Althouse: It's cooking, but "it's not #1 on the burner."

August 19, 2019

It's cooking, but "it's not #1 on the burner."

175 comments:

mccullough said...: Greenland is where the whites will flee if Trump isn’t re-elected; 8/19/19, 11:02 AM
Fernandinande said...: "Come on up to 'Trump Island' home of the Walrus Burrito."; 8/19/19, 11:02 AM
Bob Boyd said...: I never thought about Greenland much, but now I want it.; 8/19/19, 11:02 AM
Robert Cook said...: We don't protect shit. Our bases are located in foreign nations to spread our military reach throughout the world...for purposes of geopolitical dominance.; 8/19/19, 11:04 AM
Char Char Binks, Esq. said...: That's Trump's admission that global warming is real?; 8/19/19, 11:04 AM
Fernandinande said...: Trump Island is the place for me
Farm fishin' is the life for me
Snow spreadin' out so far and wide
Keep Manhattan, just give me that countryside; 8/19/19, 11:05 AM
rhhardin said...: I've never worked Greenland. I wonder if there are hams there. It might be too cold.; 8/19/19, 11:07 AM
Howard said...: Most of the Dr Strangelove Ariel footage was shot from a B-17 over Greenland; 8/19/19, 11:09 AM
MadisonMan said...: New York is what I think is nice
I get allergic seeing ice
I just adore a Penthouse View
Darling I love you but give me Park Avenue.; 8/19/19, 11:09 AM
rcocean said...: We could buy 90% of Greenland. Let Denmark keep the Danes and the 10 percent with people. If we do, change the name to "Trumpland".

Or we could make them an offer they couldn't refuse. "Nice little country ya got here Dennmark. Shame if anything would happen to it, like an "accidental" ICBM falling on it."; 8/19/19, 11:10 AM
Howard said...: The harmonic convergence caused by HAARP phases out the E-band near Greenland, making them hard to work.; 8/19/19, 11:11 AM
rcocean said...: Rh: There's plenty of ham in Greenland. They'll be even more if Trump goes there.; 8/19/19, 11:11 AM
Char Char Binks, Esq. said...: "Most of the Dr Strangelove Ariel footage was shot from a B-17 over Greenland"

Same goes for The Little Mermaid.; 8/19/19, 11:12 AM
rcocean said...: BTW, why is it called "Ham radio"?; 8/19/19, 11:12 AM
Tank said...: It’s amusing to think about what the reactions would be if Obama had suggested this; 8/19/19, 11:13 AM
rcocean said...: As usual, the MSM makes it out like Trump is "crazy" or "stupid" and then you listen to him and its just an idea that may come to something or may not. No big whoop.; 8/19/19, 11:15 AM
rcocean said...: Obama never came up with an original idea in his life. He is/was completely derivative. There's nothing wrong with that, but the man was a nobody Illinois legislator who became POTUS because he was black. He was a better POTUS then Bill Clinton, but lets not forget he was a complete mediocrity.; 8/19/19, 11:17 AM
Beasts of England said...: You can never have too much ice.; 8/19/19, 11:18 AM
Birkel said...: LOL!

Char Char Binks brought the funny!
Well played, sir.; 8/19/19, 11:19 AM
JPS said...: rcocean, 11:10:

"Nice little country ya got here Dennmark. Shame if anything would happen to it, like an "accidental" ICBM falling on it."

Or a B-52 going down and a nuke spreading plutonium all over the crash site.

Wait - never mind.; 8/19/19, 11:20 AM
Fernandinande said...: Speaking of fancy poetry, the Poet Laureate of Greenland is Robert Permafrost.; 8/19/19, 11:22 AM
Bob Boyd said...: Trump's Secret World Domination Plan

Step 1: Buy Greenland

Step 2: Lure Santa Claus away from the North Pole with a sweet 99 year lease deal on a new, state of the art workshop in Greenland. Buy his old workshop and level it.

Step 3: Introduce Santa to the power of the regulatory state.

Step 4: Leverage control of Christmas to induce peace on Earth and good will toward men whether they like it or not.; 8/19/19, 11:25 AM
Molly said...: (eaglebeak)

Robert Cook: We don't protect shit. Our bases are located in foreign nations to spread our military reach throughout the world...for purposes of geopolitical dominance.

Wielding our global dominance and spreading our military reach are the ways we protect ourselves, more or less as Pericles once said.; 8/19/19, 11:25 AM
Ice Nine said...: >>Robert Cook said...
We don't protect shit. Our bases are located in foreign nations to spread our military reach throughout the world<<

As if the two were mutually exclusive.

Your first sentence is utterly absurd, btw.; 8/19/19, 11:27 AM
tim maguire said...: Robert Cook said...We don't protect shit.

Right, because the internet protects itself. International trade protects itself. NATO countries protect themselves.

L O freakin' L; 8/19/19, 11:33 AM
Fernandinande said...: Have you heard about the North Polish Lottery?
You win a walrus a year for a million years.; 8/19/19, 11:34 AM
tim maguire said...: Bob Boyd said...I never thought about Greenland much, but now I want it.

I feel the same way. It never even occurred to me to want Greenland, but now I want this to happen. (While knowing full well that it won't.); 8/19/19, 11:35 AM
Fernandinande said...: #129
You walrus hurt
The one you love...; 8/19/19, 11:36 AM
Kansas Scout said...: The effort and desire to purchase Greenland has been done twice before. The purchase of Alaska was belittled at Seward's Folly. As a national defense strategy it makes sense. All this hullabaloo is nothing other than Trump hate. It's perfectly reasonable to want to bring Greenland into the USA.; 8/19/19, 11:36 AM
Expat(ish) said...: @Fernandistein - you are on FIRE today.

(That was not an ice joke.)

-XC; 8/19/19, 11:38 AM
Fernandinande said...: I think we should reject Greenland and then watch it come crawling back, begging forgiveness.; 8/19/19, 11:38 AM
Lucid-Ideas said...: The biggest demographic of inhabitants on Greenland are fur seals.

