Depends on Whose Ox Is Being Gored

"There are two rumours afloat tonight, but we can confirm nothing. One, that the German fleet has sailed into the Kattegat, north of Denmark, west of Sweden and south of Norway, and is heading for the Skagerrak. Two, that a German expeditionary force is forming at the Baltic pots and that dozens of passenger ships have been hurriedly collected to transport it to Scandinavia."

April 9, 1940

"Hitler this spring day has occupied a couple more countries. At dawn Nazi forces invaded the two neutral states of Denmark and Norway in order, as an official statement piously puts it, 'to protect their freedom and independence'. After twelve swift hours it seems all but over. Denmark, with whom Hitler signed a ten-year non-aggression pact only a year ago, has been completely overrun, and all important military points in Norway, including the capital, are now in Nazi hands. The news is stupefying. Copenhagen occupied this morning, Oslo this afternoon, Kristiansand this evening. All the great Norwegian ports, Narvik, Trondheim, Bergen, Stavanger, captured."

"The Fuhrer has given his answer ... Germany has occupied Danish and Norwegian soil in order to protect those countries from the Allies, and will defend their true neutrality until the end of the war." 

"A special communique of the High Command said Copenhagen had been completely occupied by eight a.m. The German forces, it said, had been transported in ships from Baltic ports during the night, landed at Copenhagen at dawn, and had first occupied the citadel and the radio station."

"It was clear that the Danes had offered no resistance whatsoever. The Norwegians, it appeared, had, though the Germans were confident it would cease by nightfall."

"The Danish Minister here had protested in the Wilhelmstrasse early this morning, but had added quickly that Denmark was not in a position to fight Germany. The Norwegians were not supposed to fight, but apparently did. There are reports of German naval losses. All the Danish and Norwegian correspondents were fished out of their beds at dawn this morning and locked up at the Kaiserhof. It was the first they knew that their countries had been 'protected'.

"Tomorrow the Volkische Beobacter, Hitler's own pride (and money-maker) will bannerline in red ink: "GERMANY SAVES SCANDINAVIA!"

Berlin Diary, William L. Shirer 

Arrival of a transport of Dutch Jews in the Theresienstadt ghetto. Czechoslovakia, February 1944.

"...Thanks to the proximity of Sweden 7,200 Jews and some 700 of their non-Jewish relatives were transported to safety in the course of three weeks in October 1943. In some cases Jews were caught by the local authorities; some did not want to leave; others had no means or connections enabling them to embark on the journey. A total of 482 Jews, mostly elderly and sick, were caught and deported to the camp of Theresienstadt."

"The rescue operation by the Danish underground is exceptional because of the widespread agreement and resolve of many Danes from all walks of life – intellectuals, priests, policemen, doctors, blue-color workers – to save the Jews. While some Danes were pro-Nazi and even joined the Waffen SS and participated in war crimes, the underground members implemented the unique rescue. They viewed it as a national refutation of Nazi Germany and a reaffirmation of democratic and humanistic values. It should be noted that since the 1990’s historians have uncovered new perspectives of this operation. Danish scholars have shown that in many cases big sums of money were paid to the seamen who brought the Jews across to Sweden."

Yad Vashem 

 

That was then. This is now. Now, Denmark and Sweden suggest that Israel be booted out of the United Nations. This would be the United Nations that has, over the years, sanctioned Israel on hundreds of occasions while studiously overlooking the human rights abuses of two members of the permanent Security Council, China and Russia, and obliging Iran with critical UN positions and rarely sanctioning any Islamic-majority states for their institutionalized human rights crimes. Denmark has, while declaring itself a friend of Israel and is a home to 7,000 Danish Jews, consistently voted against Israel at the UN.

 

Statement on behalf of Denmark, France, Greece, Slovenia and the United Kingdom.We welcome the important progress that has been made in recent months to end the bloodshed in Gaza, secure the release of the hostages and turn the page on two tragic years of conflict.While the international community is focused on building a peaceful and prosperous future for Gaza, we must not forget what is happening in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem.

