From: user7160@newsgrouper.org.invalid
On 1/7/26 4:47 PM, Noah Sombrero wrote:
> On Wed, 7 Jan 2026 16:38:56 -0800, dart200
> wrote:
>
>> On 1/7/26 12:17 PM, Noah Sombrero wrote:
>>> On Wed, 7 Jan 2026 11:21:30 -0800, dart200
>>> wrote:
>>>
>>>> On 1/7/26 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
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