Shouldn't there be a plebiscite of some king?

A pinnipediscite?; 8/19/19, 11:38 AM
Lucid-Ideas said...: Greenland isn't for sale.

Except for a long-term lease arrangement for Thule Air Base...

And the radioactive cleanup and mitigation...

And the NATO dues subsidy...

And the humanitarian aid...

And the funding the joint-Arctic scientific research and outposts there...

NOT. FOR. SALE.; 8/19/19, 11:41 AM
PM said...: "..cooking but not on the burner"? Think it's more "It's cooking but it ain't hot."; 8/19/19, 11:49 AM
gilbar said...: Robert Cook talks about Features, as though they were Flaws, saying...
Our bases are located in foreign nations to spread our military reach throughout the world...for purposes of geopolitical dominance.; 8/19/19, 11:51 AM
JaimeRoberto said...: In Game of Thrones the snowy land north of the Wall was home to the Deplorables and the White Walkers. This news came out on 8/8. All this is obviously a signal to white supremacists. Come on, people, connect the dots.; 8/19/19, 11:53 AM
gilbar said...: rcocean said...
"Nice little country ya got here Dennmark. Shame if anything would happen to it, like an "accidental" ICBM falling on it."

Like JPS said; wouldn't be the first time; 8/19/19, 11:54 AM
readering said...: He just says stuff.; 8/19/19, 11:55 AM
Amexpat said...: It's perfectly reasonable to want to bring Greenland into the USA.

Yes, but it's foolish to believe that there is even a remote chance of this happening. The Danes are adverse to entertaining the idea. And even if they were, it would have to be cleared with the inhabitants of Greenland.

No modern nation will sell an overseas territory unless it had to for economic reasons or was coerced to do so. It would be like if Japan asked the US to sell it one of the Northern Mariana Islands. Wouldn't be done, even if it made economic sense to do so.; 8/19/19, 11:55 AM
Bob Boyd said...: Inside every Greenlander is an American trying to get out.; 8/19/19, 11:58 AM
gilbar said...: It would be like if Japan asked the US to sell it one of the Northern Mariana Islands

you mean, like Tinian? or Saipan? I don't think we had to buy those (not with money, anyway); i think Japan just thought It'd Be Nice, if the Twentieth Air Force had more airstrips.
Now that i think about, the US Marine Corps might have had something to do about it too; 8/19/19, 12:03 PM
gilbar said...: it would have to be cleared with the inhabitants of Greenland.
if they were offered Citizenship (as they would be), you think they'd want to keep eating cheese Danishes instead of Breakfast Burritos?; 8/19/19, 12:05 PM
I Callahan said...: We don't protect shit. Our bases are located in foreign nations to spread our military reach throughout the world...for purposes of geopolitical dominance.

This is such paranoid lefty bullshit as to be laughable. There hasn’t been a single war in Europe (where most of our military bases are) since the end of WW2. Why? Because we’ve been protecting their sorry asses since then.; 8/19/19, 12:15 PM
cubanbob said...: Trump is right to try if we could get it. Just draw a line out to two hundred miles from Greenland in each direction and it makes sense. Something akin to China creating artificial islands in the South China Sea and thus claiming rights to two hundred miles out.; 8/19/19, 12:15 PM
LA_Bob said...: "NOT. FOR. SALE."

Oh, hell, just slap some tariffs on Danish pastries and the Danes will see the light.; 8/19/19, 12:16 PM
Bob Boyd said...: A Greenland Burrito is a sardine sandwich with the crusts cut off.; 8/19/19, 12:17 PM
bagoh20 said...: Look at that place. Clearly only one name would be accurate: "Whiteland". Nobody would have problem with accuracy, right?; 8/19/19, 12:19 PM
Drago said...: readering: "He just says stuff."

"He" didnt say it.

It was suggested by someone in a cabinet meeting.

Trump said that's interesting, put something together on it and get back to me.

Soneone leaks it to the press, the press asks a bunch of questions about it which Trump transparently answers and puts into context.

Lefty/LLR-lefty response? Trump is crazy and just says stuff.

Too bad for readering that everyone is on to this schtick and its fooling no one anymore.

Btw, given the potential for energy and fisheries development along with national security implications, it would be a tremendous acquisition.; 8/19/19, 12:20 PM
Left Bank of the Charles said...: Denmark's $700 million in annual subsidies works out to $12,348 per person in Greenland but only $120 per person in Denmark. That's very affordable for Denmark. But it seems to me that if the U.S. offered Greenland $284 billion, $5 million for each of the 56,687 residents of Greenland, the Greenlanders would go for that with or without permission from Denmark. A cost of $284 billion would be $868 per person in the U.S., but then we would own Greenland.

We know that Denmark turned down $100 million from Harry Truman in 1946, which is $1.4 billion in today's dollars. There's a lot of room for negotiation between $1.4 billion and $284 billion.; 8/19/19, 12:20 PM
Roughcoat said...: ... for purposes of geopolitical dominance.

You say that like it's a bad thing.; 8/19/19, 12:21 PM
MadisonMan said...: just slap some tariffs on Danish pastries and the Danes will see the light.

Yes! $1 extra on every Danish, and soon Greenland's selling cost is achieved. March of Danes, not March of Dimes!; 8/19/19, 12:21 PM
Drago said...: Lucid-Ideas: "Greenland isn't for sale.
Except for a long-term lease arrangement for Thule Air Base..."

With all the lawyers we have on staff cant we find a loophole to simply expand the base dimensions.......for security purposes! Yeah, thats the ticket! We need to enlarge the base dramatically for security purposes.

Those expanding polar bear gangs could pose a threat.; 8/19/19, 12:22 PM
Mr Wibble said...: This I think shows the fundamental difference between Trump and the right-wing political class: they'd not consider something like this because they're too invested in maintaining the Geopolitical status quo. Trump isn't.; 8/19/19, 12:25 PM
Drago said...: I Callahan: "There hasn’t been a single war in Europe (where most of our military bases are) since the end of WW2. Why? Because we’ve been protecting their sorry asses since then."

