It’s not impossible. Importantly, neither Denmark nor the EU is in control of the situation. 
Trump says he isn’t bluffing in threats to take over allies. He wants Denmark to sell Greenland and Canada to become the 51’st state.
The Wall Street Journal reports Trump Imagines New Sphere of U.S. Influence Stretching from Panama to Greenland
In a press conference Tuesday, Trump outlined a second-term foreign policy agenda that rests not on global alliances and free trade but on economic coercion and unilateral military might, even against allies.
With the Panama Canal and Greenland, he suggested he could use force to take them over. With Canada, he suggested he would hit the U.S.’s northern neighbor with extreme tariffs, leaving it no choice but to submit to annexation.
“Canada and the United States, that would really be something,” Trump said. “You get rid of that artificially drawn line and you take a look at what that looks like and it would also be much better for national security.”
Asked by a reporter if he would commit to not using military force or economic pressure in his quest to acquire the territories, Trump replied “No, I can’t assure you on either of those two. But I can say this, we need them for economic security.”
Trump’s willingness to broach such ideas and his disregard for bipartisan doctrines left some aghast.
“We just haven’t seen anything like this, at least in my lifetime, from a president of the United States,” said Chuck Hagel, the former Republican senator and defense secretary during the Obama administration. “This is very, very autocratic, and that is why it is so concerning what Trump is saying and how he’s acting.”
“When our strongest allies and partners lose confidence in us, no good is going to come from all of that,” Hagel said. “China and Russia are looking at all this like, ‘Go ahead, Mr. Trump, keep talking.’”
Trump’s vow to annex Canada is bluster aimed at gaining leverage before trade negotiations with Ottawa, some advisers say. His threat to take back the canal is a ploy to secure lower prices for U.S. ships sailing through Panama, and his fixation on acquiring Greenland is about gaining access to rare-earth minerals and denying them to China, they add.
“There is this idea that our number one priority is the defense of the hemisphere, and that China and Russia are coming into our backyard,” Gray added. “You have to see Greenland and Panama in that context.”
Advisers close to Trump acknowledge that annexation of Canada is unlikely, and instead suggest the comments are rooted in Trump’s aggressive negotiating style, particularly at this time of transition in Canada, where he seeks to put the incoming prime minister on notice.
“We’ve been good neighbors, but we can’t do it forever, and it is a tremendous amount of money,” Trump said during the news conference. “That is OK to have if you’re a state, but if you’re another country, we don’t want to have it.”
We Need Greenland and Panama for National Security
There’s no such thing as allies anymore. You’re either a part of the U.S or you’re not.
In the above video Trump said he would rename the Gulf of Mexico to Gulf of America, that Canada would be the 51st state, and he would not rule out taking Greenland or Panama by force.
It was my idea (mocking) to rename Australia as East America.
Take Trump Seriously or Literally?
A good friend of mine often says “Take Trump seriously, not literally.”
Regarding Canada, I take Trump neither seriously or literally. Canada as a 51’st state is not going to happen.
But hypothetically, I wonder if on average we would have more liberal or conservative Senators as a result.
When you talk this way and threaten to break treaties like USMCA, how can anyone trust you?
Trump is literally screaming to all of our allies that he cannot be trusted to honor any deal, even those he makes.
Why make a deal with Trump if you take him seriously about breaking them?
That’s the problem I have with all this bluster.
But What About Greenland?
Consider this view: “The EU will not allow Trump to take control of Greenland.”
Despite what anyone may think, it’s not impossible.
Importantly, neither Denmark nor the EU is in control of the situation.
Falling on Ice in Greenland
Eurointelligence discusses Falling on Ice in Greenland.
With Greenland, Europe is running into a geopolitical disaster largely of its own making. It would have cost almost nothing for the EU to have made Greenland – and Iceland – an offer for membership, in return of which the EU would have obtained a foothold in one of the strategically most important regions.
It’s long forgotten, but Greenland was a member of the EU once when it was part of Denmark. With the departure of Greenland and the UK, the EU lost its two most northern Atlantic members. People tend to forget that neither Finland nor Sweden have access to the Arctic coastline.
Greenland formally withdrew from the EU in 1985. Today, Greenland is still part part of the Danish crown, but the 2009 autonomy acts give Greenland the right to secession through a referendum.
So the statement by Mette Frederiksen, the Danish prime minister, that Greenland is not for sale is bunk. This is up to the seller. The seller is not Denmark, but the 59,000 inhabitants of Greenland. Neither Denmark nor the EU can stop this.
The Arctic has become geostrategically increasingly important. Russia is the Arctic superpower. The region also hold economically because of raw materials and because melting sea ice could open up new trade routes. It is also unsurprising that Trumps prioritises the acquisition of Greenland, Canada, and the Panama canal, using the language of mergers and acquisitions.
It should also come as a reminder that the US does not share Europe’s priority of Ukraine as its number one geopolitical issue of our time. For Trump, the security policy priority is to push back China away from the US’s own geographic neighbourhood, and to secure a strong presence in supplies of critical raw materials.
We are where we are because the EU ended it path towards political integration with the introduction of the euro, deluding itself into believing that soft power, diplomatic grand-standing, and control over regulation would prevail in the end.
Buying Greenland Would Be Wise
Buying Canada is not possible. Greenland is another matter. All it takes is a referendum of 59,000 people.
If we offered all 59,000 people $2 million each, we could buy Greenland for $118 billion. Greenland would be cheap at double the price.
Would over half of Greenland citizens vote to take the offer? If not, what about $4 million each?
It is certainly not preposterous to think so. And if so, we would buy Greenland for $118 to $236 billion.
This would probably cause a baby boom in Greenland as well a people clamoring to become Greenland citizens. So we might need to fine tune the offer a bit and require takers to stay at least 10 years or so.
What may seem ridiculous at first glance, may actually be a brilliant idea.
Related Posts
January 3: Make Greenland Great Again: PM Seeks Independence From Denmark
Fresh on the heels of another Trump offer to buy Greenland, comes another call for independence.
January 2: Five Funding and Legal Obstacles to Trump’s Immigration Plans
Trump has a mandate in two areas, inflation and the border. This post deals with the latter.
January 6: How Much Revenue Can Trump Realistically Bring in From Tariffs?
There are many moving parts to this question including Congress, retaliations, and consumer impacts.
