US discussing options to get Greenland, incl use of military, says White House | Hacker News Reader

US discussing options to get Greenland, incl use of military, says White House

bbc.co.uk

45 pointsmmarian20 comments

Such a bizarre way to put it. Imagine if I said your house was a strategic requirement for my family because of proximity to my new job and extra room for my kids and I couldn't rule out murdering you.

Especially when the U.S. has a military base there already and has full military cooperation with Denmark/Greenland. The real motivation is pretty clearly resource extraction.

Bear in mind, the US can't annex anything that the military occupies, unless both houses of Congress vote in favor. It remains foreign territory.

What is stopping him from simply militarily occupying Greenland indefinitely? He could just fabricate a reason (“national security”, “drugs”, etc.) and send troops. Wouldn’t need to involve Congress for that kind of military action, and the Supreme Court has said that all other branches of government should defer to the executive’s judgment on foreign policy. And there is zero chance a Republican House would impeach him for doing that.

He won't be in office indefinitely.

Dogs can't play basketball either, but we're sure getting dunked on a lot by this one.

Unless Emperor Trump just does it anyway.

Being cold and close to Europe, as an AI and data server location too, just like Iceland. https://gemini.google.com/share/c6d7c4fa5f3d

The real motivation isn't geopolitical, but signalling to domestic voters that Trump is truly 'America first' and will sabotage any other country if it gets American voters an extra dollar

The resource question is a red herring: "Greenlandic ministers have also said their island is “open for business”. But US investors have been slow to show an interest in the nascent mining industry, officials say." (https://www.ft.com/content/c1c8abb1-5c09-46b0-a1d3-68341c4e5...)

s/American voters/Republican Donors

Funny considering Trump ran on policies nearly the opposite of what he's doing today. But his MAGA base seems driven more by feeling than policy.

Yes, it's potentially a case of a country taken in by their own propaganda

We do a lot of important and meaningful work around the world to support democracy, peace and stability. This isn't selfless — it's to create a market for goods and services, and maintain our sphere of influence.

We're so good at shouting the first bit and whispering the latter that voters have come to fully believe it's all charity work, and feel like it's taking bread out of their mouths.

As long as he hurts other people more than he hurts the MAGA voters, they'll never abandon him. It's a cult.

> Funny considering Trump ran on policies nearly the opposite of what he's doing today

MAGA base and Trump supporters are not rational. It does not matter what Trump is doing or saying, they're "taking their country back" even if they're losing their jobs or benefits. This is downright a cult of personality.

I have a new opinion that fits better imo: that they genuinely like it when other people suffer, even at their own expense.

From this perspective Trumps policies are all mostly rational.

That's the world of geopolitics for you - there's no police to prevent you from murdering someone. Someone could fight you directly, but it's never going to come to that, so everyone will just grumble in mild disapproval for now.

One of the wealthiest guys in town had poked his head out of his mansion and is now holding you at gunpoint in your house. He feels poor and thinks the wealth in your house is enough to sate his needs, you see. Plus, it's much more conveniently-placed than his mega-mansion. Either you give the house to him, or he kills you on the spot and maybe some of the neighborhood potentially riles up against him. Just hope he doesn't want to make an example of you by crucifying you in the front yard, or something like that.

I'm seriously trying to understand the long-term goals here. So the US goes to war with Canada and Europe, cutting off relations with them forever. Probably they try to take over Canada too and succeed. So now they have control over all of North America... How is it worth antagonizing their closest and strongest allies? They'll own more territory but cripple themselves in terms of global trade. A lot of Americans would surely be against their aggression too, not to mention the oeople in the territories they take over. A lot of that damage has already been done, since the US has always been fickle and unreliable but now we're seeing just how far they're willing to go. Is that just it? They want physical dominance over the Americas at the expense of economic gains?

Any chessmasters here who can see into the future?

[dupe] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46518822

I, for one, am delighted that Silicon Valley has sent their most-spineless, unprincipled wastes of executive power to kiss the ring. Never again will anyone argue with sincerity that Microsoft or Apple are conscientious of human rights. Nobody can refute that it was a lie for money, now.

It looks like he sees it as the next Alaska.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com