"The Chinese are also looking into it. It seems the heavily Lutheran island of Greenland, wants nothing to do with having Godless landlords from Beijing running the joint."
One of the things that many folks on my side of the street love about this President, is his ability to keep things fresh. Just when it looks like things might be getting a bit boring or stale, BAM! - here comes something unexpected from left field. The latest of course, is Greenland. Most are scratching their heads right now, wondering where THAT one came from.
What is up with this Greenland thing? Is it the weather? Uh, no. Not unless you are an Eskimo. Must be the booming economy. Uh, no. It is a welfare magnet for the Dutch. Then it has to be all those new people we can soon call Americans. Wrong again, breath-o! This massive island, three times the size of Texas, only has 56,000 people. What in the world is the attraction then? For that, we might need to ask the Pentagon.
Greenland is one of the many places in the world in which we have military presence. It is home to our only base north of the Arctic Circle. Plus, this base has a wee bit of mystery attached to it. It is small, and run by the Air Force. It is called the 12th Space Warning Squadron, and it's main purpose is to keep an eye on anything coming over the Arctic Circle which should not be. It also has a radar to keep an eye on low orbit satellites.
Here comes the wee bit of mystery. Some rumors have it, this station might also be keeping an eye on our space neighborhood. In other words, to keep an eye out for ET, should ET show up here for the wrong reasons. In any event, what would liberty be like if stationed there? Nil heard. Brutal.
Of course, there is that relic from the Cold War called the GIUK gap. Many of my compatriots who served during my time period might remember it. The GIUK gap stands for the Greenland, Iceland, and United Kingdom gap. During the Cold War, this is where the Russian northern fleet of submarines would come through. We monitored that gap closely, 24 X 7. Now that we are in another kind of cold war, the GIUK gap has once again gained some importance. My feeling is this might also be part of the calculus the President is using in his buying decision.
By the way, this seemingly worthless bit of rock and ice in the middle of nowhere is not just the apple of our eye. The Chinese are also looking into it. It seems the heavily Lutheran island of Greenland, wants nothing to do with having Godless landlords from Beijing running the joint. But keep in mind, China does not want Greenland to be a vacation mecca. They also see strategic importance in having it.
Let me close by saying this. If the United States truly feels that having Greenland in its orbit will be of high importance to our national security, this is all but a done deal. Since we are talking about Greenland, think of an iceberg. 10% above the water (what we are reading in the press), and 90% below the water (the back channel negotiations).
Our "Godfather" might be coming up with a "deal the Danish and Greenland cannot refuse." If it is to keep China out of this neck of the woods, we will put a lot on the table to win the prize. This one might not be a joke. It is definitely worth watching in the upcoming months.
Having recently returned from Denmark, it seems Trump may be onto something. Long ago, Denmark gave up its vast and effective navy to fund their huge welfare state, a state which is even less sustainable now. They need the money to paper over their vast welfare funding shortfall. They don't have the technology to extract the vast mineral wealth of the island; and we do. All we have to do is outbid the Chinese, and it sounds like we might be the "preferred" bidder.
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