The January 6 link above discusses USMCA and why Trump won’t impose the tariffs on Mexico and Canada that he threatens.
However, it’s smooth sailing for Greenland offers as I see matters.
The U.S. is broke. The only way to purchase Greenland is for the US to print more money which brings more inflation to US citizens. So how does this benefit US citizens? furthermore, the US can’t extract minerals from its current public lands thanks to the environmental crazies, so why do we assume we could extract Greenland’s natural resources? again, how does this benefit US citizens?
If Greenland sold us mineral rights, we would have the right to mine them.
We are now dependent on China – a terrible situation
Why would Greenland want to become a territory of the USA? Look at how we treat Puerto Rico.
Exactly, and look how foolish the war mongering debt mongering US politicians are.
Most of what is being stated is hyperbole — there is very little risk of military involvement. Buy out is about as doubtful. It would be very feasible for Greenland to become a territory of the US in order to fulfill the N American Union ‘dream’ which so many have cried they don’t want.
Now, when it comes to Mexico and other central American nations the military might be pulled in to squelch the cartels. That would mandate a military force or some heavy ‘dirty’ dealing. Again, it would all be to create the North American Union for the PTB.
Economically it would strengthen N Amer, but the US would continue to be a turd-world nation. To see what the US will/might drop to — just watch “Soylent Green”.
People of Panama and Greenland, never sell the dignity and safety of your independence. Just look at how appallingly stupid the soon US president is acting, threatening war on people who did nothing wrong. Allowing a warmonger debt monger leader like that to take over your country is a recipe for pain, suffering, and destruction, no matter how much filthy debased money is offered. God is with you.
Yes, Greenlanders be poor and dependent on your barely solvent government which offers little in the way of protections socioeconomically or militarily and above all else don’t take any of that dirty, filthy dollar based currency. After all you can take your pride to the bank and deposit that right, it’s worth more than anything even life itself!
The US is $36 trillion dollars in debt. $107,000 for every US citizen. Anyone who joins has the share of all the current and future problems of our foolish ignorant politicians and our debt. Yes, the safety and dignity of not being attached to a war monger debt monger nation is priceless.
I have a question for “Support for Panama, Greenland”, and for that definitely-a-separate-person, “Panama, Greenland, just say no”…
…what’s the weather like in Moscow today…? 😊
It’s so refreshing to have a forward thinking, strategic president. Compare this Biden who waits for trouble to happen before doing anything(Ukraine, illegal immigration).
Trump’s foresight will prevent war and make America stronger.
Has anyone asked what the Greenlanders think? All this talk about purchasing Greenland in the end will not come to fruition. Why?
Becoming part of the US will make it one of the worst in healthcare outcomes.
As the 51st state, the social safety net disappears.
Greenland is more valuable to the citizens than a paltry $2M per citizen. Its resources are a counterbalance to China’s rare earth minerals as the starter much less the cobalt that lies underneath.
Bezos, Gates, Bloomberg have set up a consortium to mine the rare earth minerals. Do Greenlanders want American billionaires destroying their environment similar to the Congo and Congolese families suing?
Russia and China will create havoc in their waters and in their infrastructure.
Putin and Xi will likely pursue more opportunities in Latin America, particularly Xi.
Luke,
“I feel a disturbance in the Force.”
Obi-Wan Kenobi
Let the hand wringing and pearl clutching commence in three, two, one……..
Another straw man argument posted on mishtalk.com.
Much like the Scarecrow in the Wizard of Oz that was also made of straw, your comment reflects a lack of understanding so you reach for nonsense attempting to inject sarcasm.
If you have something to refute it, go for it.
“I find your lack of faith disturbing”
— Darth Vader
How does this work out if 10 states decide to be independent or new provinces of Canada? Seems like there might be a wee bit of a funding problem.
Sounds like a great plan. Greenland is about 836,000 square miles or 535,000,000 acres. let’s value it at the bargain price of $2000/acre. that gives us a purchase price of a mere $1,000,000,000. just put it on my tab.
Once we get rid of the debt ceiling, all grift is possible!
The democrats showed the way to infinity money!
So will the $2 million come with an IRS income tax bill and take 50% of it?
“there’s the fly in the ointment!” she said
Interesting that you chose to write about Greenland, instead of Panama.
Canada and Denmark make for interesting copy – and who knows, one of them might sell some land to the US.
But Panama is a more dangerous story. A U.S. “seizure” in Central America could have unimaginable consequences.
Like what? Or do you mean you can’t imagine any?
Greenland is a part of Denmark and not for sale, regardless of how much money Hitler II shows up with. Putin is laughing his off, as Trump just legitimized invasion of sovereign countries. He can certainly take Greenland by force in less than an afternoon, but Denmark will invoke article 5 in NATO: US will then be fighting EU+ (France allready promised military support), and will have very few allies left in the world. Good luck keeping China and Russia in place in the furture.
I see you failed to read or understand my post.
I fully understand your post. The thing is it that Greenland cant just hold a referendum. Before that happens accept must be given from the Danish parlement, and then they Greenland can have a referendum.
Danish legal text (Selvstyreloven § 21) via Google Translate:”An agreement between Naalakkersuisut and the government on the implementation of independence for Greenland must be concluded with the consent of Inatsisartut and must be approved by a referendum in Greenland. The agreement must also be entered into with the consent of the Danish Parliament.”
Danish Parliament will not give this accept, so only available option left is military. Hence my references to NATO article 5.
This should be fun, says Trump.
I am sure Xi just loves this discussion. He would probable by just completely fine for US to take Panama and then China use same analogy to take Taiwan using same national security analogy.
yeah but that will not pan out the same way for Xi as Panama will for the USA.
Xi should start building a bridge from China mainland to Taiwan and stop at the beginning of Taiwan’s territorial waters. This would be a sign of what the future holds once China takes Taiwan.
“OTTAWA, Oct 30 (Reuters) – Canada would have to double current defense spending by fiscal 2032-33 to achieve its stated goal of meeting NATO targets, an increase that could violate fiscal anchors put in place last year to control expenditures, a parliamentary watchdog said on Wednesday.
Earlier this year, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau committed to increasing defense spending to at least 2% of gross domestic product…”
There is what’s going on with the annexation of Canada. Goad them into actually spending something on their own military. Three Mounties in a rowboat is not a credible navy.
