talkpolitics | Not for sale!

"Not for sale!" Someone with Trump's finances is probably not used to hearing that phrase too often. But this time he had to swallow it, now that the Greenland authorities have publicly rejected his real estate offer. Who knew... Greenland isn't for sale!

Then in one of his typical kindergarten sort of tantrum-like reactions, Trump first trolled Denmark some more by placing a pic much like the one displayed above, only "promising" them he wouldn't turn the pristine island into one of his Mar-A-Lago-ish resorts; then, after receiving the logical refusal of the "real estate deal" he fancied, he eventually decided to cancel his visit to Denmark (good riddance, eh?) Hmmm... I'm sure a few champagne corks have popped around both Copenhagen and Nuuk today.

This is not the first time the US has attempted to purchase the huge Arctic island, and not even the first time Trump himself has expressed such plans, at times tongue in cheek, other times perhaps a bit more seriously, of acquiring Greenland. Although it is still Danish property, the island has enjoyed autonomy since 1979. In 2008, a referendm decided to grant even wider autonomy to the province. Denmark has had some problems lately with the subsidies to Greenland, which is where Trump decided to step in. Or more like, decided to probe the ground. Kind of.

You might think this is yet another strange whim of his, an illogical and inexplicable temporary fascination of his. After all, Greenland is a huge frozen island inhabited by a mere 56 thousand people, 80% of its territory an Arctic desert. And though Trump never said why exactly he wants Greenland, it is not like reasons do not abound.

One is geopolitical. The US has a military base at Thule, at the north-western tip of the island, hosting a radar station, part of the anti-ballistic early warning system. The base is being used by two agencies, the cosmic command of the air force, and NORAD itself.

The second reason is that Greenland supposedly has huge stockpiles of mineral resources, from iron ore to rubins, uranium, nickel, aluminum, copper, etc. Because of the ancient ice coat, these riches have remained untouched. But now global warming (which Trump still vehemently denies) is changing this. In 2019 NASA reported two of the biggest ice melts in Greenland's history. So, these resources are about to become more accessible.

Like I said, the US has tried to purchase Greenland before. They also have a history of buying off other territories: Alaska from the Russians in 1867, the Philippines from Spain in 1898, the Virgin Islands from Denmark in 1917, and Louisiana from France in 1803. So it is not such a big surprise that a US president would want to buy Greenland. The first one to try that was 1867 sedretary of state William Seward, who sent Denmark such a proposal. The Department of State came up with a report that Greenland was of big strategic importance, and hosted vast resources, so it would be a valuable acquisition.

Then in 1946, Truman's secretary of state James Burns also approached the Danish foreign minister at a UN meeting in New York, with a similar proposal. Again, no deal was reached.

It is obvious that no deal will be reached this time either, and the Greenland government was swift to disperse the rumours with a sharp tweet (which is Trump's turf of communication):

"Greenland is rich in valuable resources such as minerals, the purest water and ice, fish stocks, seafood, renewable energy and is a new frontier for adventure tourism. We're open for business, not for sale."

The public in Denmark also responded with both hostility and scorn to Trump's idea. The general response was, "Thanks but no thanks". Former Danish prime minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen called the move absurd, and insinuated that this must have been a belated April Fool's joke.

I recently saw a list at Politico, where they half-jokingly suggested a few other potential acquisitions that Trump could also focus on:

- Britain, for the purposes of further facilitating trans-Atlantic trade;
- Ireland, thus ridding the UK of the pesky Irish border issue that is hindering the smooth Brexit;
- Easter Island (although there is no wifi there, so, no tweeting from there);
- New Zealand, the second densely populated place in terms of golfing courses per capita, after Scotland;
- The micronation of Sealand, now an abandoned oil platform in the North Sea (it has awesome postal marks, though).

Joke aside, now that president Trump has scrapped his meetings with the prime ministers of Denmark and Greenland that were planned in Copenhagen for next month, thus sparing these countries any chance of Being Made Great Again, I'm sure both the Danes and Greenlanders can breathe a bit more calmly - I mean, for now. =)