 

Israel has suffered 80 years of grievous violence committed against it and its people through lethal attacks by the Palestinian community in its unrelenting war against the Jewish State. While European countries talk incessantly of a 'two-state solution', and Israel was willing to make an agreement with the leaders of the Palestinians, each one was refused, even when Israel's outreach sought to make accommodations for all the demands of the Palestinians. To no avail. To this day, no Palestinian leader will agree to recognize Israel. Without that formal concession there is no two-state solution. For Palestinians anticipate that only Israel's destruction is acceptable, leaving the Palestinians to claim Judean ancestral land for their own.

 

The fiction of Palestinians living in 'occupied' territory cannot stand up to scrutiny. Without Israel's constant military oversight of the Palestinian territories, lethal attacks would simply proliferate as they once did, before Israel took steps to materially separate itself from the Palestinian side, making it difficult for terrorists and ordinary Palestinian citizens to enter Israel with the intention to murder Jews. With no intention to live in peace and mutual security with Israel, the Palestinians still manage to convince the West that they wish to live in peace. October 7, 2023, punctured that fantasy, but not convincingly enough for Israel's detractors.

 

Denmark has assembled the support of the European Union and other allies in its resistance to President Donald Trump's determination to coerce, threaten, and bully Greenland and Denmark into agreeing to hand over the strategic Arctic island to the United States for 'security' purposes. Denmark is outraged that the Kingdom's protectorate status of long standing of Greenland is under pressure from the United States. There is no end of support for its refusal to succumb to either blandishment or raging accusation from President Donald Trump.

 

Yet the blood shed of thousands of Israeli Jews by Palestinians and the reality that the Palestinian leadership which has groomed its population since 1948 to consider Jews and Israel their enemy needing to be vanquished by any means in an ongoing territorial battle with a country that wants and deserves to live in peace is of total disinterest to Israel's critics -- among them nations that had long been considered by Israel to be among its allies. Immense oil wealth in Arab sheikdoms has enabled states like Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Iran to invest heavily in Western universities, in concert with the Muslim Brotherhood whose agenda is Israel's destruction.

 

Yet such transparent ploys fail to penetrate the logic-oblivious mind of Western governments, which  give heed to slanderous accusations against Israel, in the process to delegitimize the Jewish State whose presence is an assurance of defence of Jews throughout the world now facing a mind-wrenching ambush of virulent antisemitism fuelled by the Middle Eastern enemies of Israel who manipulate wider public opinion on charges of 'genocide' against a nation that has never been free of violent deadly attacks seeking its annihilation.

 

Greenlanders as the original inhabitants of their Arctic island, can be defended against the territorial-acquisitive manoeuvering of a powerful nation's president, with an outraged world looking on and Denmark surrounded with sympathetic allies. Israel, on the other hand, facing existential dilemmas, is viewed as an instigator of violence against a population that claims its territory as their own while perfecting terrorism to a fine degree of barbarity.

 

 

American Imperialist Exceptionalism : Don-Roe Doctrine, The Trump Corollary

"[There is a will and a determination to] reassert and enforce the Monroe Doctrine to restore American preeminence in the Western Hemisphere, and to protect our homeland and our access to key geographies throughout the region."

"[And to] deny non-Hemispheric competitors the ability to position forces ... or to own or control strategically vital assets in our Hemisphere." 

U.S. (Trump) National Security Strategy 

 

"It's a policy now of might is right -- not only tariff baton to tantrum diplomacy, but might is right."

"And Trump's statements recently about Greenland, about 'fixing' Mexico, even about Colombia and Cuba should put Canada on alert footing."

" -- There's a new sheriff in the hemisphere."

"Canada should not be complacent. [This] should set off alarm bells in Edmonton, Ottawa and beyond."

"[Trump could use the Venezuelan oil economy] as leverage against Canada."  