I upvote for the joke just on its own!
Greenland : Denmark is a NATO member. Greenlanders want independence. 60,000 people. $60bn, everyone is a millionaire and they get a US Passport. Panama : China is operating the canal? Remember Noriega. No qualms. The universals pushed by neoliberalism are collective insanity. Consumers get cheap chinese shit, billionaires are made, China builds its 3rd aircraft carrier, expands its nuclear arsenal targeting 1000 warheads, etc. ad nauseum. No thanks. We over consume. China under consumes. Taoism seeks balance, its pragmatic.
China doesn’t follow Taoism, it follows Maoism, which isn’t pragmatic – millions dead.
Do we really want a US President we have to parse like this?
You voted for pudding head’s proxy and she was ground into the turf. Such is life.
Trump won the popular vote by 1.5% over Harris, the smallest margin of victory by popular vote since Nixon in 1968. I would not call that “ground into the turf.” However, Trump did win and did what has only happened one time since 1988, win the popular vote. Credit where credit is do! Now the Trump voters will own the chaos, deviation from established norms, and a diminished stature of the United States on the global stage due to Trump’s natural preference for autocratic leadership, which he sees as embodying strength.
Well said.
relative to the amount of expectation built on a coopted media and tech space, relentless pumping out propaganda and censoring dissent, and a billion bucks pissed away bribing celebrities, and god knows how many attempts to submit fake ballots, relatively it felt like vanquishing a demon.
The Demons overtly expected a 55% clear win, and got a long way short of that. Imagine how badly they would have done in a free and fair election?
It reminds one of Brexit, where when the polls were 60-40 in favour of Brexit, the machine swung into action, hijacking the murder of an MP to spread lies, and stealing £9m of taxpayer money to pump yet more lies at them.
Now we get to watch Germany in year 3 of recession, the EU collapsing, the Euro diving down to sub-parity like during the GFC, and despite the best efforts of the regime to campaign against the result, and use lawfare and politicised judges and artificial made up foreign style “supreme court” and countless Quisling politicians, the native working class of Jarrow – whence the Labour Party marched to London a century ago, will be vindicated finally, in the face of regime, their propaganda media, and all the lying demons who cleave to unearned power over the peasantry.
If you want to see a real authoritarian, look no further than Obama.
Really? Obama could have nationalized the banking system and did not. Obama had a lot of opportunities coming out of the GFC to use that crisis to socialize many areas of the economy and in every case he chose to stick with capitalism with the exception of GM’s bankruptcy where he chose to essentially do what Reagan did with Chrysler.
The fat orange guy isn’t the president, he’s a distraction. I am your president..
Obama going for term 4 then? A wannabe FDR without the wheelchair.
What ever happened to respecting sovereignty and building alliances? How old school.
Welcome to the new age of toddler diplomacy!
because you must build alliances with human-rights abusing states like China.
What, like the EU does when they override democracy in European countries?
They can’t recruit enough people for the military and Alaska is losing population. Who’s going to live in Greenland to develop it? Mining takes years of unprofitable development. Trump might as well claim the Moon.
if they all got millions each its not crazy… but watch 100% self deport to retire in a more habitable part of the world
…now you’re talkin’
Send me. Tourism will be HUGE once we own it.
He should and put up a space blockade and lasers to keep China back. We were first to the Moon, so it is ours!
Happy to see this view!
Yet another example of Trump thinking out of the box about our national security.
Everything he’s saying about the PC & Greenland is true.
China is running the PC and they’ve cornered a large portion of the rare earth minerals.
Taking the PC by force makes complete sense, if the Panamanians don’t back down.
Entering into some of agreement with Denmark to have exclusive rights with mining the natural resources of Greenland, again, makes complete sense.
For comparison, Joe Biden never had an inclining of any sort of strategic move during his four years, 40% of which is spent on vacation.
Joe Biden was so bad its almost not even fair to call him the worst president ever.
You really seem to have no understanding of why the “rules based global order” was established after two world wars over the span of 30 years. Prior to the rules based order the world was ordered through economic and military strength. What that constituted was continuous wars and oppressive colonialism. The stated goal of MAGA is to eliminate the rules based global order. This is extremely disrespectful of the two greatest leaders of the 20th century, Roosevelt and Churchil, who saved the world from fascism, and all of the fallen soldiers of the allies at the time.
If you haven’t noticed, Curt, Trump is all about pushing back against the “rules-based global order”.
Do you think China and Russia and Iran etc… play by the “rules based global order”? What do you think it is, other than a euphemism for hegemony?
Up until the European age of exploration, China had “heqi” hegemony.
China, Russia and Iran can choose the system of there liking and if they chose wrong it will be at their expense. The U.S. is the undisputed economic heavy weight champion of the post WWII period. The Soviet Union tried its experiment and it collapsed. Japan tried its experiment and Americans feared in the 1980s that Japan had a better system before it collapsed in the early 1990s. China has had its moment of rapid growth and now we are seeing that experiment falter. Economically Iran and Russia are insignificant weaklings. The rules based order has been and continues to be a significant factor in our 75 year winning streak.
Shame on you! The U.S. has no right to seize anything.
Um, yes we do, because “eventually” Russia & China will. That’s a fact. Take it to the bank. Hell at some point, China will go occupy some place like Greenland just to keep us from getting the resources.
Right now, China is seizing all sorts of countries by pulling them into the Belt Road initiative debt trap.
As for Panama, how long do you think it’s going to be before China starts putting military assets into Panama? Now that Trump has said he intends to take it back if Panama doesn’t relent on fees, I feel confident that China is already laying plans to start a military buildup a lot sooner than you might imagine.
Access to rare earth metals & free / affordable trade routes are crucial to any countries future.
Sounds like you’ve read the New Atlanticist’s article.
I agree that Panama must safeguard the neutrality of the Canal. I think the US should initiate diplomacy with Panama, to discuss.
I haven’t read Jack Skwat.
I’m using common sense.
What exactly is a “right”?
Do you have a “right” to your pursuit of happiness? Do I have a right to my pursuit of happiness? If my pursuit of happiness requires that I deny you your pursuit of happiness, do I have a right to kill, injure, or hold you captive? Is my right superior to yours?
There are exactly two chances of this happening – ZERO & NONE.
