Telegraph today
Trump’s plan to make Greenlanders an offer they can’t refuse
Sounds more than a little ominous?
Really interesting article covering two things
1) Trumps complete “lie” about Russian and China having ships in Greenland water, not ONE local report from Greenland, across many sources, about spitting even ONE ship.
2) Very very interesting info around Greenland’s minerals. A good read if you have time, link below.
It raises yet again how gun-ho Trump is about getting what he wants, lying, cheating and breaking all kinds of protocol because man-child Trump chooses.
My heart goes out to Greenlanders, who appear very content with Denmark and both Greenland and Denmark have cooperated fully with USA re security since the 1950’s.
My view? Come on Europe, pool ALL your resources and stop this idiot before he ruins our entire world with his greed.
What do you think?
Just in case link doesn’t work, salient points from the article are below, warning, it’s long!
.*Trump’s plan to make Greenlanders an offer they can’t refuse
US proposals to buy the island have been met with protests and alarm by locals
Eir Nolsøe is Economics Correspondent at The Telegraph covering stories on government tax and spend, the labour market and monetary policy.
When Aka Binzer-Johnsen prepared her two daughters for school and nursery after the holidays at the start of January, she felt compelled to tell them about Donald Trump. “I asked my daughters if they could remember from last year that Trump really wants our country,” she says. “I tried to explain in a child-friendly way that this is happening again, and if they hear anything, that’s why.”
The 38-year-old mother, her husband Uju and their daughters, aged five and seven, live on the outskirts of Nuuk, the capital of Greenland.
Home to just 20,000 people, life in the quiet town with colourful wooden houses normally feels safe and far removed from the world’s troubles.
But the US president’s threats to seize Greenland have brought a crisis to Nuuk’s doorstep. “This was always like a safe little bubble,” says Binzer-Johnsen, who is a project manager for a charity. “That’s what we are used to from growing up here.”
She adds: “Everything has changed so fast. People are very scared, and emotions are heightened. I’ve felt really bad about what is going on. I’ve had sleepless nights.
“I have so many questions, wondering what we are going to do. If I want to protect my family, is this the time to act?
“I constantly feel ready to flee and leave, just for a period. But at the same time, we can’t just stop living. Everything we’ve invested in is here: our dreams and our life.”
Such considerations are now weighing on the minds of many Greenlanders, regardless of the territory’s status as a Nato member and having served as an American ally for more than 80 years.
The fate of the world’s largest island has been thrust back into the spotlight this month following Trump’s capture of Nicolás Maduro, the Venezuelan president.
Buoyed by his coup in Latin America, Trump has now set his sights on Greenland, the sparsely populated autonomous Danish territory.
“We need Greenland from a national security situation,” Mr Trump said last week, adding that he may have to choose between preserving Nato or expanding America’s influence in the western hemisphere.
“It’s so strategic. Right now, Greenland is covered with Russian and Chinese ships all over the place.”
The threats have sent alarm bells ringing in Copenhagen and Brussels, prompting stunned European leaders to issue a joint statement saying they will “not stop defending” Greenland.
However, it should not come as a surprise.
The US president has long been fascinated by Greenland, which has been part of the Danish kingdom for hundreds of years, like the Faroe Islands.
Trump first proposed buying the island during his first term in 2019, comparing it to “a large real estate deal”.
Seven years later, he has returned to the issue, alternating between threats of military force and offers to make Greenlanders rich.
All in all, last week’s events suggest the US president may be determined to make Greenlanders an offer they can’t refuse.
However, in Nuuk, the mood is one of anger and defiance.
“He can go f--- himself,” is the verdict from a local pensioner.
So why has the world’s most powerful man decided that, come hell or high water, he must own the world’s largest island?
“The Arctic is the crossroads of the world,” says Dwayne Menezes, founder of the Polar Research and Policy Initiative in London.
“Greenland is strategically located along the shortest air and sea routes between three continents: North America, Europe and Asia.”
The country’s position means it would offer the shortest route for ballistic missiles targeting North America, and it is key to surveillance in the Arctic.
