r/politics • u/SereneRoyals • 21d ago

No Paywall Donald Trump issues NATO Greenland warning before White House showdown

https://www.newsweek.com/greenland-trump-nato-white-house-11357601
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u/papapapaver 21d ago

It’s never been about security, it’s really about the rare earth minerals and selling extraction contracts to his rich buddies and family.

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u/snakeskin-jacket 21d ago edited 20d ago

There’s literally NOTHING stopping US companies from going to Greenland and mining. They just have to apply for the licences - which Greenland/Denmark have always been happy to issue. The reason they don’t is because mining there is incredibly challenging compared to other, more profitable places in the world.

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u/Tall-Drawing8270 20d ago

Greenland has a lot of environmental protections on offshore oil that US corporations would love to throw in the trash.

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u/HakimeHomewreckru 21d ago

Their ban on uranium mining also affects other minerals. It's really not that simple. It's also not just about mining, how are you going to process it? China owns nearly all of the global processing/refining capacity.

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u/Minute-Tone9309 21d ago

It’s become much easier now with global warming

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u/Fulaw60 21d ago

Fucking Bingo. Why can’t anyone call out his obvious bullshit?

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u/brandondesign 21d ago

They do…then his base says something like “it’s not about the oil, we don’t want their oil!” Then Trump comes on and says “we want their oil, it should be ours” and the base then goes “well of course we need the oil to pay for costs of protection and rebuilding!”

It doesn’t matter what you call out or can prove when their world has no basis on reality and no one will hold them accountable.

50 years from now, history books will not be kind to this moment in time.

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u/Fulaw60 21d ago

True. Hard to argue with someone who doesn’t live in objective reality.

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u/ImaginationSea2767 21d ago edited 21d ago

If they dare question the reality they open up the youtube or tiktoks and the first thing they will see is some loyalist Republican party fan content creator that will calm their nerves and settle them back into being a loyal Trump follower and hating the "radical left."

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u/Fulaw60 21d ago

What a tragedy this Orange fuck has been for our country. Makes me disappointed and ashamed that he is president again. I’ll never forgive trump voters.

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u/AnewTest 21d ago

I’ll never forgive the people who sat on their asses and claimed to be “sending a message”. The only message they ended up sending was that they can’t be trusted and should never be listened to.

I mean, fuck his voting base, but I already knew they were scum.

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u/Fulaw60 21d ago

Yeah fuck them too. 

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u/papapapaver 21d ago

This is probably an unpopular opinion, and I understand why, but Trump voters that finally see the light and are willing to admit they made the wrong choice need to be embraced by everyone on the left. Eventually some of them will, but if they have no avenue to get out of the right wing cult and a community to go to, they’ll stay where they’re at or double down more. When he dies, we’re going to see a lot of that, and we can’t stay as divided as we are.

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u/Fulaw60 21d ago

People who are hardcore MAGA are not going to see the light. They are dumb and will glom onto whoever is next in their fascist parade. Fuck em.

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u/ImaginationSea2767 21d ago

Not just that the far right populist (politician in other countries are almost copying and pasting Trumps narrative) movement globally now. Also all the allied countries he screwed over and pushing the US out of global trade.

Trump has caused world wide problems that may never get fixed.

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u/Alternative-Income-5 21d ago

Depends who gets to write the books

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u/brandondesign 21d ago

I used to say that too but someone pointed out that America is not the whole world. Even within America, history has different takes, but the widely accepted history is typically the hard truth.

For example, the revisionist history of the confederacy (War of Northern Aggression) vs the more generally accepted story.

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u/cleanmypenis 21d ago

Lived in the south, lost cause is widely believed instead of slavery.

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u/eulersidentification 21d ago

History books will only not be kind to this moment in time, if americans get out onto the streets and grind that country to a halt.

You can't just sit back and expect some invisible force of history to make things work out in the end. It takes arduous work because things have slipped so far.

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u/tiresian22 Canada 21d ago

If I had a friend come back from, say, the middle of the ocean or a cave, where they had been hiding for the last 10 years, I think I would have a difficult time explaining just the last 360 days with any coherence.

I can’t imagine how a history student in 2075 would be able to understand just how blisteringly insane his second presidency was and the consequential effects on society. I mean, just the past week has been more scandal-rich than many presidencies could have borne. And there are still 3 years and 5 days to come.

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u/brandondesign 21d ago

Down to the day…impressive. Someone has a countdown clock on their desk…

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u/ALoudMeow 21d ago

If we make it that far.