Pretty sure Trump wants Greenland to get in Putin’s good graces. My bet would be Greenland would then be flipped to Russia for control by Trump in some Russian business after he is done being President. This move for control of Greenland has Putin written all over it.
Dictators rarely make plans involving the longevity of other dictators. Dictators dont last. Ask Assad.
…and yet Putin has been leader of Russia since the 1990s.
The list of long-lived dictators is long. Why not read up before you post?
It was Yeltsin not Putin in the 1990’s.
Putin took over in 1999.
Are you some kind of nut?
That’s why I hide his comments.
It’s an AI troll bot.
Yes, he’s a nut job troll. My bad. He’s below a troll whatever that is. Just hide his less than worthless comments.
The stream of ridiculous trolling bullshit that issues from your fingertips never ceases.
Stick another pin in the voodoo doll and take another toke.
You are a moron.
Trump wants to be just like Hitler. First take (Sudetenland) Panama. Then anex (Austria) Greenland, and then take (Poland with Stalin) Canada with Putin.
Why would any sain person think anything Trump says is good for the USA or the world?
Sain to make the sign of the cross over so as to bless or protect from evil or sin.
Not sure why Trump thinks any of this will help with all the promises he made during the elections. This was never on the agenda, and I don’t think it was the mandate he was given by the voters.
Spahn & Sain And Pray For Rain!
Why stop there with your ridiculous analogy? Go for it… name the camps and chambers. In for a penny… Don’t let objective analysis get in the way.
Of the list of small North American polities, many of whom send immigrants to the USA to send money back home, why wouldn’t statehood be a boon?
If Honduras was a state, if Cuba was a state, if Quebec is a state, who loses?
Isn’t self-determination at the heart of democracy? Isn’t America, land of the free?
Trump wants to gas the penguins and polar bears!
and grab em by the pussy?
Except Trump has killed 6,000,000 fewer Jews than Hitler.
So, after Canada and Greenland, Australia is to be the 53rd state? As it happens, quite a lot of Aussies wouldn’t mind if it was a serious national security issue. The big stumbling block would be the guns. We’ve only had about two massacres in the thirty years since we banned assault rifles, and we like our schools un-shot-up.
Investment tip – buy shares in the flag manufacturing companies. Extra stars to be added for each new state, and you guys have a lot of flags to replace….
Well you had better not let people know the true situation in regards to firearms in Australia then…..
There are now more firearms registered in Victoria than before the Port Arthur massacre.
People in Australia don’t go around shooting each other like in the USA for some reason. Maybe it has to do with drugs, gangs, and immigration.
The other problem with Australia ever becoming part of the USA is that we would pick up some of the USA’s bad habits such as the idiotic policies often found in states like California, Illinois, and Hawaii.
Victoria would fit right in there with those three states though.
Lots of things are much better here in Australia than in the USA and we would like to keep it that way.
The point Trump is making, implicitly is that a number of countries have gone downhill both economically and in terms of personal liberty. If the states of Australia became US states, if NZ became a state, if the provinces of Canada became states, who loses? Trump’s enemies should enthuse about the possibility of more Democrat voters for their plantation brining another Democrat president who can then harvest the rich rewards of renewed economic growth in all these new states of the union.
You do understand that you are describing colonialism? What is the difference between the way Trump is describing his foreign policy objectives and the objectives of the Kings of England as they colonized India and other countries that would “benefit” by becoming part of the British Empire or the Soviet Union and its control over most Eastern European countries from 1945 to 1992 or Putin’s justification for forcibly seizing a part of Georgia and now Ukraine over the last 15 years?
You’re trying to argue with my happily and willfully stupid minions. It will do you no good whatsoever.
Not like you, eh, you’re not a wilfully stupid minion at all, are you.
Colonialism was forced by military means. Trump wants voluntary joining.
It’s the difference between a caveman dragging a woman by the hair to his cave to be his wife and modern society where people voluntarily marry.
…it wasn’t though… most of it was voluntary – tribal states or princely states inviting the British in, or even paying them to help them deal with another princely state. It wasn’t a wholesale invasion at all.
Only certain woman liked to be dragged by the hair. The rest wanted to be carried. And you better have a split-level cave waiting!
What England did for India they benefited from, and the evidence is how they still retain a lot of what was given to them. What you’re forgetting is that pre-Raj India was a patchwork of feudal states where the majority were treated like dirt, and their lot was vastly improved by “colonialism”.
The British Empire is mostly responsible for the modern world we have now. Yes, it is Anglo-Saxon, and it is responsible for the best countries.
There is a reality about the world that you are missing or avoding, that most of the world is already vassal to the USA, the inheritor of the British Empire. Members of NATO are vassal states to the US, and are already colonised with US bases and cultural products, and that’s by choice, because the alternative is a less generous hegemon.
The EU attempting to be an alternative hegemon has failed, and that is very obvious when Russian gas was cut off, and they did nothing about it, and instead accepted more expensive American energy, and the free defence deal they have.
Putin’s justification for defending the breakaway parts of the made-up country of The Ukraine, is to prevent ethnonationalist ethnic cleansing, as happened in Yugoslavia, which NATO intervened in, to change the borders in a very similar way. If you cared to read about the history of the region, you would see how frequently the borders have changed, and how places like Crimea have been just passed from one place to another without asking the population as happened in the recent plebiscite there.
To what extent is South Ossetia “part of Georgia”? The people are very different ethicity from the Kartvelians, and do you deny them a say?
There are non-military means to solve such internal issues within a sovereign nation and Russia has no justification to intervene. In the world you seem to envision there is not peaceful mechanism to solve disputes. Welcome to the late 19th century and early 20th century.
We banned “assault” rifles and “only” had “about” two massacres is not the selling point to hang your hat on. Define “assault” rifle. “Only” and “about” doesn’t make sense. And does “about” mean 2? Or is it 3? Or maybe 4 or 5, or even 6? What’s the body count of a massacre? The continental U.S. is the same size as Australia, with 12 times the population. We’re not comparing apples to oranges.
Defining “massacre” as four or more killed in one incident. Last year, six people were stabbed to death at a shopping mall in Sydney. In 2019, four people were shot dead in Darwin, and a year earlier a man stabbed five of his own family members to death. So three massacres since the 1995 gun buy-back. In the 15 years prior to 1995, there were 13 such incidents, including 35 shot dead at Port Arthur.