Michael Bociurkiw, global affairs analyst, senior fellow, Atlantic Council 

Vehicles drive past the El Palito refinery in Puerto Cabello, Venezuela. (AP Photo/Matias Delacroix)

"I don't think Canada is in his sights at the moment. Canada has done quite a good job of diffusing that ... and is benefiting from the fact that Trump is looking elsewhere."

"I think Canada's sort of at the bottom of the list ... but not out of the woods."

Bronwen Maddox, director, chief executive, Chatham House

 

"[Trump's fixation] to exert U.S. military, economic and political will everywhere in the Western Hemisphere without impediment [uses oil as a pretext]."

"[Although the Trump administration talks about taking over Greenland] let's think seriously about what that means. It doesn't mean kidnapping the leader. It doesn't mean putting a thousand forces on the ground and planting a flag." 

"I don't think that's the type of thing the administration is willing to do. They don't want to do anything hard. They just want to do big, flashy things."

Jennifer Kavanagh, senior fellow, director, military analysis, Defense Priorities, adjunct professor Georgetown University Center for Security Studies

U.S. President Donald Trump addresses House Republican lawmakers during their annual policy retreat on Jan. 6 in Washington. His increasingly bellicose stance on taking over Greenland and the capture of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro are triggering questions about what he may have in mind for Canada. (Evan Vucci/The Associated Press)

 

The world is to understand that it was given due notice through the National Security Strategy released by the Trump administration of its seriousness in reasserting itself as the Northern Hemisphere hegemon. Its allies can consider themselves part players in a supporting role to achieve that dominant position on behalf of their more powerful, aggressive neighbour. The first real-time drama to illustrate the direction in which the U.S. is headed was its surprise military raid in Caracas to take Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro into U.S. 'custody'.

 

Instagram / Emery Forbes

American domination of the Western Hemisphere was thus set in motion. A double purpose achieved: freeing Venezuelans from the corrupt, distorted and ruinous reign of a committed Bolivarian revolutionary and setting the rehearsal stage for neighbourly cooperation which some might consider enforced manipulation. Nothing, it seems obvious, is out of the question as a coercive tool; economic, legal, illegal, military coercion practised with ease by the schoolyard bully for the good of all concerned. 

 

Some of the goals have been neatly lined up, merely awaiting fulfillment; stated initially as a proprietary wish list: seizing the Panama Canal, claiming Greenland, and absorbing Canada as the '51st state'. Those concerned nations put on notice. Mr. Trump much prefers diplomacy to act as the cooperative motivator, but to achieve his various goals, he offers his opinion that nothing is out of order, including the last-gasp military option, although economic deprivation could work to his advantage as well. 

 

Following the U.S. intervention in Venezuela, some analysts believe -- Chatham House in this instance -- that "Canada, Panama, and Greenland, which fall within that geographical definition, have good cause for concern about the president's intentions -- and the lengths to which he may go in pursuing them." 

 

Trump aide Stephen Miller's wife Katie Miller posted an image of the American flag superimposed on a map of Greenland, on X. "SOON" appeared on that image, posted shortly after the Venezuela intervention. On CNN, Stephen Miller stated that Greenland "should be part of the United States. Nobody's going to fight the United States militarily over the future of Greenland". That's true. Who would challenge the U.S. over its annexation of a Danish island? Denmark has vigorously and determinedly refused to hand Greenland over to the U.S. and Greenland's autonomous leaders have done the same. 

 

But these are two members of NATO. NATO is invested in its stout military alliance among democratic states with the proviso that an attack against one is answerable in defence by the entire membership. NATO would crater under that kind of pressure from the United States, an indefensible move to destroy the sovereignty of a member-nation. Trump hasn't ruled out diplomacy or direct purchase before resorting to military action; the first two options have been refused, the third would destroy the integrity of the alliance. Inconveniences that Mr. Trump is convinced he can overcome.

