I don't agree with Trump much but his proposal to acquire Greenland was very interesting. Greenland provides tremendous strategic, military and in the future monetary value as the arctic gets warmer. Ofcourse Trump went the wrong way about it. The reality is Denmark doesn't need to be involved at all. It doesn't matter if they want to sell Greenland or not. According to their constitution Greenland has the right to self determination and can declare independence from Denmark anytime with a referendum voted on by the people of Greenland.
Greenland's population is only ~56,000 people. What if we grease the wheels to get them to declare independence from Denmark and join the US? What if the US offers 1 million dollars to every Greenlander to declare independence from Denmark and pledge to join the US, financially, this will only cost 56 billion, this is basically pocket change for the government and a small investment that will pay huge dividends. Plus we match the yearly subsidy they get from Denmark. Plus each Greenlander gets a US citizenship. Plus they get representation in congress. We can sweeten the pot a bit more if needed by offering various perks like sklll/education training for current greenlanders at US institutions for free and some pledges to develop infrastructure in Greenland.
I cannot see how the people of Greenland could say no that offer. Do you think this approach would work?
Apart from the 1 million per head thing, which isn't happening even if US somehow miraculously manages to convince Greenland to join (haha), Denmark already provides Greenland literally everything you mentioned. You're gonna need to find much better bargaining chips.
This is actually one of the best posts on this forum. Not intentionally; but it's the best encapsulation of the stale, embarassing circus act known as American exceptionalism that I've seen:
— basic social services like free education and infrastructure spending are seen as near-riduculous generosity
— as for the "wow, we'll give you representation in Congress", well duh, Greenland already sends people to Folketing. Not every country is as institutionally sclerotic as the US
— as for the "wow, if you join our country we might even let you have our passports" - well, most countries have grown out of treating random parts of their territory like colonies
— the Manifest Destiny creed that territorial expansion (at any cost) is everything, realities of 21st century foreign relations and basic logic be damned
— uncritical belief that the American way is the best, regardless of whether it actually is or whether the would-be subjects even
want it
I'm not really blaming you, OP. You actually sound pretty reasonable, but the fact that a reasonable person is making arguments like this speaks volumes about America's national mentality.
