XPost: alt.messianic
From: user7160@newsgrouper.org.invalid
On 1/7/26 10:14 PM, Tara wrote:
> dart200 wrote:
>> On 1/7/26 8:41 PM, Tara wrote:
>>> Tara wrote:
>>>> 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
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