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PaperclipPerfector  5d ago (text post)   17984 thread views

Culture War Roundup for the week of September 14, 2026

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So something actually happened regarding Greenland.

Details are fuzzy, but Trump just posted that the US made an agreement with Denmark and Greenland gives the US permanent military control over Greenland, the right to expand its military presence there and, most importantly, to veto any foreign intervention on the island.

This will not make Greenland a part of the United States, which means Mercator Projection dominance lies beyond our grasp for now.

Critics will point out that this doesn't really change anything since the U.S. already had de-facto military control over Greenland. I think in these case the critics would be wrong. If Trump's post is accurate, this does seem substantially different from the previous agreement. It's permanent, the US can expand with Denmark's permission, and they can deny foreign expansion without Denmark's say so.

It's unclear exactly what the US gave up in order to get these concessions, but Trump says it will cost the US taxpayer nothing. Perhaps there are trade concessions?

What's somewhat interesting is that the US barely has a presence on Greenland at all anymore. At one point, in the Cold War, it stationed 10,000 troops there consisting of a quarter of Greenland's population. Today, just 150-200 unlucky souls man the Pituffik Space Base in northern Greenland. Perhaps that's what makes this agreement valuable. The U.S. can now deny adversaries such as China a perch in Greenland without having to actually send in troops.

It's unclear exactly what the US gave up in order to get these concessions

I'm betting it's a nothingburger and just a way for trump to decalre victory while greenland gives up nothing of value.

Unless Trump's post is straight up wrong, it seems that we already know what the US received, which is not insignificant.

I'm asking what they gave Denmark in exchange.

But you are right that Denmark/Greenland did not give up anything tangible, only veto power. US control of the island is good for them and Chinese investments would ultimately be counterproductive. It's a win win.

Yeah there is no foreseeable world where Denmark gains by having Russia or China on Greenland (which are the only powers that matter here, unless someone goes to the paradox console and spawns Jan Mayen), and now Trump is happy with them. Neither side concedes anything, nothing substantive changes, mutual diplomatic win.

Greenland has some degree of self-government. The native communist eskimos might invite Russia or China in just out of fit of pique, or in a corrupt bargain.

Well, the Eskimos aren't really ideological communists, just welfare scroungers, so the US can both outbid and out-threaten any competing offer, sort of like this.

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