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Transnational Thursday for January 15, 2026

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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The US used to have an order of magnitude larger presence there during the earlier decades of cold war. The old agreements are still in place and nobody would have complained if they'd have simply founded a bunch of new bases there.

But of course with Trump it's much more about The King getting what the king thinks he needs to feel kingly than it is about any actual usefulness.

This is why I don't buy any of the mental gymnastics about the strategic value of Greenland and how the Euros are just being obstinate to stick it to Trump over a very reasonable request. Denmark has historically been very accommodating and for some reason Trump decided that we (the US) needed to threaten to mug them.