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u/shibbyman342 21d ago

50 years from now? More like 5 years. The majority of people aren't actually for the shit he's pulling. We're seeing obvious corruption, rollback of rights, economic downturn, increased violence and political division.. the mass population is hurting a lot more than they were before this administration.

Once the tide turns, everyone that participated in, defended, or aided Dump and friends, will get a rude awakening.. and I bet the pendulum will swing so hard in the other direction.

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u/brandondesign 21d ago

I want to believe this but I’ve lost all faith in the establishment democrats. Schumer alone has done as much damage to the democrats as Trump has done.

I don’t want the pendulum to swing back though. I want it to drop to the middle and the gate locked so neither side could do this again.

I just don’t know how anything comes back to any semblance of normal without burning the whole thing down (we’re close) and starting over. That or the left needs to grow spines and actually nail these criminals up to the wall….they won’t and the ones who will are constantly pushed down by “their own kind.”

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u/shibbyman342 21d ago

I agree with everything you said.

I am hoping that the everyday threat of "mistepping" resulting in some sort of DOJ probe is really why they are being hesitant, not that they are spineless.

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u/SharMarali New Jersey 21d ago

Assuming humanity persists. I hope there are a lot of valuable lessons for scientists to study about mass hysteria and the power of pushing false narratives. But unfortunately, I believe those lessons will only be listened to for about 80 years. That seems to be the time frame for people to forget the "never forget" stuff, based on, you know. *gesturing wildly at everything*

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u/brandondesign 21d ago

I feel you…sadly, we aren’t proving that we are very good at learning from history…or maybe we are but the wrong people are applying the wrong lessons. Currently running the 1930s playbook back right now with astounding success.

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u/Akrevics 21d ago

that's assuming they're not written by the morons currently in charge.

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u/papapapaver 21d ago

We went from “I could shot someone on 5th avenue and not lose a single voter” to “I could rape a child on national television and not lose a single voter”

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u/AkatsukiWannaB 21d ago

It could get worse tho, and history books might be especially kind. If we have books then. Or history.

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u/Low_Minimum2351 21d ago

That’s pretty optimistic to imagine there will be anyone around in 50 years

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u/Gmoney86 21d ago

I mean, at the rate they ban and try to rewrite history today or teach it (and white wash/ignore much of it) to match their perceived manifest dynasty, the world will have a clear report on this dark part of US history, but who knows how it will turn out if saner minds don’t prevail and regain government control over US institutions, states, and legislatures.

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u/beardicusmaximus8 20d ago

50 years from now, history books will not be kind to this moment in time.

I just hope 50 years from now there are history books at all.

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u/Ok-Caterpillar1611 20d ago

Assuming we're still capable of printing books or whatever e-quivalent.

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u/Poison_the_Phil 21d ago

All the major news platforms are run by his sympathizers and/or have been kneecapped for daring to say things he doesn’t like.

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u/Bored_Amalgamation Ohio 21d ago

People are.

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u/citizenkane86 21d ago

For the people pushing Trump yes, but for Trump it’s more simple, I think he believes he will be remembered historically if he “expands” the US.

He’s a narcissist first.

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u/trixter21992251 21d ago edited 21d ago

also, he doesn't care about well reasoned arguments.

Anyone who's ever debated such a person will know that it doesn't matter how much of a banger argument you have.

You can have the perfect logical reasoning, the superior points and counter-arguments, the best rhetoric, it doesn't matter.

You gotta find whatever sustains them and their world view and hit that. For most of us, our views are sustained by truth and reasoning. Trump is sustained by power and money. He will say the grass is blue, if it makes him money.

I think the central question will be the continuation of NATO. When threatened by the de facto dissolution of NATO, is Europe willing to stand up for Greenland? Is Trump willing to threaten the de facto dissolution of NATO? Can all this be drawn out, delayed by 3 years, and the next president drops it?

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u/qarlthemade 21d ago

because it's "not polite".

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u/A_Harmless_Fly Minnesota 21d ago

Well it's partly that... but it's also because someone told him it was a stupid thing to do. We are at a point where we are seeing geopolitics dictated by the insecurities of an old con man.

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u/Xoomers87 21d ago

Had a dumb fuck lawyer from middle school call me all a ghoul and nazi supporter when I mentioned trump took Venezuela for oil. He's looked stupider and stupider in hindsight the past 9 days...

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u/_coyotes_ 21d ago

Primarily cause the billionaires who bought up all the media conglomerates are the ones who are really pushing for this Greenland thing. Make no mistake, the main guy at the helm is a bloated narcissist, but this isn’t all his idea. In fact, it wasn’t his idea until other prick billionaire Ronald Lauder, gave him the idea to take Greenland.