Well, that and the warrior types were all wiped out over the 2 wars and all that remain are the commies and lefties and soy-boy LLR types....just the way Putin prefers it.; 8/19/19, 12:25 PM
Bob Boyd said...: Did you ever notice there aren't any Greenland Food restaurants? You can't just get on the phone and order Greenland take-out? Their food must not be very good.

I wonder if there's a McDonalds in Greenland.

The internets say: "McDonalds isn't in Greenland since the country has a low population. Greenland in total only has 56,000 people and the largest “city” has a population of 17,000. While a town of that size could support a Mcdonald's, the island isn't really attractive to the corporation."

Sad.; 8/19/19, 12:27 PM
Amichel said...: I wouldn't be shocked if oil and gas fields were to be discovered in Greenland and it's territorial waters.; 8/19/19, 12:44 PM
rcocean said...: We could just take Greenland. what are the Danes going to do? Troll us?; 8/19/19, 12:46 PM
rcocean said...: Left bank has the right idea. Bribery! $284 billion seems a little high. I'd say: $56,000 million aka $56 Billion would be adequate. $4 million for a family of four. Plus a US Passport.; 8/19/19, 12:51 PM
narciso said...: it's the other vibranium deposit, that's why capt crashed the hydra bomber there, hsh,; 8/19/19, 12:52 PM
rcocean said...: That's how we got the Panama Canal. Good ol' fashioned bribery.; 8/19/19, 12:52 PM
Char Char Binks, Esq. said...: "There hasn’t been a single war in Europe (where most of our military bases are) since the end of WW2"

Remember Greece, Ukraine, and the Balkans? You're right, there hasn't been a SINGLE war.; 8/19/19, 12:53 PM
Robert Cook said...: I Callahan: "There hasn’t been a single war in Europe (where most of our military bases are) since the end of WW2. Why? Because we’ve been protecting their sorry asses since then."

Protecting them from whom?; 8/19/19, 12:53 PM
Sebastian said...: "We could just take Greenland"

The really telling thing about this kerfuffle is that no one actually thinks the U.S. would do this. So much for American "imperialism."

Has there ever been a great power as nice and benign as the U.S.?; 8/19/19, 12:59 PM
Drago said...: Who owned the Virgin Islands that the US purchased?

Denmark.

We just have to reactivate the account.; 8/19/19, 1:00 PM
todd galle said...: I've been out of service for a while, but is the G-I-UK Line still operational?; 8/19/19, 1:01 PM
rhhardin said...: Columbus schools are instituting a program to improve literacy, the news says.; 8/19/19, 1:03 PM
narciso said...: well panama wanted to secede from Colombia, Sullivan Cromwell provided the incentive,; 8/19/19, 1:03 PM
Drago said...: I can see Cookie is a bit irate that the ChiComs have not yet crushed the freedom loving capitalists in Hong Kong yet.

Not to worry Cookie. I am certain the reeducation camps are already prepped to house those running dog capitalists!!; 8/19/19, 1:03 PM
Drago said...: todd galle: "I've been out of service for a while, but is the G-I-UK Line still operational?"

Yes.; 8/19/19, 1:04 PM
Drago said...: All we really need to do to take over greenland is smuggle in 5 crossing guards, a jeep, lots of stockings and chocolates and take over the radio station!!

They wont know what hit them!; 8/19/19, 1:06 PM
Drago said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 8/19/19, 1:06 PM
narciso said...: well the greek insurrection was supported by tito, the us mostly suppressed it, the Ukraine war is more an intramural thing; 8/19/19, 1:07 PM
Drago said...: Breaking News: Based on reports of potential US military manuevers in Greenland, Representatives of the Republic of France have formally submitted Documents of Surrender to random passersby in Washington DC.; 8/19/19, 1:09 PM
Drago said...: Greenland is so weak that Canada could almost fight them toba draw!; 8/19/19, 1:09 PM
Michael K said...: Why? Because we’ve been protecting their sorry asses since then."

Protecting them from whom?

The Soviet Union was Cook's pussy cat,; 8/19/19, 1:17 PM
bleh said...: "Protecting them from whom?"

At least until late December 1991 we protected them from a very real and very serious threat. Since then, it has been harder to justify our presence there. Even if you assume it's all about force projection, our technology has become so advanced that maintaining overseas bases isn't as needed as before. Given all our carriers and drones and long-range bombers and ICBM's, I wonder sometimes if we need even half the bases we operate overseas.

Why do we have so many thousands of troops physically located in other countries? If we ever needed them to invade, we would still have to transport tens or hundreds of thousands more from the U.S. So what's the point? We train and conduct exercises with the host countries, which is good for bilateral relations. Our troops are kinda like human shields, too. North Korea knows it would necessarily kill tens of thousands of American servicemen if it ever launched a nuke at the South.

Still, I think we could probably save a lot of money and have more than adequate force projection capabilities with just a few strategic overseas bases, given our naval presence and our technological dominance.; 8/19/19, 1:19 PM
narciso said...: the Russian have been probing into the arctic, the ninth circus decision, blocking oil exploration in the bering and chukchi help immeasurably; 8/19/19, 1:38 PM
Yancey Ward said...: Tank makes the most insightful comment- if Obama had suggested this, it would have been the most awesome idea since Jefferson bought the Lousiana Purchase.

I am guessing that Greenland is mostly useless land and will remain so even 10 thousand years from now. The one argument for buying it, though, is the proximity to the Arctic Ocean, which does appear to contain lots of oil and gas potential.; 8/19/19, 1:38 PM
James K said...: From an old ballad by the Dubliners:

Greenland is a barren land
A land that bears no green
Where there's ice and snow and the whalefishes blow
And the daylight's seldom seen, brave boys
And the daylight's seldom seen; 8/19/19, 1:39 PM
Fernandinande said...: you are on FIRE today.

