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Buying Greenland: Trump haters mock the idea, but China is paying attention

chuckiechan

chuckiechan

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Washington Times - Politics, Breaking News, US and World News

But what’s worth knowing is what precipitated the president’s comments. In 2017, Greenland’s prime minister flew to China and asked, as the Journal reported in February of this year, “Chinese state-run banks to finance the new commercial airports, including a big one for one of the smallest capitals on earth, Nuuk, which can now be served only by propeller planes. The bankers were interested, people at the meetings said, so long as a Chinese company constructed the airports.

Reports indicate this action was triggered by Denmark refusing to help.

Then-Secretary of Defense James N. Mattis was not happy and convinced Danish officials to fund the infrastructure, sidelining China. This was an effort by China starting in 2018 and only ending when they officially withdrew in June of this year. For those who look past their shallow view of the United States and the administration, one would know it’s no coincidence that the president’s remarks on Greenland became public just two months after we successfully fought off China in their latest swing at the North American island.
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It’s a sad state of affairs that the Trump haters can’t even take the day off to understand the strategic implications of securing Greenland as a US territory beyond China’s soft power debt trap.
 
Grand Mal said:
So why didn't your idiot-in-chief talk to te Prime Minister of Greenland?
How stupid do you have to be anyway to offer to buy a country?
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I dunno. If he wasn't dead, we could ask Harry Truman how stupid he was when he wanted to buy it.
 
chuckiechan said:
All of your questions are answered in the article. :roll:
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If Trump were simply seeking to insure Greenland's security, that would best be done in coordination with Denmark and Greenland. Not unilaterally trying to purchase Greenland. That's what diplomacy if for. It's too bad Trump sucks dishwater at diplomacy.
 
bearpoker said:
If Trump were simply seeking to insure Greenland's security, that would best be done in coordination with Denmark and Greenland. Not unilaterally trying to purchase Greenland. That's what diplomacy if for. It's too bad Trump sucks dishwater at diplomacy.
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Denmark and therefore Greenland is already part of NATO.
 
Nothing to see here. Trump thinks he can buy Greenland from the Denmarkians the same way he can buy an old lady's house to build a s****y golf course.
 
humbolt said:
I dunno. If he wasn't dead, we could ask Harry Truman how stupid he was when he wanted to buy it.
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It’s not the first time U.S. has tried to buy Greenland - MarketWatch
The U.S. in 1946 proposed to pay Denmark $100 million (in gold) to buy Greenland, the Associated Press reported in the early 1990s, citing Danish press and the newly discovered documents that had been classified since the 1970s. The proposed deal called for swapping oil-rich land in Alaska for strategic parts of the Arctic island, documents in the National Archives showed.

Natural resources were involved then, yes, but the U.S. got what it really wanted from Greenland at the time without having to buy: military use.
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Truman considered it, but found a smarter solution.
 
Why would US waste the money and add to our debt. Denmark is a member of NATO and the US already has an enormous air base there at Thule.
 
Of course dumb right wing cult members try to defend this idiocy
 
chuckiechan said:
It’s a sad state of affairs that the Trump haters can’t even take the day off to understand the strategic implications of securing Greenland as a US territory beyond China’s soft power debt trap.
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It's a sad state of affairs that Trump supporters can't even just ADMIT this was a stupid idea void of any responsible thinking. But hey, we don't expect any Trump supporters to actually think, only toe the line for Trump.
 
chuckiechan said:
Washington Times - Politics, Breaking News, US and World News



It’s a sad state of affairs that the Trump haters can’t even take the day off to understand the strategic implications of securing Greenland as a US territory beyond China’s soft power debt trap.
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This raises the question:

What else is China trying to do with Greenland? Are they making bids on the natural resources? If that's the case, then it would be in the interest of the US to prevent that by making our own bid for the resources...and what better way than to completely take over all of Denmark's responsibilities and controls concerning Greenland and their resources.

With this consideration, the idea of Trump making such a deal with Denmark is a good thing.
 
chuckiechan said:
It’s a sad state of affairs that the Trump haters can’t even take the day off to understand the strategic implications of securing Greenland as a US territory beyond China’s soft power debt trap.
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That’s all very well but is there any evidence that Trump actually applied any of that logic? He may well have been looking at it as getting one over the Chinese but not necessarily anything more considered than that.

