This looks like we basically annexed Greenland but don't have to spend tax dollars there except for defense, also, I'd bet American companies can do more business there... This is bananas...
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c63d7lexyym1o
It does have the novelty that even under independence the US will continue to operate the bases. I'm not sure if Denmark thinks this is a poison pill for any independence movement.
The Golden Dome bases in Greenland are such a stupid pretext:
1) Russia has the Sarmat missile that flies over the South Pole and completely evades all northern installations.
2) Russia has the Poseidon nuclear torpedo that threatens the vast coastal areas of the US and is immune all that as well.
Losing the ability to watch and intercept "obsolete" weapons is quite risky. In 1960s, some cool newest-generation supersonic jet fighters got rid of cannons, because rockets felt so much more efficient. Using them in actual warfare quickly showed that rockets are not perfect, and expensive; you can run out of them, and become helpless.
I dont know why people think this isnt more permissive for the US.
At one point the US had 17 small bases in Greenland. Almost all have been abandoned by the USA on its own initiative.
Look at this map: https://www.researchgate.net/figure/Former-US-air-bases-in-G...
Today there is only the small Thule/Pituffik base.
The US has closed the bases because they make no sense with modern military and satellites.
But Denmark could deny access. Formal agreements are important. You generally don’t leave this stuff up to chance or ambiguity if you don’t have to.
> The US has closed the bases because they make no sense with modern military and satellites.
I’m confused by this. What good do satellites do? So you can watch an enemy armada sail by? There is more importance especially if/when these northern sea routes begin to have interdiction and further early warning systems available. I think the military knows why it needs this stuff.
You assume this deal was driven by military needs. And we all know what happens when one assumes...
I would be ready to bet that, considering how the current administration decapitated the military and installed yes-men at the top, this effort was not, in fact, driven by military needs.
One can simply think about it and understand the military and strategic importance of Greenland and that the US may over time change its defensive posture in the region depending on various goals or situations.
Watching a scripted Senate Armed Services Committee hearing with Senators and Generals agreeing on every topic that serves the Senators' districts and the generals' post-service Raytheon jobs: Yes, they know exactly what they are doing.
Sure there is a difference. The old agreement required Danish agreement for new defense areas. They forfeited that control.
Its like saying an API requiring authorization is the same as one not requiring authorization if historically there were no unauthorized requests.
Which makes it telling that the USA is seeking the ability to go without approval. Sounds to me like they're planning something outrageous that Denmark wouldn't approve of.
They make a ton of sense if you want to control artic shipping and need a somewhat protected staging area from small drones for forward supply areas for Europe, Russia, Africa, and the Middle East.
I would argue that the U.S didn’t even try to get this stuff so it’s not like Trump tried anything and used annexation as ultimatum.
Nothing is permanent and not this deal. You should know that by now if you watched the Trump stuff or the Russia deals with Ukraine or the U.S deal with Ukraine.
Also Denmark does not want to go to war with the US - something that was considered a real scenario just a few months back when the Danes moved an unusual large military force to the island.
Anyways that’s the sentiment - you can look at dr.dk and similar via google translate if you want.
Same thing with Greenland. Sometimes you've got to force the issue and it makes your friend mad and they go around calling all their other friends and trying to hang out and bum rides, only to realize that you were right all along and they have to get their act together.
Last year's US-Denmark military basing agreement excluded Greenland for this 'reason'.
But both sides knew this was a deflection as Denmark has military and foreign relations responsibility for its "non-colony".
The US got fed up, pushed harder and apparently got what they wanted.
The large and growing opposition to US presence in Greenland has largely grown out of the repeated explicit threats of military invasion and annexation, instead of just asking nicely.
The scary thing is how many Americans find these fascist optics and bullying tactics appealing and a display of "strength".
Whether Trump is or isn't allied with Russia is immaterial if much of what he does is exactly the same as what he would do if he were.
The people debating whether he's compromised are missing the point, if he's not then there is the much more interesting question of then why has his foreign policy been to their benefit?.
If it’s immaterial there’s no reason to bring it up. But while Trump hasn’t been as hawkish on Russia as I’d like him to be, I’m not entirely sure that “much of what he does” - whatever that is - is to the benefit of Russia.
Signing the Lindsey Graham bill isn’t for the benefit of Russia. Nor was stopping shadowfleet tankers from Venezuela and Iran.
