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Right from the start of Trump's Presidency he has openly talked of taking the huge North Atlantic island of Greenland, at first of buying it from Denmark but now, especially post events in Venezuela, there is a widespread fear that he would just enter it and take it militarily
A few dates in the history of this, largely, frozen island:
– 985 Erik the Red, one of the almost legendary figures of the Danish/Viking conquests of those years, founds a colony from Denmark/Iceland (i.e. part of the general Viking world) in Greenland and from this date a proportion of the population of the island are thought to be of this, ultimately, Danish or at least Scandinavian origin. The rest are Inuit, i.e. the same as the Eskimos of Canada and Alaska.
– c.1300. The Europeans lost touch with the above very early Scadanavian settlements about this time, and Greenland was mostly independent, but recognised as under the sovereignty of Denmark, until the early 18th century.
– 1721. Contact re-established and part of the joint Norse Danish monarchy.
– 1916. Lansing Declaration as part of the Greenland treaty of 1916. In this year the Danish sovereign sold to the United Stated their part of the West Indies (including St Croix, which they had bought from France in 1733 and in which the Irish Tuites became prominent) which then became the US Virgin islands, and in this declaration the US Secretary of State recognised the sovereignty of Denmark over Greenland.
– 1941. With the Danish kingdom occupied by the Germans, the Danish ambassador to the US signed off on allowing that government to establish military bases on the island, which are there since.
– 1949. Denmark joins NATO, which it is still a member of. Therefore if the US take Greenland by force, it could involve a war between two NATO countries, a thing unheard of outside the Greek/Turkish disputes.
– 1978. In this year, but effective the next, Denmark granted Home Rule to Greenland, hence since that date its governance is similar to the Channel Islands or the Isle of Man with respect to the UK government, Denmark retains sovereignty and control of military and external relations but concedes local governance. As part of this Greenland left the European Union, the first country or territory to do so.
– 1973-2022. You can see that everybody internationally has always respected the right of Denmark to set the international relations of Greenland, from the events of the gentlemanly 'whiskey war' between these dates. This was a long running dispute between Denmark and Canada as to the ownership of Hans Island, on the West coast of Greenland bordering Canada. Hostilities consisted of successive Canadian and Danish expeditions landing on the island, planting their flag and leaving a bottle of whiskey, until it was divided between the two countries.
It would be quite a stunning act if the US was to take Greenland by force, although with bases already on the island not a militarily difficult one, presumably the effect would be:
– Shattering the solidarity between European NATO members and the US, if the Europeans sided with Denmark which seems likely, which in turn might open the door somewhat for Russia, which is otherwise deterred from entering Europe by the large US forces.
– Establishing a kind of 'might is right' doctrine of world relations, which some say it is already doing with Venezuela. That in turn could cause the smaller countries to come more under the aegis of the larger, UN Security Council member, countries, which might speed up the push to a world government. This effect would be especially pronounced if nuclear weapons start being used internationally, then there might be a scramble for smaller neutral countries to enter into the nuclear 'umbrella' of larger ones.
– Probably further erode Trump's standing among his MAGA base in the US, and certainly increase his unpopularity worldwide, even giving a fillup, possibly, to left wing movements internationally.
Anyway just a few thoughts.
by Brian Nugent, http://www.orwellianireland.com