Don't worry! My staff just got me out of the ice-bath and now I'm very, very calm.; 8/19/19, 1:40 PM
dreams said...: Trump wants to make Greenland great.; 8/19/19, 1:47 PM
Darkisland said...: Who "owns" Greenland? I read the other day the PM of Denmark saying that they don't own Greenland and could not sell it if they wanted to.

I am confused about Greenland's political status. They seem to be, sort of, an independent country. In that respect they can't be sold. However, if they are independent, they could come to the US and say Denmark has been good to us over the years but they're, you know, Denmark. We would like to be associated with a more powerful protector." then negotiate some sort of treaty where the Greenland becomes a US territory. Probably more like American Samoa than Marianas or Puerto Rico.

Would not even cost us anything.

John Henry; 8/19/19, 1:48 PM
traditionalguy said...: Big Trump Thinks Big. When oil and gas are found, Denmark will demand to to re-negotiate the deal.; 8/19/19, 1:49 PM
tcrosse said...: So we put a lot of effort into protecting Western Europe from the Soviets. They put a lot of effort into protecting Eastern Europe from us. The ground has shifted somewhat since 1945, though.; 8/19/19, 1:50 PM
Darkisland said...: Blogger Drago said...

All we really need to do to take over greenland is smuggle in 5 crossing guards, a jeep, lots of stockings and chocolates and take over the radio station!!

It worked in Iceland in 1941.

John Henry; 8/19/19, 1:51 PM
traditionalguy said...: Trump sees a bigger than life Wollman Rink next to a Trump Summer Resort to escape the heat waves. And everytime an enemy plant in his Administration goes asiatic he can assign them to Greenland to guard the ice.; 8/19/19, 1:54 PM
Yancey Ward said...: I was reading about Greenland- apparently, without the ice cap, most of it would be a shallow inland sea, at least until the bedrock had fully rebounded from loss of the weight of the ice.; 8/19/19, 1:54 PM
Hagar said...: I don't know what to make of this. Perhaps Trump is just giving them something shiny to go on about.

Greenland looks to be mainly an Inuit Reservation with some Danish hippies and hardy independents attached, and of course Danish officials. It has self-government within Denmark for all local affairs, which is what they care about, and Denmark takes care of their foreign affairs, which isn't much, and, of course, provide a large monetary subsidy and social services bureaucracy. Just like an Indian Reservation in the U.S.

As for military defenses, Denmark is very much a member of NATO, and in any case the U.S. military is not likely to ask first if there should be any sudden emergency requiring the use of Greenland's sovereign territory.; 8/19/19, 2:02 PM
Hagar said...: Perhaps what Trump is up to is a joint defense agreement covering Greenland's territorial waters?; 8/19/19, 2:09 PM
Jaq said...: Somebody should tell Cook that the Soviet Union is gone and he can stop parroting their propaganda. He’s like one of those Japanese soldiers who kept fighting the war for decades.; 8/19/19, 2:12 PM
Jaq said...: "Perhaps what Trump is up to is a joint defense agreement covering Greenland's territorial waters?”

Maybe will back them up as they take Hans Island from the Canadians.

“It’s not ‘disputed’! It’s ours!” - Both sides.; 8/19/19, 2:14 PM
narayanan said...: Wait till Denmark decides to send African migrants to Greenland and then hold plebiscite/referendum; 8/19/19, 2:22 PM
Hagar said...: I don't think it is the Canadians Washington worries about, but if you look at a globe there seem to some areas where the exact boundary between Russian and Greenland islands may be disputable.; 8/19/19, 2:32 PM
buwaya said...: "No modern nation will sell an overseas territory unless it had to for economic reasons or was coerced to do so. "

All of Europe dumped their colonial empires 1945-1995(ish), nearly every bit and piece, small or large, war or no war, and in some cases even if the colony itself wanted to remain a colony. This was a historic wholesale abandonment really, more of a tossing on a trash heap.

Just about every colony, under modern economic conditions, was a liability, a white elephant. They still are.

This had been recognized long ago, even during the final scramble for colonies in the first decade of the twentieth century. There was an intense argument in France, for example, as to whether there was any point in holding any part of Africa, even as Lyautey was conquering Morocco, as Major Lamy was taking Chad. Even Algeria and Tunisia had never paid for themselves in any way.; 8/19/19, 2:45 PM
dreams said...: "Who "owns" Greenland? I read the other day the PM of Denmark saying that they don't own Greenland and could not sell it if they wanted to."

Apparently they do.

"As the WSJ notes, Greenland is an expensive burden for the Danes, costing $591 million annually in subsidies. In proportion to population, that is equivalent to a burden in U.S. taxpayers of over $33 billion a year. I suppose pride is part of what keeps the money flowing, but when that pride is re-cast as "neocolonialism," perhaps the expense becomes a burden to the national psyche as well as to the royal fisc.

On the other hand, Leonid Bershidsky, writing in Bloomberg, sees the Greenlanders as unlikely to want any "liberation" from their colonial masters and the Danes unlikely to want to be relieved of the burden:"

https://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2019/08/danes_indignant_over_story_of_trump_mulling_greenland_purchase_but_nobody_is_asking_the_greenlanders_yet.html#ixzz5x4uGu9rl; 8/19/19, 2:48 PM
LA_Bob said...: Robert Cook said, "Protecting them from whom?"

From themselves. Europeans enjoyed killing each other by the millions in the 20th Century.; 8/19/19, 3:05 PM
Hagar said...: My globe is small, old, and beat up. Looking at Google Earth, there are no Russian islands that close.
There may be some questions about "international waterways" along the borders with Iceland and the Norwegian Islands, perhaps? Or Russia may claim that neither the Norwegians nor the Danes ever exercised their sovereignty in northern Greenland and therefore it is still free for the taking?
Or it is just something shiny for the media to chase while Congress is out of town.; 8/19/19, 3:08 PM
effinayright said...: mccullough said...
Greenland is where the whites will flee if Trump isn’t re-elected
****************

Actually, Greenland is where the progs, soyboys, Antifa and snowflakes will be sent when Trump *is* re-elected.