Then, like Epstein, he had many Russian contacts who sometimes "overpaid" for some of his real estate.
But overall: He was always against Russia's "friend" Iran, delivered Javelins to Ukraine during his first term. He cancelled the INF treaty.
The "row" with Zelensky in the White House was theater. In the full footage Trump winks at Zelesnky before kicking him out and Zelensky smiles and puts a thumb up.
Ukraine support is by no means halted. The EU is forced to pay more for the US proxy war, but the US still plans and decides.
Then he attacked Iran, Russia's ally.
So watch what he does and not what he says. You could also say that his Russia friendliness was a cover for the real plans.
> Just when Russia (a petro state) desperately needed and economic shot in the arm.
Like when you say things like this it doesn't make any sense. Trump stopped Venezuelan support of shadow fleet tankers, he has increased sanctions on Russia, and you can certainly argue if you want that the Iran was isn't going according to Trump's plans (which is ego of course has a substantial impact) but Iran was providing military support to Russia and also helping them evade sanctions.
So can you please point to the exact mechanism you are referring to that's giving Russia an economic shot in the arm? Because from what I can tell Russia isn't receiving any economic shots in the arm and instead is facing increased sanctions and better enforcement of those sanctions.
(2014 is different, in the sense that it was always going to happen if Ukraine ever managed to escape Russian orbit, and more or less everyone knew.)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1968_Thule_Air_Base_B-52_crash
(Accidental crash causing the (non-nuclear) explosion of 3 hydrogen bombs and the loss of a 4th.)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_Iceworm
(A network of mobile nuclear missile launch sites under the Greenland ice sheet.)
However after the cold war US activity there has been cut to a single base with just over 100 men.
So with the re-newed interest and a willigness to seriously mess up the NATO alliance - what does the US want in Greenland this time around?
Minerals, data centers, launch rockets into space, prepare for climate change, maybe something with the northern sea route?
It is very unclear.
Not quite.
They needed authorization from Denmark for establishing bases and the agreement was contingent on the North Atlantic Treaty.
This new deal has neither constraints.
The power before was broad but this expands it.
From 1951:
> “ In order that the Government of the United States of America as a party to the North Atlantic Treaty may assist the Government of the Kingdom of Denmark by establishing and/or operating such defense areas as the two Governments, on the basis of NATO defense plans, may from time to time agree to be necessary for the development of the defense of Greenland and the rest of the North Atlantic Treaty area, and which the Government of the Kingdom of Denmark is unable to establish and operate singlehanded …”
https://avalon.law.yale.edu/20th_century/den001.asp
And 2004:
>“Thule Air Base is the only defense area in Greenland. The provisions of Article II of the Defense Agreement shall apply to the establishment of new defense areas.”
https://www.state.gov/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/04-806-Denm...
This latest enterprise likely has to do with a strategic missile defense system.
Yes.
This is multifaceted, but my understanding is about control of the artic circle as the shipping lanes open up due to ice loss, and as a staging location for arms and supplies for forward deployed units in the northern hemisphere. Probably also some long range radars for better drone detection.
This assumes the US has a plan. It's a bold assumption.
I was thinking about this last night. I think the goal is "spheres of influence and Monroe doctrine stuff" and troublingly i think we might end up with more annexations in the next little bit.
It always could put military bases in Greenland. NATO was a thing, and Denmark never really bothered itself much with US military bases there. Greenland was not annexed by the US.
This is pretty much the same shit with the Iran war, the US now is scrambling to convince Iran to open the strait of Hormuz, just to get things in the same state they were before the war started.
Trump is a spectacular disaster on the domestic front, so the best he has is trying to bully other countries to make the worst Americans feel better that they're domineering someone (this is a Republican strategy as old as time). It's not unlike Putin and Russia, where a has been has a population that desperately tries to regain something from the past, however self-destructive and stupid it all is.
None of this nonsense, from the coup in Venezuela, to the impossibly stupid trade war with Canada, to destroying soft power worldwide, benefits the US at all. But it's all just for the presentation to an idiocracy (speaking specifically to Trump's base).
No mention of Epstein in the latest Denmark and restriction of the press news.
"Thank you for your inattention to this matter" .... DJT
EVERY action, repeat, EVERY ACTION since January 2025 has been to distract from Epstein.
Because not a single one makes sense except in this context.