Whether or not it got here from Will Rogers or Tony Soprano, the previous tip to “purchase land, God’s not making any extra of it” is sweet actual property recommendation, but it surely’s hardly an iron legislation. To begin with, God does make extra land from time to time. And so do humans. This raises a second well-known piece of recommendation, additionally of unclear authorship. Relating to actual property solely three issues matter: location, location and placement.
Which brings us to Greenland.
Donald Trump desires to accumulate it. Nay, he says we need to accumulate it. The final time he was president, he floated the idea and was roundly mocked for it. However not by me, and I’m hardly opposed to mocking Trump when the second requires it. For myriad causes, it will be in our curiosity for the USA to annex, lease, soak up or in any other case purchase the large island. Crucial of those causes is, after all, location.
That’s why I’ve lengthy thought buying Greenland — peacefully! — was a good suggestion. (Certainly, final yr, I despaired of the “Greenland effect” — the phenomenon whereby Trump’s embrace of a good suggestion makes it much less common). However my opinion doesn’t rely for a lot.
James Stavridis, the previous Supreme Allied Commander of NATO, and hardly a MAGA toady, agrees with Trump. He writes that the Mexico-sized island “is an important aspect of the Greenland-Iceland-UK ‘hole’ that guards the northern approaches to the Atlantic Ocean from Russian naval forces.”
It’s additionally believed Greenland has enormous deposits of crucial rare-earth minerals, important to all method of high-tech industries, industries China is making an attempt to regulate or dominate, partially by establishing a close to monopoly on such sources.
Lengthy earlier than anybody appreciated the significance of these things, the Truman administration acknowledged the worth of Greenland and tried to persuade the Danes — who administer the quasi-independent nation — to half with it. The Danes politely stated no. However the situation was largely resolved just a few years later when Denmark grew to become a founding member of the NATO alliance. They agreed to work with us on utilizing it to bolster Western defenses.
Trump claims that’s not adequate. In a recent press conference, he refused to rule out the usage of drive to take Greenland (and the Panama Canal).
“For functions of Nationwide Safety and Freedom all through the World, the USA of America feels that the possession and management of Greenland is an absolute necessity,” the president-elect insists.
One of the best protection — actually the one protection — of Trump’s rhetoric is that it’s a negotiating tactic: Begin with an outlandish ask, after which discover a compromise that will have been inconceivable with out it.
The issue with turd-polishing Trump’s rhetoric on this occasion is that Denmark and Greenland are already generously cooperating with the U.S. on nationwide safety points. We actually have an important navy set up in Greenland already.
So, what may the compromise be? Some particular leasing deal for mining? OK, perhaps. However, absolutely, there’s a greater solution to pursue that with a longtime ally than threatening navy drive.
Buying Greenland is a severe concept, however pursuing it in an unserious manner is worse than not pursuing it in any respect.
If Trump went full-Putin and invaded Greenland, and even significantly threatened to by deploying ships to intimidate Denmark, it will doubtless spell the top of NATO. The supposed rationale for controlling Greenland is to discourage Russia and shield the “freedom” of the world. However Vladimir Putin would see the implosion of NATO as a small worth for the transformation of Greenland into an arctic Puerto Rico (by the best way, Trump as soon as floated the concept of trading Puerto Rico for Greenland).
Much more annoying: Trump and his sycophants have spent the higher a part of the final decade insisting that the GOP was kidnapped by “neocon” warmongers and imperialists hell-bent on “provoking” “overseas wars” for summary targets like “freedom.”
Say what you’ll in regards to the calumnies and blood libel in opposition to “neocons,” none of them floated the concept of frightening a overseas struggle with democratic allies.
However when Trump threatens precisely that, nicely, that’s just so cool apparently.
The individuals who insist that Trumpian nationalism is a Very Severe Thought invariably discover themselves having to bend their Very Severe Arguments to the truth that Trump doesn’t care about arguments and concepts. He’s only a actual property man who likes placing his identify on stuff.