Learn Chinese. In WWII, the NRA took up collections to send rifles to the UK. Connect the dots.
What a meaningless incoherent comment.
The true big stumbling block would be you guys learning to drive on the proper side of the road. Can’t have one state different from all the rest.
Let us know when your ready to do that.
So, Pax Americana?
Famous SF author A. E. Van Vogt penned a couple of books back around 1951 titled The Weapon Shops of Isher & The Weapon Makers of Isher. In these stories, everyone could buy guns BUT the guns would only work in self-defense.
This is what we need!
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Weapon_Shops_of_Isher
Actually making Canada part of America is incredibly smart as is making Greenland an American state or territory. Add a referendum that the Scottish SNP can take to the people to ditch the UK and assume American territorial status and you get the North Sea Oil, a pretty decent submarine base and preserve the GI Gap. That leaves the North completely sewn up with the exception of Russia who you make a deal with and then Europe as we used to know it can go back to the stone age for all it matters.
Canada would never vote for that
I would think that Manitoba, Saskatchewan, and Alberta would join the USA in a heartbeat. Have relatives in Saskatchewan by the way.
I don’t doubt that. However what % of the population is that?
A few more tiny population states like Nebraska and Idaho, but votes!
The natural resources percent.
Canada would never join the US in it’s entirety. For example Quebec would form it’s own country (as it’s attempted several times via referendum).
So the idea of those 3 provinces (the key 3 since they have important resources and low populations and are thus net producers) joining but the rest not joining would be possible and makes the most sense.
Remember if Quebec can cede, the rest of the provinces can as well.
You might get the western half, but the eastern half would try to form a reource-poor country like NZ, and send workers west if they can get work permits… essentialluy the west feeds the east.
Once we added up the government safety net cost that Canadians would expect being new US citizens, we would get religion and forget it.
What about the stars on the flag though? That’s going the get complicated.
You forgot Iceland, Ireland, and Norway…
Why not take them by force. They don’t have much of a military, so a few days should do it. We could then take slaves like the Romans or Greeks. I could use a couple of Canadians to help out around here. Just thinking.
Taking by force is about as useful as keeping a significant other in a relationship by force. It never ends well and you constantly have to be watching your back.
You only want someone who wants to be there.
I guess half of them do though… especially west of Ontario.
Like in the US, we would have to carve off the coasts and take only the good stuff in between.
Part of the issue is the Canadians do nothing about their northern coast. The US sends the occasional submarine to patrol under the ice, the Canadians send a letter of protest about infringing on their territorial waters, the U.S. sends back a letter suggesting they get some nuclear submarines so they can patrol their own waters, and nothing happens.
Most Canadians live close to the US border. A heavily subsidized movie called “Passchendaele”, about Canadian soldiers fighting in WWI, was a commercial flop.
Call this behavior and rhetoric what you want. It is Neo-colonialism and a rebuke of the rules based order envision by Roosevelt and Churchill and implemented by the leaders of of the allies after WWII.
you say it like it’s a bad thing… tell us, how is the status quo working out?
Well, lets see! The U.S. over the last 20 years has had the highest economic growth, lowest unemployment rate, lowest inflation, and highest per capita GDP. Since the end of WWII and the beginning of the “so-called” rules based global order the United States has emerged as the preeminent economic and military superpower. It is very disingenuous for the U.S. to be whining about being taken advantage of by countries that we have been consistently outperforming over the last 2+ decades. See the following for an illustration of GDP per capita among the G7 countries since 2000. https://www.statista.com/statistics/1370625/g7-country-gdp-levels-per-capita/
Let’s just acquire all the countries in the western hemisphere!
We, the Attorneys General of Utah, Kansas, Arkansas, Idaho, Indiana, Louisiana, Mississippi, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, and Texas, write to express our serious concerns with how individuals harmed by COVID-19 vaccines are being treated by the federal government. We seek answers to questions about the administration of the Countermeasures Injury Compensation Program (CICP).
During the height of the pandemic, many Americans wanted “to do their part” by participating in vaccine trials or getting vaccinated. The federal government gave COVID-19 vaccine manufacturers more than $30 billion in taxpayer funds to develop and sell COVID-19 vaccines (1), and spent billions more promoting these products to the public (2). The federal government both encouraged (3), and in many cases, mandated vaccination (4).
But when some of these individuals were injured by the COVID-19 vaccine, they found that the federal government favored manufacturers over their health. In addition to providing manufacturers like Pfizer and Moderna billions of dollars (5), the federal government also gave these companies effective blanket immunity for harms caused by their products (6).
https://www.sirillp.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/2024-12-30-Letter-re-Covid-Injury-Claims-under-CICP-7127ec397b54d5a3e2c7808570eaa2a5.pdf?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email
Individuals should’ve done their own research before taking the VAX. 40 to 50% of medical personnel stated they would not take the vax. That should’ve spoken volumes about not taking it. Almost everyone I know who has been vaxed and boosted has had Covid multiple times with serious symptoms.
Once this crap is in you, it doesn’t just go away, but grows stronger, but not necessarily in a good way. Nobody, including the scientists, really know what to do, and how to handle it.
It’s unproven, untested, and unrealized, but for many unfortunately, it’s “Unforgettable”
Shame on our Scientist (experimental idiots playing God), for putting this crap into “Our Civilization” with total disregard for Peoples Lives, Families, Children, and the Elderly. If they wanted to “Decrease” the population, there are much better, and safer approaches.
Not sure where you get your statistics from, but in 2022 the AMA reported the following about COVID-19 vaccines and physicians: “The American Medical Association (AMA) today released a new survey (PDF) among practicing physicians that shows more than 96 percent of surveyed U.S. physicians have been fully vaccinated for COVID-19, with no significant difference in vaccination rates across regions. Of the physicians who are not yet vaccinated, an additional 45 percent do plan to get vaccinated.” I no the numbers are higher if you include all healthcare workers, but that would seem to be meaningless data point as it would include far more low scientific information workers such as LPNs and all type of technicians. If one is trying to make a case that medical professionals who have a firm grasp on the science made a decision to not be vaccinated, looking at the most highly trained and educated would be the p
Doctors are not the only medical professionals.
