From: tsm@fastmail.ca
dart200 wrote:
> On 1/7/26 6:49 PM, Tara wrote:
>> dart200 wrote:
>>> On 1/7/26 6:27 PM, Tara wrote:
>>>> dart200 wrote:
>>>>> On 1/7/26 11:24 AM, 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
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* Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)
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