Anyway, the criticisms of Trump over this aren’t about questioning the strategic significance of Greenland, it is about the public relations mess. First he raises the apparently light-hearted question at a dinner, which inevitably leaked; hardly the best way for a policy consideration to first hit the public domain. Then he responding with a public statement that simply admitted he was thinking about buying Greenland, without any of the context you refer to and apparently without any kind of communication with the governments of either Denmark or Greenland. Then, when the Prime Minister of Denmark understandably stated that they have no interest in selling Greenland, Trump retaliates by postponing a long-planned diplomatic trip to Denmark (and Poland), which fairly or not, has the appearance of a bit of a tantrum.

If instead the Trump administration had quietly approached the Greenland and Danish governments to discuss possible investments and supports to all their mutual benefits, the first public reports on the topic could be much more positive and unifying and Trump could have visited Denmark next week to discuss those ideas further. Of course, that scenario would have required this to have been the kind of carefully considered plan from the US administration as your suggest and not an off-the-cuff brain-fart from Trump that ran out of control. :cool:
 
humbolt said:
The extent of Greenland's mineral wealth was not known back then. So perhaps Truman was ignorant as well as stupid, as was posited earlier.
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Here it is. Concern for Greenland's security was just a sham. What Trump really wants is to exploit Greenland's mineral wealth. Thanks for coming clean about it. By the way, nobody said Truman was stupid.
 
chuckiechan said:
Washington Times - Politics, Breaking News, US and World News



It’s a sad state of affairs that the Trump haters can’t even take the day off to understand the strategic implications of securing Greenland as a US territory beyond China’s soft power debt trap.
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No way in hell is Congress going to allow it, it's DOA, let alone Denmark even considering it. Any president other than Trump would have understood this, given Dem control of the house and, if anything, would have talked with Pelosi in private before opening his mouth and making a fool of himself.

Moreover, it's ultimately up to the residents of Greenland whom I doubt are keen on the idea of America strip mining it's resources.
 
bearpoker said:
Here it is. Concern for Greenland's security was just a sham. What Trump really wants is to exploit Greenland's mineral wealth. Thanks for coming clean about it. By the way, nobody said Truman was stupid.
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There's no coming clean. There's it's strategic value, and it's mineral wealth, both of which would benefit the inhabitants. It's how the world works, and don't bother to pretend you're above it. Tennessee is a recipient of resource development, and you reap the benefits just like anyone else.
 
humbolt said:
There's no coming clean. There's it's strategic value, and it's mineral wealth, both of which would benefit the inhabitants. It's how the world works, and don't bother to pretend you're above it. Tennessee is a recipient of resource development, and you reap the benefits just like anyone else.
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The locals don't exactly live large off of jobs in the coal mines. The US already enjoys the strategic advantages of Greenland. If Trump wants to exploit the mineral resources, he should negotiate for them openly. Not just unilaterally try to buy them.
 
chuckiechan said:
Washington Times - Politics, Breaking News, US and World News



It’s a sad state of affairs that the Trump haters can’t even take the day off to understand the strategic implications of securing Greenland as a US territory beyond China’s soft power debt trap.
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From the Washington Times:

Danish leaders said Wednesday they’re shocked by President Trump’s decision to cancel his September visit over their refusal to negotiate the sale of Greenland, saying it caught them off guard and is a personal affront to their queen.

“Total chaos with @realDonaldTrump and cancellation of the state visit [to Denmark]. It has gone from a great opportunity for enhanced dialogue between allies to a diplomatic crisis,” tweeted Kristian Jensen, a Liberal Party member of Denmark’s parliament.

Others cast it as a slight to their royal house. Queen Margrethe II had personally invited Mr. Trump and first lady Melania Trump for a visit with her majesty and Denmark’s political and business leaders.
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The bottom line is that Trump siights Denmark's Queen and cancels a bilateral meeting with an ally because of his ego issues. That is not leadership.

That is the "sad state" you need to focus on
 
chuckiechan said:
Washington Times - Politics, Breaking News, US and World News



It’s a sad state of affairs that the Trump haters can’t even take the day off to understand the strategic implications of securing Greenland as a US territory beyond China’s soft power debt trap.
Click to expand...

This entire presidency is just trump saying stupid **** and then all the reactionary propagandists scramble to make excuses for that stupid ****. Then someone just has to brings those excuses here.

:lol:
 
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