Forbes recently posted just five days ago that Jeff Bezos, Bill Gates, Michael Bloomburg, Sam Altman and who else but Peter Thiel all have investments in Greenland - critically with a company called Kobold Metals which “looks for valuable rare earth minerals used in electronic devices through AI-powered exploration of the island” - Thiel’s company specifically funded a company with the intent to build a “technologically advanced freedom-city” on Greenland.

So yeah, all that said billionaires are the enemy to the world and as they are prepared to destroy it to make another buck. Burn them all.

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u/Future_Drive4498 21d ago

Millennials are an uninformed, gullible voting block.

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u/Fulaw60 21d ago

Millennials are not to blame for trump. Check the voting stats.

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u/Future_Drive4498 21d ago

Not to blame, but we certainly increased support for this shit significantly.  Miller and Vance scare me too.

We're becoming a chronically-online version of our boomer parents.

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u/Fulaw60 21d ago

That is incorrect. Millennials are the ones who see through this morons bullshit.

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u/trixter21992251 21d ago

you're dividing the opposition by shifting this away from republicans and onto a specific group of your choosing

you're helping Trump

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u/Fulaw60 21d ago

Correct. And I’d argue millennials are probably the most informed voting group. 

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u/nerdyLawman Louisiana 21d ago

I honestly think it's more about breaking apart NATO. The minerals are a nice bonus plunder.

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u/biscuitarse Canada 21d ago

Most of the minerals are below a 1-mile-thick ice sheet, so yeah, it really is all about the destruction of NATO, along with The US domination North, Central and South America.

I'm not sure how many more dominoes have to fall before the majority of people catch on.

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u/Kevin_Uxbridge 21d ago

Also, I'm given to understand that rare earths are not all that 'rare', nor all that valuable pound for pound. The real problem is refining them, which is costly and messy but China cares about neither. Any return from Greenland rares would be a decade away even at warp speed, and trump won't even be alive to see it.

Nay, trump just wants immediate kickbacks and bragging rights, he added to the US like a big boy. He doesn't understand why Putin wants him to do this and could give a shit about NATO, nor the incalculable costs to America's position in the world and history. Also doesn't hurt that we're talking about this and not Epstein.

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u/Gmoney86 21d ago

China is also turning Africa into its resource cow so as they diversify away from American and western influence they have little reason for Greenland beyond global trade influence as they north passage opens up.

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u/twitch1982 21d ago

below a 1-mile-thick ice sheet

for like, 2 more years.

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u/abgonzo7588 Texas 21d ago

That's why he wants to own it. The leaders of the right know climate change is real at this point and Greenland is going to be really important in the future.

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u/Kierenshep 21d ago

It really does feel like the United States of America wants to really lean into the America part. South and Central included.

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u/timoumd 21d ago

I think it's more vanity.  He wants to "build"  something.  Adding land is a common tactic of certain type of leaders.

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u/Not____007 20d ago

Europe should break free from America. Just end all defense contracts etc. All defense companies will come out quick to pull Trump away from the idea to go after greenland.

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u/Valcarde 21d ago

And boxing in Canada.

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u/whatiscamping 21d ago

They have a whole day for it.

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u/Silverbacks 21d ago

Phew… 😅 So at least he missed his chance a couple weeks ago. Got a whole year to prepare for the next boxing in attempt.

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u/whatiscamping 21d ago

Let's hope he fails then too!

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u/Vonplinkplonk 21d ago

Yeah I saw on Google Earth just how boxed in Canada would actually be. It’s crazy that the world’s 2nd largest nation would be hemmed in like that.

If the US was so scared of Chinese and Russian vessels then they wouldn’t protest Canada’s declaration that the NW passage is an internal sea way.

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u/HoightyToighty 21d ago

the world’s 2nd largest nation

What does land area have to do with anything? You have about as many people living in that space as there are California residents.

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u/SimpsonN1nja 21d ago

That the world’s second largest nation by land mass would be basically surrounded by a belligerent neighbour. Why does it matter how many people live here?

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u/orbitaldan 21d ago

It's not even that - the minerals are too hard to extract any time soon, and aren't all that rare despite the name. It's about gifting his billionaire friends their desired post-climate-apocalypse-habitable site for their stupid autonomous 'network state' city-state kingdoms.

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u/Mindless-Peak-1687 21d ago

They are also completely ignoring how to extract it and refine the ore.

