Transnational Thursday is a thread for people to discuss international news, foreign policy or international relations history. Feel free as well to drop in with coverage of countries you’re interested in, talk about ongoing dynamics like the wars in Israel or Ukraine, or even just whatever you’re reading.
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Notes -
Greenland is not a proper "sovereign country". Denmark is, but Denmark owning Greenland is just a historical accident, it got it in a divorce with Norway in 1814. Their sovereignty over Greenland is like British sovereignty over Hong Kong - today it's there, tomorrow maybe not. It's not like Iran or Venezuela, it's more like, say, Alaska or American Samoa. I think if Obama asked Denmark for Greenland, in order to establish The First Innuit State in History or whatever, they might go for it (they aren't racists after all!). But of course, no European can say "yes" to that orange clown, that's just unthinkable.
And yes, as the Northern routes are opening up Greenland becomes rather important. Europe's war doctrine is "it will be ok somehow, and if not, US will certainly do something about it and we will criticize them for doing it wrong", so it's not likely they were going to do much about it. They might now, to spite the orange clown, but they certainly weren't before, especially not Denmark, whose fighting days are well behind. So, bringing it up is a win either way - either there's US presence in this strategic region, or Europe bumps their own presence, even if to spite Trump.
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