 

The Trumpian mercantile and military domination, its ongoing moves to ensure that there are none who would attempt to block his intentions represent a disorder in the community of which the U.S. is an integral part. U.S. Secretary of State Marc Rubio, the standout member of the senior Trump administration whose principles leave nothing yet to be desired, had done his best to negate the prospect of the military option. Chatham House's Bronwen Maddox believes that while Greenland may face a real threat, the risk that Canada faces seems more hypothetical -- despite President Trump having mused that he wouldn't need a military move when he could accomplish an economic collapse for Canada.

 

Both Maddox and Kavanaugh are of the convinced opinion that Europe should have expressed more concern regarding Trump's Venezuela adventure, even if sympathy lies with freeing Venezuela from a corrupt dictator. In that failure to express concern enough to condemn the military aggression in a sovereign country, it now sets the stage for future U.S. Action: "They've accepted a precedent now that opens the door for Trump to do the same thing toward them or Greenland and to coerce them even more...I think it's a mistake", noted Kavanaugh. 

 

The fixation of controlling part of the Arctic through Greenland focuses a secondary risk for Canada. A challenge of Canada's Northwest Passage and Ellesmere Island, interconnecting the Canadian Arctic archipelago will see other challenges as climate change melts glaciers and the sea ice, creating shipping channels from the Atlantic to the Pacific. Russian interests in expanding its Arctic territory, China's declaration of its interests as a "near-Arctic" player all interplay with America's eyes on the Canadian Arctic. 

"The president's been very clear. He wants Greenland to be part of the United States."

"There are a lot of things [Trump] can do to bring Greenland closer to the U.S."

"Venezuela is a unique situation. I think what is likely to happen, what I hope will happen, is that the United States pays more attention to destabilizing regimes in the hemisphere like Cuba. Like Nicaragua."

"I think it's a great thing for Canada to have America focused on the Arctic. [Canada's ramped up defence spending] could do more in the high North to free the U.S. up to handle other things."

"I think that would be a tremendous boon for both countries...as kind of the NATO anchor in the high North, Canada should want a Western Hemisphere-focused United States."

Alexander Gray, former chief of staff, U.S. National Security Council  

 

101: Making Friends and Influencing People

"As you all know, it's a big issue and it's only going to get bigger over the coming decades."

"It's cold as s--- here. Nobody told me."

"[Danish leaders have] spent decades mistreating the Greenlandic people, treating them like second-class citizens and allowing infrastructure on the island to fall into disrepair."

"Denmark has not kept pace and devoted the resources necessary to keep this base, to keep our troops, and in my view, to keep the people of Greenland safe from a lot of very aggressive incursions from Russia, from China and other nations."

"I think that they [Greenlanders] ultimately will partner with the United States. We can make them much more secure. We could do a lot more protection. And I think they'd fare a lot better economically as well."

U.S. Vice-President JD Vance

JD Vance in Greenland BBC

"[The United States] needs Greenland for international security."

"Greenland's very important for the peace of the world. And I think Denmark understands, and I think the European Union understands it. And if they don't we're going to have to explain it to them."

"We’ll get Greenland. Yeah, 100%." 

U.S. President Donald J. Trump 

"It is a time when we as a population are under pressure."

"We must stick together. Together we are stronger."

"[The U.S. visit signaled a] lack of respect."

Greenland's PM-designate Jens-Frederik Nielson

 

"[Donald Trump Jr's visit in January first sparked concerns] that’s when we realized that his words are no longer just words, he actually means what he says."

"We’re afraid of being colonized again. We’ve been a colony for the past 300 years under Denmark, it still feels like it. Now another colonizer is interested in us."

"[Greenland needs to be] open-minded [and consider strengthening relations with the US to secure a sustainable independence strategy]."

"Trump is only going to be president for the next four years so we also need to think about what’s going to happen in 10 years, 15 years."

