financing still hamstring the island’s economy today. Greenland’s economy is less than one-tenth of Vermont’s, America’s smallest state economy. Every year, Denmark transfers $670 million in subsidies to support the island. As the world’s largest economy, the United States could more easily assume support for Greenland’s communities while investing substantially in its future. The transfer of Greenland’s sovereignty would alleviate a significant financial burden on the Danish people while expanding opportunities for Greenlanders. Just look at what American sovereignty has meant to Alaskans compared with conditions in Siberia under Russian control.... Who today believes the acquisition of Alaska was 'Seward’s folly'? On the contrary, it has been a great blessing to Alaskans and all Americans. Our nation has much to gain, as do the Danes and Greenlanders...."

Writes Senator Tom Cotton in "We Should Buy Greenland/Trump isn’t the only one to recognize the country’s strategic importance. Beijing does, too" (NYT).

33 comments:

Jeff Weimer said...

He forgot to add: We'll have Canada surrounded.

Bay Area Guy said...

Igloo Casinos would be nice.

The Godfather said...

"Trump's folly"? If I were a Greenlander, I'd say sell! (Subject, of course, to reasonable home rule protections.)

rehajm said...

Let us take that burden off your shoulders...

Spiros said...

We should get Newfoundland too. Puerto Rico needs to go.

readering said...

Still talking about this?

mockturtle said...

Who today believes the acquisition of Alaska was 'Seward’s folly?

Not I, certainly. Just this morning I was thanking Mr. Seward posthumously. I've visited this glorious state twice for several months each time and am truly in love with it. And, believe me, not all the books I've read or all the films and photos I've seen of Alaska can begin to do it justice. This is a place you have to experience in real life.

Maybe Greenland is beautiful, too, but I've always it imagined it to be flat.

mockturtle said...

We should roll dice for Greenland with Denmark. If they win, they get California. [Win-win]

Ann Althouse said...

Wikipedia: "In 1995, a political scandal resulted in Denmark after a report revealed the government had given tacit permission for nuclear weapons to be located in Greenland, in contravention of Denmark's 1957 nuclear-free zone policy.[105][62] The United States built a secret nuclear powered base, called Camp Century, in the Greenland ice sheet.[106] On 21 January 1968, a B-52G, with four nuclear bombs aboard as part of Operation Chrome Dome, crashed on the ice of the North Star Bay while attempting an emergency landing at Thule Air Base.[107] The resulting fire caused extensive radioactive contamination.[108] One of the H-bombs remains lost."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greenland

Also, 88% of the population is Greenlandic Inuit.

Peter said...

but I've always it imagined it to be flat.

I've been there several times. It's very flat if you discount the glaciers and mountain ranges that cover every inch of it.

Has anyone here ever tried to buy a house the owner said wasn't for sale? There was a Warren Beatty film where Bugsy Seigal did exactly that, but only because he employed a few extra-judicial persuasive techniques. Is that what Trump may have in mind?

rhhardin said...

Danegeld.

Skeptical Voter said...

Hey with global warming coming Greenland will soon be Vinland again. Nancy Pelosi and her husband have some grapes in Napa Valley, and she and hubby will be among the first to plant again in Vinland.

Jason said...

LORD FRANKLIN YOU MAGNIFICENT BASTARD!

n.n said...

On the positive side, if China were to colonize Greenland, it would reduce the number of straws redistributed during transit to "recycling" centers.

Narr said...

Friends of ours did DOD entertainment tours in the '80s, and were in Greenland on one.
Said there was a lot of boredom drinking among the US personnel, and the same plus a lot of turd-tamping (that was the phrase) among the civilian Danes who could stand the place only because of that and high salaries.

Narr
Skoll bullshit!

Yancey Ward said...

One of the interesting things I recently learned about Greenland is that if all the ice melted, most of the island would a shallow sea ringed by a circle of islands, at least until the crust had fully rebounded from the weight of the ice.

bleh said...