Odd that you missed Trump's evil plan....; 8/19/19, 3:13 PM
Hagar said...: The most lethal army in history is the American Expeditionary Force to Europe in WWI, carrying the "Spanish flu" with them.; 8/19/19, 3:14 PM
J. Farmer said...: As usual, the MSM makes it out like Trump is "crazy" or "stupid" and then you listen to him and its just an idea that may come to something or may not. No big whoop.

It's certainly not an all together daft idea, especially given that the US has made at least two serious attempts to do it. But it absolutely will not "come to something." Denmark has no real authority to "sell" Greenland given that it recognizes its inhabitants as having a right to national self-determination. For any such deal to actually happen, Greenland would first have to pursue complete independence from Denmark and then become a kind of unincorporated territory of the United States. And of course, Congress would have to be on board as well. I'm willing to put up five figures to bet this goes absolutely nowhere if only would like to take me up on it.; 8/19/19, 3:18 PM
mccullough said...: Maybe trade Puerto Rico for Greenland; 8/19/19, 3:19 PM
Drago said...: "On the other hand, Leonid Bershidsky, writing in Bloomberg, sees the Greenlanders as unlikely to want any "liberation" from their colonial masters and the Danes unlikely to want to be relieved of the burden:"

Greenlanders are caucasian and thus have nothing of merit to offer.; 8/19/19, 3:21 PM
readering said...: Greenlanders Inuit.; 8/19/19, 3:23 PM
J. Farmer said...: There hasn’t been a single war in Europe (where most of our military bases are) since the end of WW2. Why? Because we’ve been protecting their sorry asses since then.

Well except for the Soviet invasions of Hungary and Czechoslovakia, the Turkish invasion of Cyprus, the Bosnian War, the Kosovo War, and the current conflict in Donbass. There were also numerous smaller conflicts and uprisings. The second half of the 20th century was as violent as the first half, with the exception that the violence primarily took place within international borders instead of between them.

Also, I think that the invention of nuclear weapons and the destructive potential of industrialized total war have had more to do with the absence of great power wars than US hegemony. And even then, we spent the second half of the 20th century building a global military presence to contain a threat that hasn't existed for 30 years. Lord Salisbury's observation, "The commonest error in politics is sticking to the carcass of dead policies," remains as true as it was in the late 19th century.; 8/19/19, 3:28 PM
policraticus said...: 83° 40' OR FIGHT!; 8/19/19, 3:35 PM
rcocean said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 8/19/19, 3:37 PM
rcocean said...: Absolutely? Nothing is absolute. We MAY end up LEASING more of Greenland. Talking about it a sale, floating an idea is nothing. In fact, the only reason we're discussing it is because there's an absence of real news.; 8/19/19, 3:37 PM
Known Unknown said...: "While a town of that size could support a Mcdonald's, the island isn't really attractive to the corporation."

That sounds like pre-Trump thinking to me.; 8/19/19, 3:39 PM
J. Farmer said...: Absolutely? Nothing is absolute.

Right, but that's a silly semantic point. It is not absolute that the sun will rise tomorrow, but I bet you believe it will.; 8/19/19, 3:45 PM
Mr. Majestyk said...: They don't wanna sell? Fine. Since we now know that national borders established by a duly elected representative body are illegal and immoral, let's sponsor mass acts of love by facilitating the transfer of vast swarms of Americans into Greenland to fundamentally transform its racist Inuit society by having the new arrivals demand ever increasing rights and benefits -- served up in English, no less -- but of course not the right to vote (wink wink) -- all the while waving the American flag, burning and trampling upon the Greenlandic flag, and doxxing, harassing, and physically attacking any Greenlandic immigration agents and setting fire to Greenlandic immigration facilities.; 8/19/19, 3:49 PM
Mr. Majestyk said...: They don't wanna sell? Fine. Since we now know that national borders established by a duly elected representative body are illegal and immoral, let's sponsor mass acts of love by facilitating the transfer of vast swarms of Americans into Greenland to fundamentally transform its racist Inuit society by having the new arrivals demand ever increasing rights and benefits -- served up in English, no less -- but of course not the right to vote (wink wink) -- all the while waving the American flag, burning and trampling upon the Greenlandic flag, and doxxing, harassing, and physically attacking any Greenlandic immigration agents and setting fire to Greenlandic immigration facilities.; 8/19/19, 3:49 PM
policraticus said...: The second half of the 20th century was as violent as the first half, with the exception that the violence primarily took place within international borders instead of between them.

So, that is a ridiculous statement. At least 120,000,000+ died in conflicts between 1900 and 1945, over 3% of the world population. Even if we take the most generous estimates for things like the Cultural Revolution and the various wars in the Congo, the totals from 1945 till now look like a rounding error. The world is certainly not peaceful in any ontological sense. Given who inhabits the world it could hardly be otherwise. However, in comparison to the rest of history, things have been better, more peaceful and less violent than any other time we for which we have records. Is this due 100% to a US presence in Europe an elsewhere? Is it due to the nuclear Sword of Damocles that hovers over Great Power relations? Probably not 100%, but to make the claim that it has had no positive influence seems invidious. Of course, we will find out if we decide to run the counterfactual simulation and pull back from commitments abroad.; 8/19/19, 4:12 PM
Gunner said...: If Trump had said something like "under no circumstances, will Greenland become part of the US" the same anti-Trump bozos would be whining about THAT!; 8/19/19, 4:18 PM
Ralph L said...: Just about every colony, under modern economic conditions, was a liability, a white elephant.

Before that, they were ruthlessly exploited like we were before 1781. Everyone became unemployed and hungry when he wasn't being slaughtered.; 8/19/19, 4:29 PM
madAsHell said...: I'm looking at the Chinese, and buying Greenland is a brilliant fucking idea. It gives the US unlimited access beyond the arctic circle. Think of the resources we derive from "Seward's Folly!!".; 8/19/19, 4:31 PM
madAsHell said...: ....and not to be overlooked Jefferson's Louisiana Purchase. How did that work out??; 8/19/19, 4:34 PM
Drago said...: readering: "Greenlanders Inuit."