Qupanuk Olsen, Greenland politician, pro-independence party Naleraq

U.S. Vice-President J.D. Vance was in Greenland on Friday, slamming Denmark for not doing a good job in keeping its semi-autonomous territory safe. But as Greenland content creator Qupanuk Olsen explains, many Greenlanders did not roll out the red carpet for Vance.   CBC

 

It's hard to say whether President Trump's representatives in his White House Cabinet really expected to be welcomed with huge enthusiasm by Greenlanders in their shared trip to Greenland on Friday. Originally the trip was to have lasted longer, and be more expansive, but in the face of obvious push-back by offended Greenlanders who consider their semi-autonomous government under Denmark's protection the arbiter of who should embark on a state visit to their island, and that by special invitation, an invitation that hadn't been extended. 

 

As far as Greenlanders were concerned, the visit by US. Vice-President Vance, his wife and other senior American officials took it upon themselves as an act of hubris to visit unannounced and uninvited; their home, as it were, invaded by strangers. Strangers, no less, with designs on their homeland that are extraordinarily offensive; offering to buy a home that is definitely not for sale. In the end, the visitors confined their trip to visiting the American military outpost at Pituffik on the northwest coast of Greenland. In the process, evading the risk of violating diplomacy through an uninvited delegation.

 

With U.S. President Donald Trump threatening to take over Greenland, the country’s prime minister has called a visit by a U.S. delegation a provocation and highly aggressive. The Americans on the trip include national security adviser Mike Waltz and Usha Vance, the vice-president’s wife.  CBC

Nonetheless both Greenlanders and Danes were offended that the trip took place at all, but even more so that the original itinerary had been planned without customary diplomatic consultation beforehand. Addressing American troops at the U.S. Space Force Pituffik outpost informing them that the Trump administration is very interested in "Arctic security", Vice-President Vance advanced the Trump agenda. His entourage that included national security adviser Mike Waltz, Energy Secretary Chris Wright, and Senator Mike Lee of Utah then received briefings from military officials present at the base.

 

"As you all know, it's a big issue and it's only going to get bigger over the coming decades", Mr. Vance advised  his listeners, as the first U.S. vice-president to ever visit Greenland. In the process of President Trump expressing his intention to 'buy' Greenland from Denmark, relations between the two nations have become extremely strained, with the U.S. President repeatedly suggesting the U.S. should control the mineral-rich territory of Denmark. It is highly unlikely that any two such allies, both NATO members, have ever collided over an issue where one coveted the territory of the other. 

Pituffik Space Base is pictured as Vance visits, on Friday in Greenland. (Jim Watson/The Associated Press)

President Trump alluded to rising Chinese and Russian interest in the Arctic, where sea lanes have begun to open in the North West Passage as a result of climate change melting sea ice. Access to the Passage -- part of Canadian territory -- will be yet another issue of aggravated presumption between the U.S. and Canada where at present, diplomacy argues that before embarking through the Passage, permission must be sought from Canada. Which feeds once again into President Trump's argument about U.S. 'security' in his wish to control Canada through annexing it into the U.S.

 

Canada, its government and its population are no more anxious to accommodate the American President's desires of territorial expansion than is Denmark/Greenland. The Pituffik Space Base owned and operated by the United States with Denmark's permission, is situated remotely, 1,100 kilometres north of the Arctic Circle. Residents of Nuuk, Greenland's capital, about 1,500 kilometres south of Pituffik, voiced their concern with the U.S. delegation's visit underscoring their misgivings about the most powerful nation on earth coveting their Arctic island.

 

Denmark's Foreign Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen expressed his exasperation following the Vance trip to Greenland, stating that although Denmark can deal with criticism, there is a collegial, diplomatic way of speaking to a friendly democratic ally. Through a video he posted on social media, he declared he had a message "for our American friends." 

"Much is being said these days. Many accusations and many allegations have been made."

"And of course, we are open to criticism. But let me be completely honest, we do not appreciate the tone in which it's being delivered."