“It also is a vast resource frontier, all of which is becoming increasingly strategically important for the US, but also increasingly accessible because of climate change,” Menezes adds.
The US has cooperated with Greenland and Denmark on national security since the Second World War.
Americans operate the island’s only military base. Some 150 US soldiers staff the Pituffik Space Base on the north-west coast, down from 6,000 during the Cold War.
This is part of a defence agreement that has been in place between the US and Denmark since 1951.
“The US has had such critical infrastructure in Greenland since the Second World War, through the Cold War, and more recently, even now, it plays a very, very important role for the Space Force,” Menezes says.
Experts and locals are also sceptical of US claims that the island’s waters are full of ships from hostile states that pose a threat.
“If there are so many Chinese and Russian ships here, then how can it be that only Donald Trump has seen them?” says Frans Heilmann, the boss of fishing company Sigguk.
Heilmann adds: “All of Greenland is full of fishing trawlers. I have not heard of a single trawler that has spotted either a Russian or Chinese vessel near our coasts.
“I am not sure he [Trump] has much of a conscience. He says Greenland’s strategic position means he needs us for national security.
“But he already has that. That argument is worthless. He’s just after the minerals. He’s a trophy hunter.”
The suspicion that Trump’s interest in Greenland is its vast deposits of rare earths is widespread.
“It’s not really any more about wanting to get Greenland because of security reasons, but coming up with security reasons to get Greenland,” says Menezes.*
The island is rich in resources ranging from uranium that can be used to power nuclear plants to obscure minerals critical for modern-day electronics.*
apple.news/ADUBx4ZdcRbmK5xmG_p4znw
Smileless2012
Due to his lack of intelligence David, Trump doesn't understand that if he increases tariffs those who are hit will do the same and if these are goods America can't get from someone else or supply themselves, Americans will also be faced with higher prices.
Indeed.
Does he care?
Smileless2012
Due to his lack of intelligence David, Trump doesn't understand that if he increases tariffs those who are hit will do the same and if these are goods America can't get from someone else or supply themselves, Americans will also be faced with higher prices.
Yes consumers will pay more for home produced goods but that would improve the domestic economy instead of foreign, exactly the same with foreign ownership maybe we get a cheap short term fix but any profit goes overseas.
Thats why the foreign billionaires get richer because our money goes overseas where we cant tax it, then we have to borrow more back to make up.
Consumers pay the same for home produced goods, not more. it's the imported goods (some partly manufactured in the US) that will cost more. It's a tax on the US consumer unless the additional cost is absorbed by the US retailer, which then reduces their profit margins. Tariffs won't work in a manufacturing system that relies on using foreign labour or foreign resources to keep costs low. Trump's understanding of economics is as limited as his use of the English language....very basic!
David49
Smileless2012
Due to his lack of intelligence David, Trump doesn't understand that if he increases tariffs those who are hit will do the same and if these are goods America can't get from someone else or supply themselves, Americans will also be faced with higher prices.
Yes consumers will pay more for home produced goods but that would improve the domestic economy instead of foreign, exactly the same with foreign ownership maybe we get a cheap short term fix but any profit goes overseas.
Thats why the foreign billionaires get richer because our money goes overseas where we cant tax it, then we have to borrow more back to make up.
They are paying more for imported goods already. Whatever happens, Americans are not going to be better off in the short to medium term.
Its not about consumers being better off in the short term, its about building an economy that doesnt borrow 125% of its GDP and rising.
The US is very fortunate having a massive tech industry which is very profitable but the failure of the rest of its manufacturing industry has resulted in foreign companies taking all the profit out of the country. The US doesnt have large numbers of foreign workers, it allows migrants to become citizens and despite Trump many millions more want to enter the US.
I disagree profoundly with Trumps methods but the US badly needs to sort out its foreign debt problem, only they have the financial power to change the system where money flows to the wealthy and taxation is done fairly.
Just picked up on this.
"Over the weekend, there was news of Donald Trump imposing tariffs on European countries as a result of their unwillingness to let him buy Greenland.