LOL

Too late dummy.

Todd Palin is part Yupik and the entirety of the left called him a whitey white white supremacist.

History began 37 seconds ago for readering.; 8/19/19, 4:38 PM
I Callahan said...: Well except for the Soviet invasions of Hungary and Czechoslovakia, the Turkish invasion of Cyprus, the Bosnian War, the Kosovo War, and the current conflict in Donbass.

None of those places had American military bases. Which left them completely unprotected. Which actually proves my point.; 8/19/19, 4:41 PM
J. Farmer said...: @policraticus:

So, that is a ridiculous statement. At least 120,000,000+ died in conflicts between 1900 and 1945, over 3% of the world population. Even if we take the most generous estimates for things like the Cultural Revolution and the various wars in the Congo, the totals from 1945 till now look like a rounding error

Depending on how you do the rounding and the estimates, the number given for death in conflicts of the 20th century is around 210 million. So it's about 55% for the first half of the 20th century and 45% for the second. And of course population growth muddies these figures. So while we may squabble over my use of the phrase "as violent," the violence of the second half of the 20th century was certainly not a "rounding error" in comparison to the first half. On the subject, I would recommend Niall Ferguson's The War of the World and Matthew White's Atrocitology.

Probably not 100%, but to make the claim that it has had no positive influence seems invidious.

I never made the claim "it has had no positive influence." What I said was that, "I think that the invention of nuclear weapons and the destructive potential of industrialized total war have had more to do with the absence of great power wars than US hegemony." And generally, yes, I think the so called Pax Americana is as overrated as the Pax Britannica of the 20th century. It is mostly invoked by interventionist to justify a perpetual hegemonic presence. This is Bob Kagan's stock-in-trade, as demonstrated in his latest books The World America Made and The Jungle Grows Back.; 8/19/19, 4:44 PM
Amexpat said...: All of Europe dumped their colonial empires 1945-1995(ish), nearly every bit and piece, small or large, war or no war, and in some cases even if the colony itself wanted to remain a colony. This was a historic wholesale abandonment really, more of a tossing on a trash heap.

After WWII it wasn't proper cricket to sell colonies. They were returned or abandoned to the people living there. Not all the colonies were without value. The Danes gave up Iceland and the Brits let New Newfoundland go to Canada (there was also the possibility of it going to the US).; 8/19/19, 4:47 PM
J. Farmer said...: @I Callahan:

None of those places had American military bases. Which left them completely unprotected. Which actually proves my point.

Nonetheless, the claim that there has not been "a single war in Europe since WWII" is incorrect. Also, none of those countries had nuclear weapons either. The UK and France were both nuclear weapon states, and Germany, Italy, Belgium, Netherlands, and Turkey were nuclear weapon sharing states.; 8/19/19, 4:53 PM
J. Farmer said...: @madAsHell:

....and not to be overlooked Jefferson's Louisiana Purchase. How did that work out??

France's relation to Louisiana is not comparable to Denmark's relation to Greenland.; 8/19/19, 4:56 PM
madAsHell said...: France's relation to Louisiana is not comparable to Denmark's relation to Greenland.

Yeah.....I'm sure you know all about the French-Louisiana relationship in 1803. Furthermore, my comment was relative to resources realized AFTER the purchase, not relationships BEFORE the purchase.

It's no wonder I never read anything you write.; 8/19/19, 5:24 PM
DanTheMan said...: I voted for Trump, ergo I am a deplorable racist (according to lefty logic).

So what racist term do we have for Greenlanders?

Greenies?
Haagen Danes?
Nyuk-Nyuk-Nyuks?
Snowtards?

Obviously my Rush Limbaugh mind-control thingy is on the fritz (how do you say microaggression in German?) or I'd already know.; 8/19/19, 5:34 PM
J. Farmer said...: @madAsHell:

Yeah.....I'm sure you know all about the French-Louisiana relationship in 1803.

More than you apparently. I know that Greenland is not a colonial holding of Denmark’s whose territory can be bought and sold at Coppenhagen’s whim.

It's no wonder I never read anything you write.

You just did. And you are now.; 8/19/19, 5:38 PM
tcrosse said...: Maybe we could just sublet.; 8/19/19, 6:05 PM
james said...: Robert Cook:
"We don't protect shit Our bases are located in foreign nations to spread our military reach throughout the world...for purposes of geopolitical dominance."
That's a good representation of the left's position. Always eager to believe the worst about the greatest and best country that has ever existed. There are so many historical refutations of your claim that one ought to be embarrassed to express it. We've maintained expensive forces in both South Korea and central Europe that certainly deterred aggression by North Koreas, Chinese, and the Soviet Union. In point of fact, in comparison to previous global powers, we have been far less aggressive in our use of military force, and far less demanding in pressuring other countries to toe the line.; 8/19/19, 6:19 PM
narciso said...: well it's of a par with this:

https://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2019/08/19/peter_beinart_vs_rich_lowry_on_miftah_palestinians_dont_have_to_be_saints_in_order_to_have_basic_rights.html; 8/19/19, 6:34 PM
Lydia said...: Sad place, Greenland. It has the highest suicide rate in the world at about 83 per 100,000. That's more than twice the rate of the next highest, Lithuania, with about 36 per 100,000.; 8/19/19, 6:45 PM
wildswan said...: What would we get? We'd get the water that is locked up in Greenland's glaciers. 1,755,637 square kilometers of ice; 2,850,000 cubic kilometers by volume. If you believe in global warming you know we'll soon need that water. We don't want to melt it all at once because that would raise sea level by 23 feet. But gradually on as needed basis, we could use it. And also global warming will melt a Northwest passage which will pass by Greenland on the western end. And the top of Greenland is close to the top of Alaska -a lot closer than Denmark is. I think we should get it but wait for the Labor Day sales. Or Christmas and then seize and hold Santa till Denmark sells. Then we could set up a protecting force known as The ICE Patrol which would monitor the start of the Polar to Palm Road.; 8/19/19, 6:56 PM
Fen said...: "We don't protect shit", the Marxist POS typed furiously, on a computer provided by global trade routes he took entirely for granted.