"This is not how you speak to your close allies."

Larrs Lokke Rasmussen

 

Not The Expansionism of Divine Destiny

"So you have to ask yourself: How are we going to solve that problem, solve our own national security?"

"If that means that we need to take more territorial interest in Greenland, that is what President Trump is going to do, because he doesn't care about what the Europeans scream at us."

U.S. Vice-President JD Vance

 

"The U.S. has a vested security interest in the Arctic region and it should not be a surprise the National Security Adviser and Secretary of Energy are visiting a U.S. Space Base to get first-hand briefings from our service members on the ground."

Brian Hughes, spokesman, National Security Council

 

"[The visit of] the wife of the United States vice-president and the United States president's highest security adviser cannot be seen only as a private visit."

"We can already see now,  how big a mess it's caused."

"[If allied countries] do not speak out loudly about how the USA is treating Greenland, the situation will escalate day by day, and the American aggression will increase."

"[Greenland's allies should show support]; the only purpose [of a trip by Waltz is] a demonstration of power to us, and the signal is not to be misunderstood."

"We have been treated unacceptably."

Greenlandic Prime Minister Mute Bourup Egede

Demonstrators protested at the United States consulate in Nuuk, Greenland, earlier this month. Credit...Christian Klindt Soelbeck/Ritzau Scanpix Foto, via Associated Press

Second lady Usha Vance, it appears, is preparing to travel to the autonomous Danish territory of Greenland even as her husband, the American vice-president, ratchets up U.S. security and "territorial" interests in the Arctic island the new Trump administration has well-ventilated designs on acquiring. The prime minister of Greenland has responded by warning of "American aggression", lamenting a "mess" the upcoming visit has caused, even as JD Vance accused Denmark of "not doing its job" and "not being a good ally".

 

Presumably, a "good ally" would fall into U.S. arms, swooning of its aspiration to become part of the United States. Denmark, for which Greenland has historically been a protectorate, even though Greenlanders themselves have an understandable preference for total sovereignty -- separation and independence from Denmark -- or any other country with designs on the largest island on Earth which the indigenous population considers their very own ancestral gift to themselves, anxious to be shed of the avarice of other countries.

 

The Trump administration may have inadvertently overlooked that Denmark, completely resistant to American overtures to 'sell' Greenland, is, of course, a member of NATO, as is the United States. Member-nations all submit to the leading tenet of membership, that all members are obligated to ensure the security of other members. 

 

Greenlandic news outlet Sermitsiaq posted photos of two U.S. Hercules workhorse military aircraft on the tarmac in Nuuk, the capital, disgorging four bulletproof vehicles awaiting the arrival of the American elite scheduled to visit, and not by invitation. National security adviser Mike Waltz and Energy Secretary Chris Wright are scheduled to travel to Greenland, along with "the wife of the United States vice-president". 

 

During his first term in office, President Trump had mused over buying Greenland, despite Denmark responding that it wasn't for sale. Since his return to the White House, Mr. Tramp repeatedly states that the U.S. will control Greenland, insisting that it is a requirement for strategic national security purposes, and certainly not because America is fulfilling her divine destiny by expansionism. 

A Greenlandic member of parliament told POLITICO a protest was planned for Vance’s arrival. | Ritzau Scanpix/AFP via Getty Images

"When foreign dignitaries travel to our country on what are called private visits, it rightly causes concern."

"There is no reason to panic. But there is good reason to stand together and to demand respect."

"I do. And I will continue to do so."

Jens-Frederik Nielsen, Demokraatit, next Greenlandic leader

 

"A lot people from Greenland [would] like to see something happen with respect to their being properly protected and properly taken care of."

"They're calling us. We're not calling them."

"People from Greenland are asking us to go there. [And] some officials [were among those doing so."

U.S. President Donald J. Trump

Making Friends and Influencing People

"For purposes of National Security and Freedom throughout the World, the United States of America feels that the ownership and control of Greenland is an absolute necessity."