So, what medically trained professionals would you base your confidence in the safety of a vaccine based upon there choice to take the vaccine or not, if not physicians?
Vaccine scientists? I know one with a PhD in vaccinology from Oxford, they are not a “physician” though… nor a surgeon… nor a psychiatrist… nor a dentist …not a vet …did you go to school?
Multiple Doctors tried to convince me to get the vax. I told them NO WAY!!!!! I did my own research. There is no way to difinitevily know if a vaxine is safe until you give it time. There was MINIMAL testing. the EVIDENCE released by the Government confirms all the vax injuries. If you’re seriously interested in finding out FACTS go to naturalnews.com. There are multiple countries that used the same vaxes as the US and they have released data on the vax injuries and the seriousness of the injuries. Besides the heart issues there are a lot of young people that can’t get pregnant. Men don’t have viable sperm and women don’t have viable eggs.
Facts are funny things because they require context. 100’s of millions of people around the world were vaccinated with Pfizer’s and Moderna’s Covid-19 vaccines, myself included (4 times). Of the 100s of millions of people, a very small percentage had adverse reactions. Welcome to the world of vaccines and in fact, all medications. Why don’t you post the statistical incidents of what you speak of?
A lot of doctors got the jab to keep their jobs….
https://www.facebook.com/reel/759844876307332
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Physicians were basically forced (by the hospitals) to get vaccinated if they wanted to maintain their hospital privileges and see their patients who may have been admitted during the pandemic for whatever ailment, surgery or other procedure.
Health professionals who did not need to see patients outside of their own clinics (unless they belonged to a medical group, which the majority of them do and so again were basically told get vaccinated or you cannot work) did not or did (get vaccinated) by choice.
If you work in these related fields and have worked or studied the process by which drugs and vaccines are developed and approved you would know that the whole process was subverted in order create a new type of vaccine (which is really not a vaccine at all but a type of gene modification of the human immune system) whose overall outcomes both negative and positive were neither fully tested or disclosed to the public.
With regard to the AMA (who is fully under the dominion of the pharmaceutical industry) and their statistics, they fully endorsed and demanded of their members to be vaccinated or lose their privileges under AMA rules of membership). The AMA cannot be considered an impartial observer in this discussion in any way, shape or form. Doctors who publicly or vocally spoke out against AMA policy were ostracized and threatened with the loss of their licensures and all other sorts of illegal threats to their livelihoods.
In short your citation of an AMA publication of a system of forced compliance of their own membership is a self serving falsehood that misleads and misinforms the public at the service of the pharmaceutical industry.The pharmaceutical industry’s only real desire in this whole affair was massive profits and complete freedom from any legal implications or obligations for a genetically modified gene therapy that in any other period of time would never have been approved by the FDA or any other governing body of science.
First of all, I know quite a few doctors and in the early months of COVID they were seeing colleagues and medical school friends across the country getting very sick and sometimes dying. All of the doctors who I know were more than willing to get the mRNA vaccines. Secondly, correcting your understanding of the mRNA science, this science had been being developed for decades. Secondly, it does not alter a person’s genes/cells/DNA. The vaccine is produced by mapping the DNA of a virus and then using the mRNA technology to create a protein based replica of the virus’ spike protein. By injecting that replica spike protein into a person’s body, it tricks the body in believing that that spike protein is a virus. In the case of Covid-19, a novel virus that the human immune system had not previously encountered. Thus, with the original virus and early mutations it was extremely dangerous to have such a virus circulating. The mRNA vaccine trained the recipient’s immune system to combat the virus when and if it entered the body. That’s it!
I am quite aware of the process of mRNA technology and gene therapy and how it works. I used to work in the industry and am also a health professional of more than thirty years of experience. I am quite sure that I have forgot more than you claim to know which anyone of measurable intelligence can read on the Internet and cite journals.
In other words I have practiced in both fields and know enough to know the process of drug and vaccine development and the risks involved.
Knowing a few doctors does not make you an authority by association. Doctors got sick at the same or higher rate early on during the pandemic due to their profession and its higher rate of exposure to COVID infected individuals. Mortality rates would probably be higher due to this association as well.
The problem with the vaccine is that the long term effects of incorporating the mRNA into select B-cells (of which 10% are become memory B-cells and are sequestered into the humoral part of a person’s long bones i.e. the bone marrow) and the programmed DNA sequences for manufacturing the 30-40 antigenic surface proteins are not known due to the short term of testing and selective outcomes that were released by the pharmaceutical manufacturers who were the only ones were allowed to test and release their results.
The other aspect of this process was the abrupt mandates issued by private and governmental bodies based on these incomplete studies that threatened or severed many persons livelihoods (a subject you so obviously avoided).
By the way, vaccines never stopped the COVID virus from circulating or mutating (a fact that the pharmaceutical industry also avoided) and in fact was counting on so that they might sell more vaccine to an unknowing public. For all it was worth at this point you might as well make a vaccine to the common cold as it belongs to the same family of viruses (coronaviruses) of which there are 30-40K variants circulating at any one time around the planet.
You are off topic.
America’s Arctic Troops in Greenland Go To Diversity TrainingThe U.S. already has a base in one of the territories Trump covets. Here’s how the Americans stationed there are told to deal with the people who are actually from there.https://reason.com/2025/01/08/americas-arctic-troops-in-greenland-go-to-diversity-training/
It’s not crazy to the Tri Lateral Commission. Yeah, the Tri Lateral Commission:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fv6w_ys5sJo&t=43s
Mexico will rename the United States to North Mexico. Boom.
Or “New Mexico”?
So how does all this talk from Trump sound to a Libertarian? I thought we were to keep to ourselves.
What is Trump going to use to pay for Greenland, dollars? Those are worth a lot. Why don’t we just buy the whole world before it notices that we can’t make much of anything?
What would we do with Greenland? We haven’t even developed the resources here wisely.
I think that we should get our own house in order before trying to expand.
Environmental disaster will not happen in US.
How would a Libertarian have thought about buying Alaska?
There are very few things of strategic importance but minerals and chips are on the list.
Not letting Russia put missiles in Cuba was another.
On the other hand, Ukraine is of no strategic interest to the US.
I am willing to defend strategic interests. There are not many but there are some.
I strongly dislike threatening Canada, our best ally.
Nor do I like Trump’s talk on Panama.