"No, my computer came from Best Buy!" he shouted in arrogant ignorance.; 8/19/19, 7:04 PM
Fen said...: "And even as he said, so was it, for before the spring had ripened into summer, the troops were clanking down the via Aurelia on their way to the Ligurian passes, whilst every road in Gaul was dotted with the carts and the waggons which bore the Brito-Roman refugees on their weary journey to their distant country. But ere another summer had passed Robert Cook was dead, for he was flayed alive by the pirates and his skin nailed upon the door of a church near Caistor." - The Last of the Legions; 8/19/19, 7:08 PM
Fen said...: "What would we get?"

Keep it out of China's hands.

The isolationists act like we are the only piece on the board.

Idiots.; 8/19/19, 7:22 PM
J. Farmer said...: The isolationists act like we are the only piece on the board.

China can't "buy" Greenland either.; 8/19/19, 7:49 PM
J. Farmer said...: @James:

In point of fact, in comparison to previous global powers, we have been far less aggressive in our use of military force, and far less demanding in pressuring other countries to toe the line.

Being less bad than others doesn't make you good. If you were going to identity the factors that led to making the US the "greatest and best country that has ever existed." It certainly would not be our capacity and willingness to unleash violence on other countries. Many great powers do that. What makes America exceptional is our republican values and respect for individual rights (e.g. free speech). Britain was the most liberal country of the 19th century and also the country most willing to impose themselves on foreign peoples. That is internationalism. If you consider yourself a nationalist, then imperialism should be anathema.; 8/19/19, 7:56 PM
Guildofcannonballs said...: I started watching Billions against my better judgment, mainly because P. G. was in Private Parts as pig vomit as well as Sideways. And of course the limey who played Dick Winters in Band of Brothers.

I do hate myself for loving the show's writing. It is better than I could have done.

The fucks, to do that, to me. To ME????

But it does bring about interestingness to the Althouse blog, for the first time in a while: How did big city (biggest of them all, New York) get the rural vote?

Wasn't that the divide? Rural vs. Urban?

And yet Rural "won" with Mr. Sir Urban The Dondald?

Seems buwaya will have to do some more honeying than bu buing, for now.

WE GOT BETTER WRITING ON SHOWTIME THAN YOU HONEY.; 8/19/19, 8:00 PM
Guildofcannonballs said...: Althouse is an idiot if she feels old, hateful pervs like Woody Allen write good roles for women.

An Idiot!; 8/19/19, 8:02 PM
narciso said...: Rhoades really is a weasel, in real life he would have signed up with mueller, yet axe is supposed to be the villain.; 8/19/19, 8:05 PM
traditionalguy said...: Woody Allen had to write good roles for women because he wrote roles for Diane Keaton who is 100% woman.; 8/19/19, 8:15 PM
narciso said...: How did berlusconi from milan, forge an alliance between cultural and economic conservarives; 8/19/19, 8:16 PM
Guildofcannonballs said...: Just google and look: rural v. urban.

But how Mr. Trump became rural is interesting to those of us not financially aware such as big city (Denver ain't shit but is becoming day by day) mover and shaker.

OR those who identify with the movers and shakers. College students do, if I am not mistaken.; 8/19/19, 8:19 PM
J. Farmer said...: How did berlusconi from milan, forge an alliance between cultural and economic conservarives

Remember when people used to think that the winning formula was "I'm socially liberal and fiscally conservative?" Turns out the real winning formula is "fiscally liberal and socially conservative."; 8/19/19, 8:23 PM
J. Farmer said...: p.d. Part of Berlusconi's appeals to voters were to massive fund public works programs and to increase and to raise monthly pension payments. What's economically conservative about that?; 8/19/19, 8:26 PM
narciso said...: Well the loweted taxes that led to repatriation of funds, from overseas.; 8/19/19, 8:29 PM
Guildofcannonballs said...: I wish a world were I couldn't me ambivilent re teh Kenneyds ant their deaths so promminent.

But that isn't Sourise's world, never was.

Fuck that family, and the suicides. Fuck them all to death. No suicides no more.

Otherwise, for the first time, be American.

We all sacrificed for you, now return divinity.; 8/19/19, 8:31 PM
Guildofcannonballs said...: Trymp woll doxua one the dead Kennedy who faught guaght looaght her itrie life.

Sauourice or something.

She was made to be lpercieved dead.

5YQ5 KENNEDY CLAN; 8/19/19, 8:35 PM
J. Farmer said...: Well the loweted taxes that led to repatriation of funds, from overseas

So did Kennedy. Was he an economic conservative?; 8/19/19, 8:36 PM
Guildofcannonballs said...: So the other side says: we went through Althouse-type people to earn power, and we are empelled to use it.

Rich people are NO BETTER THAN uS.

THEY ARE NO BeTYTER..

than us.

BUt we got ppower, so Martha Stewart should be lucky we didn't hang her white blonde ass.; 8/19/19, 8:37 PM
narciso said...: You type in sanskrit, fenster, what are you trying to say.; 8/19/19, 8:38 PM
narciso said...: Its sad when someone dies so young, specially since they had so much to live for.; 8/19/19, 8:41 PM
Maillard Reactionary said...: The Danes are just holding out for the best price. Danes know how to do extortion.; 8/19/19, 8:41 PM
Guildofcannonballs said...: Xan uyou imagins a dumb riacisist cunt like ALthouse claiming "I'm innoceent"
anth i her dumb mind concluding "okay I'm innoccent so the wolves don't matter to anyone ever no more"

FUc; 8/19/19, 8:42 PM
Guildofcannonballs said...: https://www.dwightyoakam.com

LaST I knew, the articst of th Cwnrtury, chose to play Denver last day of August/

You punks, you cn'at begin to understamd Mr. Yaokam.

Yu shit s buy by the $119.5- VIP rgwb w can have some sort of Ahlthousian shit hreeting.