If we don’t acquire Greenland and China’s influence there grows, the same libs who are mocking him today will ask solemnly, “how did Trump lose Greenland?”

mockturtle said...

Sez Peter: I've been there several times. It's very flat if you discount the glaciers and mountain ranges that cover every inch of it.

Well, my ignorance of Greenland would fill volumes, Peter. Frankly, I've never been interested enough to learn. But if it's mountainous, I'd love it and the Inuit culture is a special interest of mine so maybe I'll visit. What's the best time of year?

Yancey Ward said...

What's the best time of year?

Summer, like Alaska.

rcocean said...

We got the Panama Canal by bribing enough Panamanians to start an independence movement from Columbia. Just tossin' that out.

Yancey Ward said...

The US should probably buy it, if the people living there are agreeable to it, and the Danes don't ask too much for it. It wasn't a terrible idea, after all.

mockturtle said...

We got the Panama Canal by bribing enough Panamanians to start an independence movement from Columbia. Just tossin' that out.

TR was, like Trump, one smart cookie.

Richard Dillman said...

Buy it. Oil, rare earth minerals, metal mining of all sorts, seals, whales, cod, and a bridge to the arctic. Great strategic move if done.did i say ice. Its an ice machine.

Biff said...

Spiros said..."We should get Newfoundland too."

The idea was proposed locally in the aftermath of World War II, at least to some degree. Newfoundland was not yet part of Canada, and US military bases and personnel deployed to Newfoundland during the war had a transformative effect on the culture and economy. Some residents and politicians at the time advocated forging closer ties with the US than with Canada or the UK.

bagoh20 said...

Maybe the Danes would like control of Detroit in exchange

Fen said...

Friends of ours did DOD entertainment tours in the '80s, and were in Greenland on one.
Said there was a lot of boredom drinking among the US personnel, and the same plus a lot of turd-tamping (that was the phrase) among the civilian Danes who could stand the place only because of that and high salaries.


That's funny, because the Wife and I played a Nancy Drew Mystery video game that was set in Greenland, and I guess they pretty much nailed the atmosphere. Much like a sleepy village next to a theme park that has been shut down till the tourist season starts again.

Doug said...

But it? Hell, with our military might, isn't there a more - er - expedient method of acquisition?

Richard Dillman said...

Trade Minnesota to the Danes. Its America’s Iceland with a large Danish cohort. During the medieval warming period, Greenland was
colonized by the Norse. After the ittle ice age started (circa 1350), the Greenland settlements became icebound, and no could enter
or leave. No supplies entered the settlement after about 1350. The Norse died out from starvation and malnutrition. They refused to adapt the Inuit hunting methods of sea hunting with skin kayaks. The Inuit knew how to harvest the sea and adapt to conditions. The Norse did not have to perish so ignominiously. No oneseems to really know if the Inuit helped them perish. We do know that theNorse and the Inuit
were not the best of friends. See the Vinland Sagas for fascinating details about this period. Erik the Red was exiled to Greenland for some killings, and he named it Greenland as a marketing tool to attract settlers. The name would attract naive settlers. He was a scam artist.

Martin said...

Don't BUY it, giving up sovereignty is a big leap for any country, and is not necessary.

How about a 49- or 99-year lease that reserves to Denmark those rights that are not strategically essential to the US.

Like we did in the destroyers-for-bases deal with Britain in WW2.

Gunner said...

It sounds like the Danes consider it a point of national pride to pay those hundreds of millions a year for their ice island.

Craig Howard said...

We are terrible at imperialism.

Just look at Puerto Rico and those Pacific islands.

We impose our mainland rules and wages and turn them into economically-dependent backwaters.

Keep Greenland free (for their own sake)!

Brent said...

Craig Howard said
"We are terrible at imperialism.
Just look at Puerto Rico and those Pacific islands."
Puerto Rico's problems are entirely due to the Puerto Rican people. Somehow its hard to imagine Greenlanders making the same stupid choices. Buy Greenland!

tim in vermont said...

World’s Deadliest Catch: Greenland!

We could pay for the country with residuals.