From: tsm@fastmail.ca
On Jan 7, 2026 at 2:42:26 PM EST, "Julian" wrote:
> On 07/01/2026 19:33, Tara wrote:
>> On Jan 7, 2026 at 2:24:54 PM EST, "Dude" wrote:
>>
>>> On 1/7/2026 10:55 AM, Noah Sombrero wrote:
>>>> On Wed, 7 Jan 2026 10:27:51 -0800, Dude wrote:
>>>>
>>>>> On 1/6/2026 6:55 PM, dart200 wrote:
>>>>>> On 1/6/26 6:53 PM, dart200 wrote:
>>>>>>> On 1/6/26 10:21 AM, Julian wrote:
>>>>>>>> It was the Viking, Eric the Red who, in AD 986, first saw
Greenland’s
>>>>>>>> potential. He wanted to colonise his newly-discovered island, and in
>>>>>>>> a blatant piece of tenth-century spin-doctoring hit on a wizard
>>>>>>>> wheeze to encourage other Norse people to come to this bleak, icy and
>>>>>>>> remote corner of the unknown world:
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> ‘In the summer, Erik left to settle in the country he had found,
>>>>>>>> which he called Greenland, as he said people would be attracted there
>>>>>>>> if it had a favourable name.‘
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> More than a thousand years later, US president Donald Trump is
>>>>>>>> proposing something similar.
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> ‘It’s a large real estate deal. Owning Greenland is vital for US
>>>>>>>> security… and economic security… It’s an absolute necessity and
I
>>>>>>>> cannot assure you that we would not use military or economic
coercion.‘
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> That may sound outlandish. But Trump’s ambition isn’t new. America
>>>>>>>> has controlled Greenland before: during the Second World War, it
>>>>>>>> became a de facto US protectorate. The US has also previously sought
>>>>>>>> to buy Greenland; in 1946, it offered $100 million in gold bullion;
>>>>>>>> around $7 billion in today’s money.
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> For now, Greenland belongs to Denmark. But Denmark’s ownership of
>>>>>>>> Greenland is itself a piece of bare-faced colonialism, as a glance at
>>>>>>>> their policy of forced assimilation in the 1940s and 50s makes clear.
>>>>>>>> As a result, the Danes are much resented by most Greenlanders.
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> Greenland has been moving towards independence almost as long as it
>>>>>>>> has been a colony of Denmark. They were granted Home Rule in 1979.
>>>>>>>> This was expanded to full self-rule with the 2009 Self-Government Act
>>>>>>>> – legislation that also handed Greenland the right to declare
>>>>>>>> independence. Today, Denmark retains control only of defence, foreign
>>>>>>>> affairs, and monetary policy. The 2023 Greenlandic constitution
>>>>>>>> explicitly commits the island to independence; and in his 2025 New
>>>>>>>> Year speech, Greenland’s prime minister, Múte Egede, called for an
>>>>>>>> end to ‘the shackles of colonialism’ and a future shaped by
>>>>>>>> Greenlanders themselves.
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> The final umbilical cord linking Greenland to Denmark is the annual
>>>>>>>> block grant of 3.9 billion kroner (roughly £410 million), making up
>>>>>>>> about 19 per cent of Greenland’s GDP. But to put that in
perspective,
>>>>>>>> it is less than the amount annually spent by the US on the city of El
>>>>>>>> Paso, Texas. And it is minuscule compared to the mineral wealth
>>>>>>>> Greenland could one day command in partnership with a deep-pocketed
>>>>>>>> ally, of whom there are at least three: America, China and Russia.
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> China, in particular, has shown intense interest. At one point,
>>>>>>>> Beijing proposed a $2.5 billion (£1.8 billion) investment in a
>>>>>>>> Greenlandic mine (more than the island’s entire GDP), which would
>>>>>>>> have brought in 5,000 Chinese workers. Then they proposed massive
>>>>>>>> infrastructure investments, including a deep-sea port and two
>>>>>>>> international airports. These would require capital which would leave
>>>>>>>> Greenland beholden for all time. Denmark and the US, unsurprisingly,
>>>>>>>> blocked these plans.
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> So why are the great powers so keen to own Greenland? Natural
>>>>>>>> resources are a big reason why. The great powers’ unashamed lust for
>>>>>>>> Greenland’s rare earths is but one element of a global race to
>>>>>>>> control the production of the strategic minerals which are essential
>>>>>>>> components of batteries, phones, electric vehicles and all modern
>>>>>>>> computing devices. It’s about silicon, germanium, phosphorus, boron,
>>>>>>>> indium phosphide, gallium, graphite, uranium, copper, lithium, cobalt
>>>>>>>> and nickel, among others. He who controls their production holds the
>>>>>>>> key to the digital globe.
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> Odd as it may sound, it’s also about Taiwan. Taiwan manufactures
over
>>>>>>>> 60 per cent of the world’s semiconductors and more than 90 per cent
>>>>>>>> of its most advanced chips. If China were ever to carry out its
>>>>>>>> threat to invade Taiwan (which some observers think may be imminent,
>>>>>>>> perhaps encouraged by Donald Trump’s daring raid on Venezuela), it
>>>>>>>> would gain near-total control of the global microchip supply. Do we
>>>>>>>> really want to be dependent on China for every phone, computer and
>>>>>>>> electric vehicle produced in the West?
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> The US needs to develop chip-making capabilities comparable to
>>>>>>>> Taiwan’s. To achieve this it needs reliable sources for the 50 or so
>>>>>>>> critical minerals required. And Greenland holds concentrated
>>>>>>>> quantities of 30 of them, amounting to a considerable chunk of the
>>>>>>>> world’s total rare earth reserves. But the reality is that with a
>>>>>>>> population of just 57,000 – many of them Inuit fishermen and hunters
>>>>>>>> – Greenland lacks the industrial infrastructure to extract these
>>>>>>>> minerals. Both China and the US would be keen to fill that gap.
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> Another great attraction of Greenland is its strategic position. As
>>>>>>>> the ice melts – at a rate of as much as 270 billion tonnes per year
–
>>>>>>>> several strategic sea routes are being opened up. The world is waking
>>>>>>>> up to the potential strategic value of Greenland, the largest non-
>>>>>>>> continental island on Earth. Greenland controls the top end of the
>>>>>>>> Greenland–Iceland–UK Gap. This area is crucial to Nato submarine
>>>>>>>> surveillance and was vital in resupplying Europe during WWII. It also
>>>>>>>> hosts the Thule Air Base (now renamed Pituffik Space Base), an
>>>>>>>> essential part of US air defence and missile early warning systems.
>>>>>>>> Any Russian missile strike on the US would pass directly over
>>>>>>>> Greenland. Since 2017, Thule has housed a key ballistic missile
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