Ukraine’s strategic interest is it’s location amidst other powers, and its resources. Control of Ukraine is key to control of Eurasia. Anyone who thinks otherwise is not a student of history.
So, does the US need to destroy Ukraine in order to save it? Most of Ukraine has been within the Russian sphere of influence for at least 1000 years. Fortunately, so many young American men are in such bad physical shape that the US would be hard pressed to repeat the mistakes of Vietnam.
No, but whoever controls it, controls Eurasia. America can chose to control North and South America instead – and let the Russians control Eurasia, it’s a choice.
“I strongly dislike threatening Canada, our best ally.
Nor do I like Trump’s talk on Panama.”
I must disagree with a couple things Mish. I would not take what Trump stated as a threat at all. He is being up front about the border, and the protection of it.
I would also not even consider Canada as one of our “Best” Ally’s . They made a NG deal with Russia over the U.S. and they are way, way more far, far “Left Leaning” and can’t stand “Free Speech” or “Citizens Rights” over Government Control. They are a “Dictatorship Nation” for now anyway. Maybe that changes with Jr. Gone, but they have Dozens of Jr’s running around, with Power in Canada!!
It is not like Greenland and Denmark are actually enemies or anti-American. The same with Canada (does anyone remember the Iranian embassy staff that Canada kept safe through the hostage crisis)? My point is that there are much better ways to get what you need than threaten your friends in public. And it goes against what the United States supposedly has stood for the last century or two, self determination. If you are a Libertarian you should also be concerned about the liberty of others and not just of yourself or your country.
If I was Greenland/Denmark, I wouldn’t sell to anyone. The resources are more valuable than any dollar, Bitcoin, or whatever. It will not be too long before the world realizes that actual production capacity of goods is more valuable than the production capacity of dollars (or other currency).
This is an example of just how low our political system has sunk. Both parties have become totally incompetent, just in different ways.
Problem is that if you live there now, you’d probably like to have a better life for you and your kids today, not 30 or 50 years from now. Joining the USA would spur investment now and lead to a better life immediately instead of at some indeterminate date in the future.
Yes, and Czechoslovakia and Poland were not a strategic interest to England and the United States? History tells us that Roosevelt believed before the 1940 election that we must stop Hitler in Europe to both protect democracy and ultimately protect the United States and it is very well documented how Churchill felt about stopping Hitler as early as when he took Czechoslovakia.Expansionist autocrats/dictators only stop when they are stopped by a superior force.
Europe mattered in 1940. Today not so much as there is nothing that Europe provides that the US could not do without or get elsewhere.
Besides, before Roosevelt the Monroe Doctrine (what we should return to) was about North/South America and nothing about the rest of the world.
You should take a look at the economic impact for the United States from the fall of the Soviet Union and the resulting liberation of Eastern Europe. The United States is the dominant economic superpower that we are because of the increase in the number of free democratic countries in the world compared to 1970. The United States is the beacon of democracy and capitalism for the rest of the world, not because of an ideal, but because doing so directly benefits the United States.
How are you separating out the rise of China in the late 90s from the fall of the Warsaw pact in 91?
Most of the US economic impact in the last 25 years is from the rise of China (and now India) as the worlds cheap manufacturer rather than from a handful of former Soviet vassal states.
Not to mention China is the worlds #2 super power and they aren’t democratic so there is nothing that says you need democracy to be economically powerful.
China’s economic ascent is nor predictably faltering and there is not much they can do about it. There demographics make it impossible to continue fostering real economic growth because of the age of the population, the very low birth rate and the fact that no one would even consider immigrating there.
A lot of the world would be quite happy to be bought by the USA: most have no rights.
– Trump says he isn’t bluffing in threats to take over allies. He wants Denmark to sell Greenland and Canada to become the 51’st state.
> He is telling the truth, in the fact that “The U.S.” would Love to “Absorb Greenland”
>> All else is “Suggested”
– With the Panama Canal, he suggested he could use force to take them over.
– With Canada, he suggested he would hit the U.S.’s northern neighbor with extreme tariffs, leaving it no choice but to submit to annexation.
> Wow, your mind does travel…
– Trump’s willingness to broach such ideas, has left some aghast.
> Yeah right… You perhaps?
– “We just haven’t seen anything like this, at least in my lifetime, from a president of the United States,” said Chuck Hagel, the former Republican!
> Hmm… Where was He in 2016, 2017, 2018 & 2019?
Last time someone cut our oil off was 1979 when Saudi did, and the economic mess that occurred from that. Saudi sells all their oil to China. Canada could do the same. Meanwhile we have only one frakked area (E Texas) that is still increasing production. …
1979? Seriously? You must stop living in the past…
Canada does sell oil to China now.
The problem is that the oil that the US buys is heavy oil. It can pretty much only be refined by the US (no one else has those refineries). China could build them but that takes a long time and on top of that, heavy oil isn’t as good as light oil so a lot more has to be shipped to get the same bang for the buck (in other words it’s a losing deal).
“When our strongest allies and partners lose confidence in us…”
They are not allies. They are vassals. Nuf sed.
I suggest we spend the next four years focusing on getting our own house in order,before wasting valuable time and energy on the distraction of annexing others’.
This 4 years is the last chance. Now or never.
How naive… the point of annexing the others is to increase wealth in the USA and to thwart the CCP’s attempts to attack wealth. The USA is not a closed system, it is integrated with the rest of the world, and the CCP is the real bogeyman to fend off.
Mish, Don’t tempt us. East America under Trump seems a lot better than the present mob we have “leading” this country. Incompetent Fascist Socialists is not a good recipe for sound government.
Regards, George Pappas, Newcastle (we have plenty of coal), NSW, Australia.
It is cheaper to buy Greenland than to take care of 15 million new illegal aliens.
But here we are. No Greenland yet 15 million illegal aliens to take care of.
You’re right, 15M Vs. 60,000.
Buying Greenland won’t solve the problem of 15 million illegal aliens.
Unless the plan is to relocate them all there as workers 🙂
This sound like an episode of SNL (Saturday Night Live) merged with The Apprentice.
But in case it isn’t, it would be a final nail in the coffin of the American empire. The rats, that they are, would gang up against the bully.