Starting with a 10% levy on February 1st, this will rise to 25% in June unless the UK and Eurozone countries allow him to purchase Greenland."
Pretty outrageous and will be very damaging if it goes ahead.
Trump is citing Chagos as a reason for his need to buy Greenland.
The UK and Eurozone countries can't allow him to purchase Greenland, it's not ours or theirs to sell.
A UK decision he supported in May 2025 ronib.
And Mr Trump was so keen on the Chagos agreement, weeks ago... perhaps he's forgotten that.
Do we suppose that if a peace prize was given to him with a big fat ceremony and everything arranged that he would just go away and hug his trophy?
Something tells me that could work with a man who’s ego is the size of his stupidity.
Sadly Fallingstar I just think it would convince him that throwing his weight around can get him anything that he wants.
David49
Trump is doing the right thing about tariffs, the US is buying too many goods from overseas ( UK too) and not exporting enough to balance it. Every dollar on the negative side increases the national debt, most polititians are only interested in votes today so cheap goods make voters happy dont worry ablut paying it back
"Starting with a 10% levy on February 1st, this will rise to 25% in June unless the UK and Eurozone countries allow him to purchase Greenland"
Now I see why you posted "Trump is doing the right thing about tariffs" when I read your post next day that you only just picked up on Trumps proposed 10% more tariffs - not even the right thing for the US, and wrong for the UK and Eurozone countries too. The rest of us have been posting in the knowledge of this impulsive and senseless threat by Trump.
Sighs - and I could believe a comment that came up this morning on Trump not apparently believed something solar-powered would work if the sun wasnt shining. I'm absolutely not into technology - but even I know better than that and I'm not president of a superpower.....Duh!
But I've long since found out what they say the IQ's of US presidents are and they always always seem to say they are at least 130 (errrrm....ie that means "gifted"). Goes off to check what they say his is....
Funnily enough - there are no claims online that I could see stating what his IQ is. There's a surprise - which I interpret as "They don't dare....".
But the US speaker is currently addressing the House of Commons…. Boy can he talk but what is the message?
But I've long since found out what they say the IQ's of US presidents are and they always always seem to say they are at least 130
I don't think that Reagan was overendowed with IQ. He was just a good actor, memorised and spoke other people's lines well...
CariadAgain
Sighs - and I could believe a comment that came up this morning on Trump not apparently believed something solar-powered would work if the sun wasnt shining. I'm absolutely not into technology - but even I know better than that and I'm not president of a superpower.....Duh!
But I've long since found out what they say the IQ's of US presidents are and they always always seem to say they are at least 130 (errrrm....ie that means "gifted"). Goes off to check what they say his is....
You can produce power without sunlight
Technology has moved on a pace since we bought our first ones about 1994. We bought some in 2008 and the power input was significantly higher.
www.ecorenewablesgroup.co.uk/do-solar-panels-need-direct-sunlight/
Russia is praising Trump for trying to take Greenland.
Weakening Nato and Europe is very good news for Putin. Also it makes his own invasion of Ukraine seem more acceptable.
ronib
But the US speaker is currently addressing the House of Commons…. Boy can he talk but what is the message?
The message is keep calm and carry on, which I think is what we are doing anyway.
Doubtful that the new tariffs will be enforced.
Russia cheering Trump on to take Greenland is worrying. BBC news.
AGAA4
Russia cheering Trump on to take Greenland is worrying. BBC news.
This is the world right now, where Trump has more in common with Putin than erstwhile allies. Which is why these erstwhile allies need to move with the times and realise the threat they face, not just from Putin but Trump as well.
Erstwhile allies including the UK need to stay calm, state our case but stay on the side of the US.He won’t be President forever.
Smileless2012
A UK decision he supported in May 2025 ronib.
The deal was supported by the US government.
www.state.gov/u-s-support-for-uk-and-mauritius-agreement-on-chagos-archipelago
AGAA4
Russia cheering Trump on to take Greenland is worrying. BBC news.
I don’t think that’s a surprise. It would in Putin’s eyes justify his invasion of Ukraine.
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