"If the principles, both moral and legal, of this magnanimous gesture of giving [The US move to have Panama return the Panama Canal to the US] are not followed, then we will demand that the Panama Canal be returned to the United States of America, in full, quickly and without question."

"I can proudly proclaim that the Golden Age of America is upon us."

"There's a spirit that we have now that we didn't have just a short while ago."

U.S. President-elect Donald J. Trump

Donald Trump speaks at a Turning Point conference in Arizona.  Getty Images

There's a certain familiarity with that message, it rings a familiar tone. One we've heard before. Leaving one to wonder, are Russia and the United States leading the world into a new order, leaving the international rules-based order respecting sovereignty of other countries, endeavouring not to intrude on the internal affairs of other nations, observing borders and the right of governance in the hands of freely elected politicians reflecting the agency of individual countries without interference from outsiders, about to undergo change?

 

The human right of nations comprised of populations sharing a history and heritage, in democratic fairness, their security and values reflecting a wide consensus, now endangered by two heads of state of powerful military nations thirsting to expand their control and command by absorbing territories not their own as the presumed manifest destiny of the largest, the strongest, the most militarily inclined, not shirking at imposing war and violence, death and destruction, millions of displaced and refugees in the process?

"Every square meter of the canal belongs to Panama and will continue to."

Panama President Jose Raul Mulino

 

Greenland is ours. We are not for sale, and will never be for sale."

"We must not lose our years-long fight for freedom."

Mute Bourup Egede, Greenland head of government

Oh yes, and Canada, Canada too. The great northern neighbour of the United States of America. Why not make Canada the 51st State of the Union? It would become the "Great State of Canada". Canadians, like Panama and Greenland citizens take exception. Suddenly the world is faced with another bully in the food chain of territorial ambition and acquisition. By any means necessary.

 

Mr. Trump giving fair warning before he once again assumes office, that a new U.S. is in the offing. A grasping Republic eyeing the natural resources of other countries, feeling justified in envisioning those countries as American protectorates at best, swallowing them whole with whatever means are required and readily justified at worst, by the world's sole super-power with China and Russia heavy-breathing from behind to produce a super-power triumvirate.

In previous years at the helm of government, Trump as President made offers for the U.S. to buy Greenland from Denmark. More latterly, Trump's designs on Greenland as well as taking control of the Panama Canal whose shipping rates for the waterway linking the Atlantic and Pacific are 'ripping off' American shipping. Everyone is taking advantage of the avuncular nature of the United States. And the incoming president simply will not take it any longer.

To Panama President Jose Raul Mulino's defiant response of ownership of the Canal, Trump's answer was: "We'll see about that!" And presto...a photo of a U.S. flag set up in the canal zone shouts out: "Welcome to the United States Canal!" Built in the early 1900s by the U.S., control was relinquished to Panama in 1999 under a 1977 treaty.

Greenland is sited between the Atlantic and Arctic oceans, the largest island in the world, 80% mantled by an ice sheet. Where a large U.S. military base happens to sit. Since 1979, it gained its independence from Denmark. Its head of government has not been entertained by a suggestion of sale to the U.S., as unwelcome now as it was first time around.

Donald Trump is on a tear through the unwarranted complacency of countries now feeling somewhat vulnerable to his impromptu and volatile mood swings and declarations zeroing on in their uneasiness at his return to the White House. "Canadians want Canada to become the 51st State", he recently posted on social video with an AI-generated self-image superimposed on a mountain summit, looking out over territory below, a Canadian flag beside him.

 

Mr. President ...  you're joking!

 

'Rare Earth' Minerals the new Indispensible -- Greenland's Treasure Trove

Greenland holds a number of world records. It is the world's largest island, the least densely populated territory on Earth, and home to the only permanent ice sheet outside Antarctica. Most of its 56,000 residents are Inuit, descendants of those who migrated there from what is now Canada in the 13th century.

