From: fedora@fea.st
On Wed, 7 Jan 2026 17:01:42 -0800, dart200
wrote:
>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
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