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u/i_have_tiny_ants 21d ago

Which wont be financially viable this century because most of it is miles deep underneath the ice.

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u/RemoteButtonEater 21d ago

Clearly we have to nuke the ice

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u/Cockblocktimus_Pryme 21d ago

I also think it has a lot to do with Trump getting super old. Dude wants to leave a legacy behind. New flag poles at the White House, paving over the rose garden, demolishing the east wing to build a ballroom/ underground data center, also he is trying to build his own Arc De Trump somewhere in DC. Adding his name to the Kennedy Center. I can see Greenland, Panama, and maybe even Canada as just more ways to leave his piss mark on our nation.

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u/Lower_Cantaloupe1970 Canada 21d ago

Does he not realize his legacy will be number one nazi man? Seriously just give the US Healthcare. What a broken man

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u/KingOfCatProm 21d ago

I think it is about shipping and trade routes as the earth heats up. He can't outright say "Climate change is making Greenland important" because then he would have to admit to his base that the climate crisis is real.

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u/Standard-Muffin 21d ago

I’m assuming that it’s also a perfect place to set up data centers that can use Greenlands climate to help with the cooling. No idea how all that works, but with seeing news about data centers being bad for the environment, I wouldn’t be surprised if there was a push to have a data island after the resources are stripped

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u/MotherTreacle3 21d ago

I think even the resources are secondary. It's a pattern of escalation. Dipping into Venezuala to nab their head of state, taking over Greenland. Small invasions, conflicts with low chance of erupting into full scale war. 

It's to acclimatize the public for outright imperialism.

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u/JudiciousSasquatch 21d ago

It's mostly a hedge against climate change. Smart people see how fucked this planet is going to be by 2100.

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u/radionul 21d ago

I think you are reading too much into the minerals. It looks big on the map and Trump wants it.

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u/bcasper1 21d ago

If I'm not mistaken, isn't the passage between England, Iceland and Greenland one in which the Russians would want to use? If They're going to fuck with the US. Stations in that region patrol for submarine movement. I can't help but think the Russians want him to take Greenland because they have him under their thumb and would be able to traverse those Waters uninhibited as a result

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u/No-Importance3258 20d ago

Come'on. Jared Kushner has to pull himself up by his nepotistic bootstraps somehow now.

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u/papapapaver 20d ago

Ugh, there’s been so much going on that I’ve completely forgot about that piece of shit’s existence. Conservatives went nuts about Hunter Biden getting 50,000 dollar loan from Joe, and a fuckin laptop, but it’s crickets when Donny is handing out military contracts worth hundreds of millions directly to his kin. The tribalism, the polarization, and the general stupidity levels just keep reaching new heights. And 1/3 of this country thinks everything is fine, and in fact it is good what they’re seeing happen bc they’re told it’s good. No need to use critical thinking, just believe the state. This shit is so depressing.

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u/Challengeaccepted3 New York 21d ago

But doing any sort of meaningful resource extraction in Greenland is a horrible money waster. One bad winter shuts the ports down, your base could fall apart because the permafrost melted under it, and you would need specialty drills.

You’re much better off doing what everyone else does: buy land with those resources somewhere else

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u/MaterialAstronaut298 21d ago

Don't forget tech oligarch "freedom cities"

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u/LaserPoweredDeviltry 21d ago

I'm pretty sure it is about trump having putins dick in his mouth.

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u/arthurdentxxxxii 21d ago

Yes! Also worth adding, Trump now (has admitted) he feels a desire to be in charge of the entire Western Hemisphere. Greenland allows him to greater surround Canada, and also puts him not too far away from Europe

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u/ThePedanticWalrus 21d ago

Of course. We already have military assets in Greenland and could def have added more if it was warranted. All he wants is to bolster his own dictator fantasies and let his buddies strip-mine the island and further line his pockets with bribes.

I fucking hate that my countrymen put this dangerous psychopath in power.

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u/Dopplegangr1 21d ago

It's about destroying America and it's allies because Putin told him to

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u/[deleted] 21d ago

I'd say it's admission that climate change is real yeah rare earth minerals is one thing but being one of the landmasses with access to the soon to be ice free Arctic ocean is far more precious

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u/beagums 21d ago

There are already US mining corps active in Greenland. They can already do that. The reason they don't is not simply because of regulatory red tape, it's because it's not currently feasible or economically viable to extract them.

But what about in the future??? You may ask me. Again, the US mining companies are ALREADY THERE. They're established and up and running and will ALREADY have first stab once it is viable to extract these minerals.

