My European correspondent is, as it happens, Danish. He checks in periodically on European affairs and has provided this bit for me on the Greenland affair:
Denmark will never, ever, sell Greenland. Greenland is the ONLY good card on Denmark's hand. Greenland is what makes Denmark an Arctic superpower. Greenland is what makes the big, important countries listen to what Denmark has to say. NOTHING ELSE.
Denmark and Greenland have practically nothing in common. The culture, the people, EVERYTHING is different. Greenland used to be a colony of Denmark. After WWII, Denmark was smart enough to include Greenland into the Kingdom of Denmark, giving it superficial autonomy, thus avoiding all sorts of problems that fell on other colonial powers after the war.
Greenland is an economic black hole. It has no monetary value at all. Sure, there are untapped natural resources in Greenland. It's just too expensive to exploit them. The population of Greenland is tiny. The country is huge. The indigenous population is, overall, not very well educated. Infrastructure is limited, by Western standards. The local government is mostly left wing, and corrupt. The effect of this corruption is in large part of no immediate consequence - it's small time, everyday, petty corruption. BUT:
There is a growing independence movement in Greenland. This should cause worry among intelligent people. Not that independence is wrong. Not at all. It's just that independence for Greenland would, in short order, result in drastically reduced standard of living, followed by continuous political upheaval. The corrupt government would easily be fooled, or bought, by outside powers. Throw in an aggressive Chinese interest, an adventurous Russian "expedition" to the huge uninhabited parts of Eastern Greenland, and you could have a real mess on your hands in no time. Trump knows this.
I think that THIS was Trump's point, in making his offer to buy Greenland. It was not a serious offer. He does not want Greenland *. He wanted to stir up some shit, and make Denmark and Greenland wake up to the realities. I think he succeeded! In making such a blatant, crude and impolite offer, he made everyone involved in Greenland think "what if...?". What if the US bought Greenland? Not going to happen -Denmark will not sell. But what if Greenland got fed up with being owned by Denmark? Why SHOULD Greenland be owned by Denmark? WHO, then, will own Greenland? THAT, my friends, is the issue. And Trump made everyone crap their pants, and think about the status quo, and HOW TO KEEP IT.
/ A reader in Denmark
* Of course, IF Denmark had taken his offer seriously, he WOULD have bought Greenland, just because it would make good military sense to do so. He would also be buying a lot of problems. I'm sure Trump is aware of this.
This post also appears at symbolic-mirage.blogspot.com. Thanks to my European correspondent for some genuine insight on the Greenland issue.
