How Greenland Was My Silicon Valley: Behind the Greenland Grab
Image by Steve Johnson.
Donald Trump wants to buy Greenland. Mainstream media strives to coat this nonsense in a veneer of rationality by citing Greenland’s rare earth deposits and strategic position vis à vis Russia and China. In the New York Times article announcing Trump’s gambit, Sherri Goodman, a top Beltway expert on strategic issues, asks, “Was it crazy when the U.S. acquired Alaska? Was it crazy when the U.S. built the Panama Canal?”
No, it wasn’t. Secretary of State Seward purchased Alaska in 1867 from the Russian czar. Teddy Roosevelt initiated construction on the Canal in 1904, both eras so alien to our own we might as well be talking about the ice and “canals” on Mars. Goodman also trots out “national security”, the excuse abused to justify countless invasions, coups, assassinations, and violations of human rights. It is not our manifest destiny to control the North Atlantic. Such arguments illustrate the absurdity of seeking to annex Greenland especially as the same day Trump asked Santa for Greenland, he demanded that Santa give us back the Panama Canada. And Canada too. (No joke!). I wonder where in the Arctic Circle Santa’s workshop is located?
Everyone cites rare earth deposits and national security as plausible excuses for what is basically an act of aggression backed by military threat. Yet few (if any) draw the obvious connection between Greenland and the tech powers who will soon accompany Trump into the White House: Peter Thiel, Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, Apple, and Google, not to mention J.D. Vance, the trophy Vice President on Thiel’s shelf.
Rare earths, plentiful but difficult to extract (hence their “rarity”), are critical for a vast range of cutting edge industries: computers, electric vehicles, solar energy, batteries, super-conducting ceramics, magnets used in critical metal alloys, space exploration, and numerous weapons systems. Demand for rare earth elements is soaring. Rare earths even play a growing role in the crypto industry. Corporations and nations are desperately fearful of running out of rare earth metals. In fact, recent shortfalls threaten U.S. weapons production, a situation the military considers “a potential crisis“. Greenland also is rich in coal, natural gas, oil, iron, gold, zinc, lead, and copper. It sort of won the tech-energy resource lottery. Now we want to cash the ticket.
Greenland is an autonomous country within Denmark. It has bluntly rejected Trump’s demands. We don’t know how far Trump is willing to go. With 56,600 citizens, Greenland is no Ukraine. However Denmark, a charter member of NATO, has already increased Greenland’s defense budget in the wake of Trump’s threats. Europe is well aware Trump would like to pull the........
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