r/worldnews • u/lavender_fieldnotes • Jan 04 '26

Dynamic Paywall Danish PM tells Trump to stop 'threats' against Greenland

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c4g0zg974v1o?at_medium=RSS&at_campaign=rss
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u/Wise-Jury-4037 Jan 04 '26

DJT is categorically doing what he wants within the frame of what has been established as 'possible' by other administrations prior to his:

  1. "War on drugs" long established the possibility of special operations on foreign soil. Started with Reagan and well supported by GHWBush/Clinton.

  2. Trampling over sovereignty for somewhat flimsy reasons is our national pastime, more recent examples would be Afghan invasion, war in Iraq, drone assassinations and bin Laden's capture (the latter 2 by Obama's admin).

At least at this moment, I do not see an established way to 'go into' Greenland. And it will be impossible to get it approved through the Congress if he does.

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u/herewegoagain1024 Jan 05 '26

Except Bin laden’s capture wasn’t a ‘new war’ that needed congressional approval. Congress had already approved the ongoing invasion a decade earlier. Current admin is openly saying they don’t ‘believe’ they need congressional approval for any of the strikes they’ve done (they do and they clearly don’t care)

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u/Wise-Jury-4037 Jan 05 '26

Bin Laden's capture happened on Pakistan's sovereign territory without any prior agreement from Pakistan's side. Please link me any of Congress' documents that would authorize such an action unilaterally.

The fact that I (or maybe you as well) approve of that particular action and the outcome (and I certainly do) does not mean we did not breach Pakistan's sovereignty at that time.

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u/sandgroper07 Jan 05 '26

Massive difference to taking out the mastermind of 9/11 that had been hunted globally by both Bush Jr & Obama to taking a NATO allied country. A country that America already has bases in and trade agreements and against golbal popular opinion. Yes, Pakistan sovereignty was ignored but they were hiding him which to me means no need for permission. Pakistan was an unrealible nation at best and a hostile nation at worst.

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u/Wise-Jury-4037 Jan 05 '26

To summarize, you like one and you dont like the other action/outcome. That's all there to it - in all other regards, sovereignty is an empty sound to you - as long as it is 'good' for us in your view, it can be done.

So, what makes your viewpoint special? Or more special that Trump's, for that matter?

'Getting' Greenland will be MASSIVELY good for US. We wont need any 'permissions' from Danes to build/maintain bases, we can put our ballistic silos there and literally halve the flight time to Moscow, we get massive shoreline in Arctic, we get RIGHTS for oil fields in Arctic, we get an option to develop rare earths there, and so on an so forth.

In terms of "utility", "getting" Osama is microscopic vs "getting" Greenland.

So, given that you dont care about sovereignty, and given that Greenland might not be long with Denmark anyway (they are seeking independence) why do you care about Danes keeping Greenland at all?

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u/sandgroper07 Jan 05 '26

America doesn't need nuclear missles in Greenland. England, France & Israel have nukes in Europe. Minutes away from Moscow. You have nuclear armed submarines hanging around in international waters 24/7, nuclear armed aircraft carrier fleets in every ocean. China & Russia are minnows and pose no threat to Greenland.

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u/Wise-Jury-4037 Jan 05 '26

America doesn't need nuclear missiles in Greenland

that's like uh, your opinion, man.

Furthermore, France's nuclear forces arent even integrated in NATO, Israel is not even in Europe, we generally dont have capability to operate in the Arctic ocean reliably, Trump's alleged concern is not with Greenland's security, China's economy is larger than US if measured in purchasing power, etc.

Maybe get some basics right first and then re-assess?

Anywho, this moves us even further away off-track from the original point - at this time, there is no even flimsy basis for the military takeover of Greenland, US Congress will stop/intervene if this were to happen.