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Trump Wants to Buy Greenland
- maxcan 7y agoSmart move.. Step 1) Buy large swaths of mostly uninhabited, mostly useless arctic land. Step 2) Ensure global warning continues unchecked, possibly even accelerate it so that the land you just bought becomes super valuable Step 3) profit
- ourmandave 7y agoIt's like the '78 Superman plot but with less nukes.
- _bxg1 7y agoStill some nukes, just, less.
- user5994461 7y agoGiven that Trump is 73 years old, he won't live long enough for Greenland to become "habitable".
- tony_cannistra 7y agoHabitability is definitely not the objective. Greenland is hydrocarbons covered in ice.
- cat199 7y ago... and increases access/claims to arctic ocean & natural gas, which russia and canada are already more active in exploring / exploiting.
- mrfusion 7y agoActually it’s going to be underwater in less than a decade probably.
- RcouF1uZ4gsC 7y ago>The person described the question less as a serious inquiry and more as a joke meant to indicate “I’m so powerful I could buy a country,” noting that since Mr. Trump hadn’t floated the idea at a campaign rally yet, he probably isn’t seriously considering it. With past Presidents, you would have to rely on the press and insider leaks to figure out what the President was really thinking. Between his campaign rallies, and Twitter, we get a pretty unfiltered day by day view of what is on the President's mind. That can be both good and bad.
- _bxg1 7y ago[sigh]
- acjohnson55 7y agoThe Danes aren't selling.
- zazagura 7y agoThis sounds like a private buy, meaning that the land remains under Danish sovereignty.
- cat199 7y agohow do you get this at all from TFA? "In meetings, at dinners and in passing conversations, Mr. Trump has asked advisers whether the U.S. can acquire Greenland" "It is also unclear how the U.S. would go about acquiring Greenland even if the effort were serious. " "It unleashed a cascade of questions among his advisers, such as whether the U.S. could use Greenland to establish a stronger military presence in the Arctic, and what kind of research opportunities it might present." etc etc.
- sdinsn 7y agoNo, it doesn't sound like that
- phtrivier 7y agoOoooh, come on, how fun would it be to have DT ask the CIA to stage a coup in Greenland "with penguins or something" ? Also, just wait until someone tells him Greenland is not really bigger than Africa, and then starts explaining Mercator projection... I want to see that moment !
- hackermang 7y agoYou might be confusing Trump for Obama. He liked to use the CIA to violently overthrow governments (Libya), and did not have a firm grasp of geography (once claimed there were 57 states).
- bwb 7y agolol, is it such a weird time in the world that I don't know if this is real or fake? Just wow.
- jamestomasino 7y agoWait a minute... isn't this basically Lex Luthor's plan in the first Superman movie?
- Gibbon1 7y agoMy plan. Step 1. Everyone in Puerto Rico registers Republican. Step 2. Change name to Greanland. Step 3. Two Senate Seats.
- andrewstuart 7y agoNo one will be buying it - there will be a war to take it over and mine its resources. Our glorious future, in which climate change turns into an opportunity for resources companies to dig stuff out of the earth. Watch carefully for the expansion of research bases in Antarctica to be expanded and militarised. From here there will be a large set of public opinion that comes to see the ice covering Greenland and Antarctica as simply an obstacle to commercial opportunity, who see global heating as being a strong positive. This is the beginning of that narrative. Depressing.
- LyndsySimon 7y agoI understand where you're coming from with this, and empathize with your perspective to a degree - but I have a lot more faith in humanity and free enterprise than you seem to. Yes, if climate change models are remotely accurate, Greenland will become much more valuable and will attract commercial interests. I see this as a good thing, though - humanity will adapt to changing conditions. Individuals and communities will be impacted, some in positive and some in negative ways. In short, I wouldn't see this as "now people get an opportunity to fuck up this place, too" - I see it as "the loss of natural resources in some places is offset by their gain in others".
- unpythonic 7y agoI get the feeling he was looking at a world map with a Mercator projection.
- 7373737373 7y agoIt still is as large as Mexico: https://thetruesize.com/#?borders=1~!MTU1MzY0MTU.Mjc4MTA5Nw*MzA1NjQ2NTg(MzMwMjU1OTY~!CONTIGUOUS_US*MTAwMjQwNzU.MjUwMjM1MTc(MTc1)MA~!IN*NTI2NDA1MQ.Nzg2MzQyMQ)Mg~!CN*OTkyMTY5Nw.NzMxNDcwNQ(MjI1)MQ~!DK*MA.MTgwMDAwMDA)Mw~!GL*NjgyMzU2MQ.NjkxMjUzNA)NA https://thetruesize.com/#?borders=1~!MTU1MzY0MTU.Mjc4MTA5Nw*...
- holy_city 7y agoI feel like this is one of those stories like "Condoleeza Rice on short-list for Browns HC" that's just trying to flush out someone leaking information to the press.
- apo 7y ago> The U.S. has sought to derail Chinese efforts to gain an economic foothold in Greenland. The Pentagon worked successfully in 2018 to block China from financing three airports on the island. This is where the story takes a dark turn. Global warming and the reduction of arctic sea ice is making this marginally interesting place more interesting all the time. In 10-20 years Greenland could become the center of a power struggle among countries seeking to obtain it. Would the US allow China or Russia, for example to buy it? No need to sell the whole thing, either - how about a few tens of thousands of square miles? What if countries started pressuring Denmark to part with some or all of Greenland through various channels? How would such advances be perceived by the US and how far would the US go to prevent it? Of all the crazy ways for WWIII to start, a land grab over Greenland would be one of the strangest - at least from today's vantage point. But in just a few years, Greenland could become a flashpoint in world politics. Also, why was this story flagged?
- big_chungus 7y ago> Also, why was this story flagged? Lord if I know... it seems like it fits all guidelines, and I've seen no comments that object to the story itself. Paging dang... unflag please?
- nkurz 7y agoI'd recommend sending a short email making your case to 'hn@ycombinator.com'. You're more likely to get a response while the story is still young. "Paging" comments are hit or miss, while incoming email is better monitored.
- big_chungus 7y agoGood suggestion; thanks. Sent.
- nirav72 7y agoDoes Russia really need it? Other than have a foothold close to the U.S mainland ? By most predictions, Russia is going to do well with it's Siberian region due to climate change. plus it already has easy access to the artic.
- nkurz 7y agoI should probably just let Gwern post it, but since he hasn't shown up yet, here's a link to his wonderful post on the previous US attempt to buy Greenland: "After WWII, the Cold War motivated the USA to offer $100m for ownership of Greenland, which was declined. The USA got the benefit of using Greenland anyway. I discuss how the island otherwise remained a drain since, the dim prospect it will ever be useful to Denmark, and the forgone benefits of that offer. I speculate on the real reasons for the refusal." https://www.gwern.net/Greenland https://www.gwern.net/Greenland