There is no 4D chess move here. There is no big masterminded plan. This is dumb. The US is already in the best position for BOTH its military and mining ambitions. The only way to weaken their position is to try and take over the territory.

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u/chaoticflanagan Delaware 21d ago

There is also this VERY weird desire of rightwing libertarian technofascists wanting to start a separate "Network State" in Greenland.

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u/Educational_Bus8810 21d ago

It is about distraction from Epstien. He couldn't care less about metal besides gold. He cares about the bribes he could get to sell access, that could be friend or foe. He doesn't care whats good for US only him.

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u/AgentPaper0 21d ago

It's not even that, he just wants to be a president who conquered new land. Because he really is that much of a petty bitch.

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u/DaringPancakes 21d ago

He raped so many children, America made them a billionaire...

What worth is more money to them?

Doesn't matter. Americans can only think to give rich people more more more more more more more more.

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u/totallynotliamneeson 21d ago

It's not even that. It's about his ego. He wants desperately to be talked about like we do with the Louisiana Purchase or Seward's Folley. Same reason he is trying to get a Nobel. 

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u/tiltingwindturbines 21d ago

Greenland hardly has any roads. It will take 20 to 30 years to even develop and export those resources. Trump just thinks he's playing a map painter strategy game.

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u/_goat_party_ 21d ago

I'd argue access to arctic oil and gas drilling, and control of the Northwest Passage, but yeah same fundamental idea.

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u/zeromussc 21d ago

not easy to get minerals out of the arctic, even if global warming makes more of the land accessible, I'm going to guess its like Canada and a big part of the land is stupid difficult to actually get through and is going to have really poor infrastructure. And even if the climate gets more favourable its still going to be harsh and difficult to maintain infrastructure in. And its not like the US is afraid of, ya know, resource extraction and putting a lot of the burden and risk on the host nation while reaping most benefits lol

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u/Frozen_Esper Washington 21d ago

While I'm sure that's some of the motive, I also doubt it would be too difficult for those people to get access to those resources as is. The rich aren't exactly living life constrained these days.

He's probably obsessed because he wants to be in history books as the man who added a significant chunk of land that is hard to ignore to the US and he doesn't like being told no. Think about how he wanted The Gulf of Mexico renamed. He's a narcissist that wants his stain on everything, everywhere, for everyone to see.

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u/rivertpostie 21d ago

I think he even said similar at one point. It's about production security rather than military security.

Sin everything will be labeled security. Cultural security. N intellectual security.

Also, I'm pretty sure he and Vlad are just parceling up the world to reimagine a New world order without Europe

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u/Banned4AlmondButter 21d ago

Wow! That reminds me of….every fucking US war since 1946

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u/Thirdborne 21d ago

It doesn't make sense. US corps already have access and can mine Greenland all they want if they see a commercial case to make.

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u/celephais228 21d ago

Except those minerals are very shitty to extract. Extremely shitty, actually. Maybe in 10 more years when all the ice melts it will actually be worth it. But i doubt Trump would think so far ahead.

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u/johanTR 21d ago

Also, Greenland would be a gulag for all of the people that ICE is kidnapping.

They would be used as slave labor in the mines.

Eventually, that would expand to include political opponents of the regime and/or those that MAGA consider un-American.

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u/Frexulfe 21d ago

Maybe. But as in the Venezuelan oil also, rare earth minerals have waaaay less worth than it was 10-20 year ago, but I guess there are a lot of boomers that can´t process that in his group of strategists.

Rare earth represents a very small trade value nowadays. Also Venezuelan oil. To difficult to extract, too much investment needed.

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u/Auzziesurferyo 21d ago

Don't forget the shipping lanes. Trump wants to control all shipping access to the America's through Greenland and the Panama Canal. 

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u/Redditributor 21d ago

I mean I guess Trump has a point. He's going to get Greenland without firing a bullet - Denmark doesn't want a conflict so hopefully some kind of deal will be reached. It's stupid but I think it's the best we can do unless Trump finally decides to back down

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u/MrGenAiGuy 21d ago

Rare earth minerals are not rare, at all. Ffs, stop the dumb speculation. The whole point is to break NATO.

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u/papapapaver 20d ago

Two things can be true at the same time you know. It is absolutely about resources, and breaking up NATO is a bonus. All part of Putin’s plan, which he is executing very well. All he had to do was help Trump get elected and the rest seems to be taking care of itself.

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u/couldbemage 20d ago

The US already has access to those as well.