XPost: alt.messianic
From: tsm@fastmail.ca
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
>>>>>>>>>>>>>> – Greenland lacks the industrial infrastructure to extract
these
>>>>>>>>>>>>>> minerals. Both China and the US would be keen to fill that gap.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
[continued in next message]
--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)
|