"Whether it's an Apple, Mac or an F35 fighter jet, you can't make any smart technology without using rare earth minerals."

Dwayne Menezes, managing director, Polar Research and Policy Initiative, London

 

"The mine will destroy everything."

"We are afraid dust from the mine will hurt our fishing grounds and drinking water."

Jens Davidsen, Greenland fisherman

 

"[Greenland wanted to be a] free and open market for everybody who wants to participate."

"[If Europe and the United States were worried], they need to start putting money into exploration."

Jens-Erik Kirkegaard, former minerals minister, Denmark

Giant icebergs float in the fjord in the southern Greenland town of Narsaq, the site of a controversial Australian-led uranium and rare-earth mining project. The open-pit mine has divided opinion on the island, which goes to the polls on Tuesday. NORDFOTO/AP

A vote is pending in Greenland, its population of 56,000 with a voter base fewer than that of some town councils is to settle the issue of the Kvanefield mine project; whether to proceed or to shut down the enterprise. The project overlooks the tiny fishing village of Narsaq where catching whales and seals provide the basic living conditions of the locals perturbed by the inevitable exploitation of one of the world's largest deposits of 'rare earth' minerals in a geology they consider home and inviolable.

The decision they reach has wide implications that will affect materials viewed as critical to the enterprising technology of the 21st century as was oil to the century preceding it. These materials with their supermagnetic, superconductive properties are integral to everything from iPhones and solar panels, to hybrid cars and weapons systems. Key to a high-tech, low-carbon world, extracting them promises to be a balance between caution and an environmentally hazardous process in the making.

Some of the residents of Greenland, skeptical of promises from the Australian company behind the project -- Greenland Minerals -- place little faith in strict measures to be enforced. The ruling Siumut party called snap polls to settle growing unrest over the project. Rowdy public meetings and police being called in to investigate death threats speak to the controversial nature of the disagreements over whether to allow mining to proceed.

Another concern is the fact that Greenland Minerals is partially owned by Shenghe Holdings, a Chinese firm closely tied to the Chinese Communist Party ruling Beijing. The left-wing, pro-green Inuit
Ataqatiglit party has the capacity to toss the mine project out, despite rival parties warning that Greenland's isolated economy has to begin looking elsewhere than its fishing monopoly.  And then there is pressure from Western diplomats fearing Beijing is seeking sole authority over Greenland's rare earth deposits.

Beijing dominates the rare earth market, a resource fast becoming the world's most valuable natural deposits. Over half of such supplies are mined in China which itself supplies the EU with 98 percent of its associated needs and the U.S. with 80 percent. Greenland's resources are considered the last great untapped rare earth reserves with estimates running up to 25 percent of total resources, placing it in the target position of a new superpower "scramble" for access.

Dwayne Menezes, director of the think-tank Polar Research and Policy Initiative, calls for a minerals alliance between Britain and its traditional allies, including the U.S., Canada, Australia and New
Zealand a group that styles itself the "Five Eyes" intelligence network. A report issued by the think tank states: "Greenland offers the U.S. and its allies the opportunity to reduce their dependence on China for resources essential to their defence and security." 

 

Beijing plays a tough game to follow. It has proffered to Greenland an offer ultimately benefiting China 

with its "Polar Silk Road", infrastructure geared around shipping routes, new opportunities opening in tandem with the melting of the Arctic ice cap. It is coming home to Greenlanders that they sit on a treasure trove of the world's newest 'must-have' commodities in rare earth minerals, and with that natural resources comes a drawing into a geopolitical tug-of-war.

One that promises to greatly benefit 56,000 Greenlanders sharing the profits of their natural resources, transforming their living standards and bringing in aid to achieving financial independence from Denmark which subsidizes a third of the government budget of Greenland's capital, Nuuk.

The Kvanefjeld mine could hold the largest deposit of rare-earth metals outside China