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Comment by ta20240528 | Hacker News Reader

ta20240528

Europe is desperately trying to find some way to let US have "control" without destroying the Danish kingdom; A Minsk Agreement for Greenland if you will.

They don't have the stomach for a fight.

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The US already has bases on Greenland. It is part of the Kingdom of Denmark and therefore is already a NATO ally territory. They already have all the "control" they need to keep it out of the hands of Russia and China. There is no need to "let" the US have "control". If the US were being run by people who understood the basis on which they have a base there, they would realise they already have all the control they need from a strategic perspective.

Yes, all of this is true. But they need the American president to find an off ramp that somehow satisfies his faction's desire for ownership without blowing up Nato - at least not before the mid-terms.

As for no stomach for a fight, Nato Europe can't even shoot down shahad drones that fly over their own territory.

This is not how it should be, but it is.

> As for no stomach for a fight, Nato Europe can't even shoot down shahad drones that fly over their own territory.

You would have been right if this were a couple of years ago, hell... even at the beginning of last year you might have been right, but now? If i would go with the things i hear of coworkers or other people around me (normal people in the lower middle class, no activists or something like that) then i can tell you: People are out for blood. The sheer arrogance of the Trump administration is just a tad too much to be ignored and this time Europe will not back down.

Very bold claim to make unsourced from an account with a very _interesting_ posting history.

What am I supposed to take from that? It's not even a valid English sentence.

Keir Starmer yesterday: "I will speak to Trump again. We must find a pragmatic solution to this."

QED.

Greenland invasion is just a distraction by Trump from the Epstein files. The US already have massive military presence in Greenland with permission from Denmark since the 1950s, they can already do whatever illegal things they want there (and they have, like installing a portable nuclear reactor), without the downsides that come with actual ownership of the island. They already have a really sweet deal.

Trump keeps talking about taking it because he knows the media will bite the bait and talk about that instead and forget about the epstein list and other illegal shit his administration did.

Remember how he was also talking about annexing Canada in his election? Trump just loves to bait the media by saying crazy stuff since the media feeds on sensationalist stuff like that.

He also attacked Venezuela, after talking about it a lot.

The problem is our Kremlinology is no longer capable of discerning what's a bluff and what's not. Therefore, at significant cost to both sides, we have to unravel some of the interdependency between the EU and the US.

No doubt the distraction from the Epstein files is a contributing factor, but it’s a mistake to think he won’t do incredibly harmful things simply because they seem insane and without purpose to us, who grew up post World War II.

His decision tree is like

Does it make me feel like a tough guy? -> Is there some way I can leverage it for grift and personal gain? -> Does it make my political enemies and undesirables feel angry and helpless? -> Is it a decision I can make unilaterally? -> Then YES

How about building in Greenland that "freedom city" all tech bros are salivating about? Would that be a reason enough to invade?

So, he wants to distract from past illegal shit by doing more illegal shit? Doesn't sound like a viable long-term strategy to me...

But yeah, I also wonder what would happen if the media would just stop dissecting every late-night bleat (as some commentators have decided to call his Truth Social posts) and start treating them as what they are (the ramblings of a deranged 79-year old) instead? But of course those ramblings now spill into other places too: plaques on the "presidential walk of fame" (https://eu.usatoday.com/picture-gallery/news/politics/2025/1...), letters to allies (https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/trump-letter...) etc.

>by doing more illegal shit?

Who said anything about doing. He doesn't have to do anything other than bring it up all the time.

The media loves this since it means more engagement farming and Trump knows this which is why he's doing it. ALong with things like "quiet piggy".

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