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Greenland, NATO, The EU...The Clownshow Continues

Whether Greenland is a vitally important strategic island that absolutely requires American possession is a question for the ages, but it is a militarily-important bulwark in the North Atlantic. It is an excellent point from which to defend the Atlantic from the Arctic Ocean and the Barents Sea. Does it have enough rare earth elements and other resources to make it even more important? Yeah...probably not. We have plenty of that sort of stuff in America, it's just that we have an insane regulatory state that makes using our own resources a massive undertaking.

Because it is a territory of Denmark, the few people who live there are treated as vassals, when they are treated at all. That is entirely unsurprising, because the track record of European colonialism is mixed at best.

Greenlanders Blast Danish Rule: 'They Stole Our Future'

This shouldn't be taken as a sign that Greenland natives are anxious to come over to the United States. Denmark is trying to make amends to the natives who were thusly mistreated, to the tune of roughly $46,000 each in reparations. That's just; unlike the calls for reparations in the United States, these payments are being made to the living people who suffered under an unjust policy, which is quite a different kettle of fish.

Many Greenland natives would rather the island be an independent nation. But that's not a tenable solution, especially in today's tense geopolitical atmosphere, where the Arctic is increasingly a vital strategic area, with all the major nations - the United States, Russia, and China in particular - looking to that region's resources. Greenland has to be under someone's defensive envelope, and even as a Danish possession, they fall under the protection of NATO, as it would as a possession of the United States.

President's Trump's saber rattling with respect to "taking Greenland" is entirely unnecessary, and could have been neatly avoided by playing up the miserable living conditions of the people of Greenland, and the equally miserable way they have been treated by the Danes. America could have been their knight in shining armor, bringing equality and prosperity to their shores. Making some offer to purchase or in some other way take possession of Greenland as a reasonable transaction between allies would have disarmed the reflexive nationalism that is bubbling up in Denmark and Greenland. Is the President's threat of military action a serious one? I doubt it. It is more of his unpredictability, which serves him quite well in many ways. But with Greenland I think it is bolstering the enemies of America.

On the other side of the equation, the idea that the EU will rush in with military force to protect Greenland is clownish in the extreme. Force projection is a joke in the EU. They can barely keep their few planes flying, much less maintain any sort of heavy lift capability. In fact, in a recent military exercise, Germany sent 13 soldiers to Greenland, and they had to use a Polish airline to get them there. And less than two days later they were ordered out, presumably because of President Trump's comments.

And the ridiculousness doesn't end there. Threats to throw America out of Europe if we take Greenland? Sure...that would mean an almost instant Russian victory in Ukraine, the loss of many billions of dollars of American spending in Europe, and the very real threat of an expansionist Russia, because there is simply no real military on the continent.

So...everyone calm down. Greeenlanders? Take nice big checks written by America, and maybe some good high-paying jobs in our expanding military infrastructure and mining efforts. Denmark? Smile, cash the check, and relax now that you don't have to deal with Greenland. And the EU? Just sit down and shut up. Nobody cares what you think.