Hmmm, you print up vapor dollars and exchange it for real assets like a country. Trumpy’s Fed Reserve could be viewed like Homer Simpson’s quip: “Donuts, (Dollars) what CAN’T they do??”
Screw Canada. You don’t want Canada as a state. Too many loons. They elected Trudeau more than once. What you want is Saskatchewan. The people there don’t like Ottawa. They are smart and conservative, and there are a lot of minerals there.
The problem is that we would have to learn how to spell it.
Re-Name the whole place Moose Jaw.
The economy of Greenland relies heavily on subsidies from Demark to survive. The public sector plays a dominant role in Greenland’s economy, not natural resource production.
“The subsidy from the Danish Government was budgeted to be about $535 million in 2017, more than 50% of government revenues, and 25% of GDP.”
https://www.cia.gov/the-world-factbook/about/archives/2022/countries/greenland/#:~:text=The%20subsidy%20from%20the%20Danish,and%20by%207.7%25in%202016.
This sounds like a bad deal to me.
Well just add them to the social security office as special retired seniors, what’s another 59,000 out of 72 million?
$535m is pocket change. We could give every Greenlander a million dollars and it would only cost $57B. Ukraine’s Zelensky spends that on hookers and blow.
What do we get for our money aside from a frozen chunk of land with roughly 60k people who depend on government subsidies to survive?
And what happened to fiscal constraint?
I can guarantee if Biden proposed this most commentors here would call it stupid.
It’s what’s under the snow that is valuable, and the EU and CCP want it.
RARE EARTH METALS. That’s what Greenland has, Woodsie.
All there’s all sorts of artic oil & natural gas sitting off the coast of Greenland.
Antimony current sells from ~ $23K / metric ton.
And that’s just one of at least 10-15 very important REMs.
Ok, so why hasn’t anyone developed or attempted to develop those minerals, assuming they are even there.
Because we are just now approaching the global arms race that rare earth metals will become. It’s the new cold war.
Furthermore, China has spent the last 20 years corning the market while America fell asleep at the wheel fighting the global war on terrorism
China is tomorrow’s threat, not Islamic terrorists, unless Iran gets the bomb, then all hell might brake loose.
It has not been proven to be His yet…
Greenland only has 57K residents. If Trump signs an exclusive deal to mine REM, then the royalties would more than eliminate the subsidies.
That is all conjecture. You have no idea if that would happen.
Of course it’s conjecture. Every single word posted on Mish’s website is conjecture. Hell, you’re engaging in conjecture by calling out my conjecture. I’m engaging in conjecture for calling our your conjecture of my conjecture.
If Greenland were up for sale, why not auction itself and let China, EU, Middle East, and any other nation offer a bid? Why hold out for $4m when China/Middle East may offer $50m or more?
I also find this statement very curious, “No, I can’t assure you on either of those two. But I can say this, we need them for economic security.”
So America’s economic security now hinges on Greenland? WTF?
Get out a globe and imagine Russian subs.
What about Russian subs? They fire nukes? We fire nukes back? We also have subs so what’s the point?
The best deal is not just who gives the most money but a combination of things. The EU has the money but not the willingness to use it on Greenland seeing that they have much more important uses for the cash. China could do it but not even Greenlanders want to live under a Chinese reign.
As for the security aspect you clearly have not studied anything about WWII.
The EU is on it’s last legs, and Denmark is likely one of the first out the door.
If those people are willing to sell I doubt their plan is to stay there. If they got $20m each there would be literately nothing to spend it on in Greenland, you’d have to go to the U.S., Europe or some other place on a golden visa to enjoy that money. The Danes are well known for not being flashy anyway so they’re not going to build McMansions in Greenland.
The point of the purchase is to exploit resources not build malls with Louis Vitton shops.
Why not write a thought-through post worth commenting on instead of that moronic disingenuous drivel?
oh the irony….
indeed…..
Don’t be so hard on him, he is getting warmer after all.
America’s economic security hinges on countering China at all levels.
What Trump should do is invite the Danish PM to DC and remind her that western industrialized nations MUST COME TOGETHER TO COUNTER CHINA and Russia for that matter. Remind her than the US is currently a NATO member and will help thwart any Russian aggression against her country. Explain that all we need is an exclusive mineral rights deal for all of Greenland & its surrounding artic territories.
If she refuses, send in the Marines. Yes, Trump should use our military power to secure our vital national interests in the western hemisphere once reasonable negotiations break down.
It’s time to push back against China. The clock is ticking & time is running out. China is racing ahead in AI, robotics, space, stealth fighters & bombers, etc.
This Unitree Robot is like Boston Dynamics on Steroids:
Chinese robot dog Unitree B2W all terrain demonstration
Unitree Go2 New Upgrade
When you vote for morons, you get moronic ideas.
Like the Inflation Reduction Act.
Or pre-emptively pardoning Fauci & Cheney.
Or spending 40% of your presidential term on vacation.
Or choosing someone like Comrade Kamala as your VP that you knew was going to stab you in the back.
Or trying to ban gas stoves.
Or leaving a huge military base to the Taliban when you sh!t on yourself pulling your troops out of Afghanistan.
. . . .
To infinity in terms of moronic ideas that have come from Brandon.
like the open borders, and shovelling of debt that has to be paid by US taxpayers into a corrupt East European dictatorship, like wokism and BLM-racist-marxism, like constraining energy input into the economy (see Germany for how that pans out).
Dang, I forgot the open borders in my reply, but with so many to choose from it’s hard to remember them all ; )
As proved by the last four years. What the last four years has proven (much like eight years under Obama) is that the Democrats and their policies are responsible for the election of Trump but they are too self involved and self righteous to see or admit to it however.
Greenland is a good deal and frankly Denmark is in no position to object since instead of developing it they just gave the inhabitants a nice pension and keep the island as a nature preserve. The US can give them a much better deal. I have no idea whether they would accept or not but I hear that alcoholism and violence are endemic in the community so they will fit in nicely with our culture.
I doubt they want to be inundated with obese Americans and their obese food culture.
It’s not easy to get fat on a mostly fish diet. At least they’ll be healthy alcoholics!
Lets not forget .. this is an 80 year old guy whose brain has been soaked in households and businesses full of hero worship and authoritarianism. After awhile, you start to believe your own nonsense.
Who Biden? Obama? Obama’s not 80 yet, but your description of him there is spot on.