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The Art of the Deal: Greenland Edition
Greenland in 10 years?
The idea of the U.S. purchasing Greenland has captured the former real-estate developer’s imagination, according to people familiar with the discussions, who said Mr. Trump has, with varying degrees of seriousness, repeatedly expressed interest in buying the ice-covered autonomous Danish territory between the North Atlantic and Arctic oceans.
In meetings, at dinners and in passing conversations, Mr. Trump has asked advisers whether the U.S. can acquire Greenland, listened with interest when they discuss its abundant resources and geopolitical importance and, according to two of the people, has asked his White House counsel to look into the idea.
Some of his advisers have supported the concept, saying it was a good economic play, two of the people said, while others dismissed it as a fleeting fascination that will never come to fruition. It is also unclear how the U.S. would go about acquiring Greenland even if the effort were serious.
Caddy at Trump Kangilinnguit Golf Club and Casino.
America already has a toehold on Greenland via Thule Air Base on a northwest corner of the island. But why would we want any more of the territory? The same reason we built that bleak Cold War outpost: national security.
China has sought more property in the Arctic and the Pentagon had to block three Chinese-funded airports on Greenland just last year. It would also provide a nice legacy for Trump since President Truman was unable to make the same deal.
And, let’s face it, Trump is a real estate guy. If he can get 836,000 square miles for a few billion, it’s worth it. The island looks like a wasteland now, but we can all see him rebranding the southwestern coast “Greenland’s Riviera” and building a golf course and casino.
What do you think: is buying Greenland a crazy idea or one worth considering?
Published in General
Buy them all, because: why not?
The population of Greenland is only 56,171. That’s basically the same size as American Samoa, 55,519. There would have to be a population boom before a U.S. Greenland could become a state.
I heard recently that apparently one of the two Greenland cultures, the Dorset people, died out about 600 to 1100 years ago. Although apparently, in 1903 a British whaling ship stopped by the last colony on an island in Hudson Bay. One of the sailors was sick, and within months all the natives were dead.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dorset_culture
He said babes, not babies.
We would?
We shall be going for whole continents next. Here we come, Australia!
Plus they already speak English.
Buy Denmark too. That’s the only Scandinavia/Nordic country without single-payer health care. According to one survey Denmark is the only country in Europe with health care worse health care than the United Kingdom.
According to International Monetary Fund and World Bank data, the United States is #8 when ranking countries by GDP per capita while Denmark is #9 on both lists:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_GDP_(nominal)_per_capita
In exchange for Greenland, we forgive Denmark’s failure to live up to its NATO spending commitment for the last few decades.
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-11-20/trump-s-nato-spending-demand-would-break-denmark-s-welfare-state
Can anyone name the last territory added to the United States? A hint: it was added after 1950.
The Moon? 😜
I didn’t know it was for sale….but the first thing that came to mind was for national security and military advantage – so great idea.
The Northwest Ordinance requires a population of at least 60,000 before a territory can petition to become a state.
If we do buy Greenland maybe we could convince the SJWs that if enough of them establish residence in Greenland that they can get their own SJW state. (Maybe name it Portlandia . . . ) If we are lucky we could get 20-50K of them to freeze their tushes up there.
Since they are massively ignorant of history and law, we don’t have to tell them Congress has to approve the petition before they become a state, and is unlikely to permit a state with a population under 1 million. Just let them go up and freeze in the dark. (Because they are going to live in an environmentally-friendly way, right? Solar and wind power exclusively for electricity.)
We should buy Greenland and make it a part of Rhode Island, turning the smallest state into the largest state.
They were one of the few West European countries in the Coalition of the willing.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coalition_of_the_willing
They do have a navy. They have three destroyers. Most NATO countries have zero. France has 11, the UK has 6, Spain has 5, and Italy and the Netherlands each have 4. Romania has 3, I guess, just to protect themselves from being Crimea-ized on the Black Sea. NATO countries Germany, Turkey, and Canada don’t have any destroyers, and Canada had the fifth-largest naval surface fleet at the end of World War II.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_active_Royal_Danish_Navy_ships
No, make it part of Guam or Puerto Rico just to be really confusing.
No one Belize that.
Depends on what you mean by territory. There is disputed territory between Texas and Mexico added every once and a while when a decision is reached along the Rio Grande.
Guam was the last territory organized and added though it had been in American hands since the Spanish-American War with a Japanese interlude.
I enjoyed working with the Danes when I was in Afghanistan. Very professional.
Nothing wrong with purchasing an unsinkable aircraft carrier. Between Iceland and Greenland you would be able to control the airspace over the North Atlantic. You would be able to deny Ivan the Viking a place to base short range fighter aircraft from reaching Canada, or the US.
It already has the longest official name.
Combined with Kentucky bourbon, we’d then our strategic cocktail bar reserve fully stocked at last.
Are the three ships destroyers or big frigates. Wiki says big frigates. Those other countries also have big frigates (pick your threshold 4500 tons, 5000, tons…). But you do not count other countries’ similar or larger ships as destroyers.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_active_German_Navy_ships
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_active_Spanish_Navy_ships
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_active_Italian_Navy_ships#Major_surface_combatants
You are counting French FREMM as destroyers but not Italian FREMM
There was one much later, officially. As in during the Reagan Administration.
During World War Two, the U.K. invaded Iceland for strategic reasons, out of the fear of Germany getting there first and encircling the U.K., given that Germany had already invaded Norway. The Brit’s were polite invaders and kept to themselves, leaving Iceland to govern themselves in all areas others than foreign affairs and military issues. At the end of World War Two the Brits left.
I wonder if Greenlanders would have been more open to the idea if it was proposed by Obama.
Common objections among Greenlanders is considerable, but not really a deal breaker. The fact is that revolutions, annexations, and such never follow unanimous decisions.
America was founded despite many Americans wishing to remain British citizens. Eskimos were not consulted when we bought Alaska only recently. Hawaii islanders still like to think of the islands as theirs, but there are happy Hawaiins on the mainland too now.
Perhaps Greenland would turn out more like Puerto Rico than Alaska. Closer than Hawaii, yet generally ignored by Americans.
In any case, the President could instead establish a treaty to accomplish our aims without conquest. If the Greenland economy becomes focused on American markets and largely operated by Americans over time, their tune might change.
No. The longest full name of a state is “The State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations.”
The difference between a frigate and a destroyer or even cruiser is pretty vague, especially if you include different nations, which will have different standards.
For instance, one of my dad’s ships, USS Belknap, was a “destroyer leader” and later reclassified as a cruiser. Ships that were once destroyers were reclassified as frigates. The classifications are just names, and since the Washington Naval Treaty is no longer in force, there isn’t much consistency in classifying ships.
Aaugh! It was the highlight bug. This is the reply I clicked on, but must have had the other words highlighted somewhere in the thread.
Not quite. During WWII the Brits left and the Americans took over the base. NAS Keflavik continued to operate until the 90’s if I’m not mistaken. I lived there from 75-77.
Google says it’s the Northern Marianas. Who knew?