Listen, Dwight is better than all of us, combidend, certainly.; 8/19/19, 8:47 PM
Guildofcannonballs said...: If any of you undumb fucks what's to the tune of sdythree Million, we can work toghegher.

But not before the 63 million.; 8/19/19, 8:50 PM
J. Farmer said...: @Guildofcannonballs:

How much ever cough syrup you're drinking per day, I want you to reduce it by half.; 8/19/19, 8:52 PM
J. Farmer said...: The Danes are just holding out for the best price. Danes know how to do extortion.

Denmark can't sell Greenland even if they wanted to.; 8/19/19, 8:52 PM
narciso said...: Probably not:
https://mobile.twitter.com/stick631/status/1163540224208769025; 8/19/19, 8:59 PM
Guildofcannonballs said...: What did some silly Jew in a movie long ago make you feel it's okay, well then okay we just gotta let the press know "hey Jews are targets,, wherever they go.'"

We all know, there is:

Graceless slave.

Graceless lady.

You know who I am.

You kni9nb ;et you alisw rhoueg be jamns/; 8/19/19, 9:05 PM
Guildofcannonballs said...: Hey me and Dwight, Dwight and I, we'll just see you in Denver.

Dwight Yoakam – It Only Hurt's When I Cry Lyrics
from album: If There Was A Way (1990)
The only time I feel the pain
Is in the sunshine and the rain
I don't feel no hurt at all
Unless you count my teardrops fall
I tell the truth 'cept when I lie
It only hurts me when I cry
You couldn't tell it by the smile
That my recovery took awhile
I worked for days and nights on end
Just to walk and talk again
You can't believe the time it takes
To heal a heart once it breaks
The only time I feel the pain
Is in the sunshine and the rain
I don't feel no hurt at all
Unless you count my teardrops fall
I tell the truth 'cept when I lie
It only hurts me when I cry
Oh every other now and then
I have a small heartache again
You wouldn't know when you look at me
Those tiny scars that you can't see
It was a struggle to survive
I probably lucky I'm alive
The only time I feel the pain
Is in the sunshine and the rain
I don't feel no hurt at all
Unless you count my teardrops fall
I tell the truth 'cept when I lie
It only hurts me when I cry
I tell the truth 'cept when I lie
It only hurts me when I cry

Songwriters: DWIGHT YOAKAM, ROGER MILLER
It Only Hurt's When I Cry lyrics © THE BICYCLE MUSIC COMPANY; 8/19/19, 10:42 PM
Guildofcannonballs said...: tasteofcolorado.com; 8/19/19, 11:02 PM
Guildofcannonballs said...: https://www.atasteofcolorado.com

Be right, dibt fdea like CLint99; 8/19/19, 11:04 PM
Guildofcannonballs said...: Olay you won, O bpw won dopwn wimummmmwi; 8/19/19, 11:05 PM
Michael McNeil said...: I am guessing that Greenland is mostly useless land and will remain so even 10 thousand years from now.

Assessing the whole on the basis a judgment that “most” (presumably the ice-covered parts) is “useless land” — when dealing with a subcontinent-sized territory of the scope of Greenland — is highly misleading.

According to the U.S. Geological Survey the ice-free parts of Greenland add up to 381,392 square km — that is, larger than the (U.S.) state of Montana or the (reunited) nation of Germany, and nearly as large as the (American) state of California. That much territory (not to speak of the vast ice-inundated region(s) — the so-called “inland ice”) no doubt is inherently worth a great deal — not even to speak of economically accessible mineral wealth.; 8/19/19, 11:05 PM
Guildofcannonballs said...: Everything my taxes go for have been controlled, and I love Denver paying Dwight Yoakam not because I control it, but be

Well, I', sorrynb8y yhidblog aint worth no more than myu minumualness undefined jokew; 8/19/19, 11:12 PM
Guildofcannonballs said...: It is much easier than most of you folks can ever know to unfuck yourselfs:

https://proteinwisdom.com/?p=58674

When you did it, paid prices, with mucho mojo and gumption, indeed a complete, fullfilled-enough identity, a man as in full as I had known a decade ago.

I hope you free speech lovers love more than the good feels and help my friend Mr. Goldstein out, wcw rgiefg my ill34q5dt bothe4r hu,; 8/19/19, 11:21 PM
Guildofcannonballs said...: The rent is too damn high, but they threw me a Dwight bone.

A Yoakam bone.

Free Sunday, Country day. Good music, good government. My idea is yeah yeah yeah graft, buy you gave me a Dwight Circus?

God Bless mayor.; 8/19/19, 11:49 PM
Guildofcannonballs said...: As Pantera once sang: Qj rKIN OCWE PWM/; 8/19/19, 11:50 PM
Guildofcannonballs said...: Qheras D wuld, nt. Ivanka would demand a linked text some may say ,; 8/20/19, 12:09 AM
Jaq said...: "So did Kennedy. Was he an economic conservative?”

Yes.; 8/20/19, 5:47 AM
Jaq said...: It’s fun to talk about Greenland, whatever the reality of the situation.; 8/20/19, 5:51 AM
Robert Cook said...: "No, my computer came from Best Buy!" he shouted in arrogant ignorance.

No, it didn't.; 8/20/19, 6:52 AM
J. Farmer said...: @AAT:

"So did Kennedy. Was he an economic conservative?”

Yes.

Tell that to US Steel.; 8/20/19, 7:29 AM
Robert Cook said...: Just one example of American "protection" of another nation. (And, of course, who can forget our selfless murder campaigns in Iraq and Afghanistan, (to name only two other recent examples)?; 8/20/19, 10:45 AM
Skippy Tisdale said...: "Robert Cook said...
We don't protect shit. Our bases are located in foreign nations to spread our military reach throughout the world...for purposes of geopolitical dominance."

Shorter Robert Cook:

I want to be a geopolitical submissive!; 8/20/19, 12:18 PM
Marc in Eugene said...: Mr Trump has cancelled the autumn's trip to Copenhagen because Greenland is off the table. Difficile est saturam non scribere.; 8/20/19, 10:23 PM