patrick.net

It didn’t even take one day. Of all the big platforms, only the Washington Post, believe it or not, heralded the resolution of the most terrifying crisis (in the last two weeks)— what corporate media has been hysterically describing as a world conflict of apocalyptic proportions that threatened to tear NATO apart, crash the stock market, crumple the “International rules-based order” (whatever that is), and probably cause the deaths of untold numbers of cute polar bears. Yesterday’s headline: Trump hails ‘framework’ of Greenland deal, reversing tariff threats.” ...

WaPo’s head might have been spinning, but to everyone who has been paying attention for the last twelve months, it was classic Trump. The Art of the Deal. Fox commentator Byron York explained it in three sentences: “Trump wants something, then he asks for ten times that, and the other side flips out. They go back and forth, go back and forth, and it becomes a huge news story. Finally, they make and offer, he agrees to it, and it’s kind of what they could have gotten in the first place. And the other side’s happy because they think they dodged a bullet.” ...

Brett Baer agreed: “And Trump then says they are wonderful people, and happy to work with them, and suddenly it’s this dismount that we could predict by how it was set up from the beginning.”

The deal’s details remain fogged by strategic ambiguity. Here are the ‘known’ terms of the so-called framework, stitched together from Trump’s posts, leaks by US officials, and what the corporate media is reporting:

It’s bigger than Greenland; the deal includes NATO, “Golden Dome” missile shield development rights, and extends to the entire Arctic, not just the island.
The US will not “own” the island, but will get “pockets of sovereignty” to build military bases, possibly mine rare earths, and watch the ice grow.
The US will somehow participate in or control rare earth development.
China and Russia are barred from Greenland.
The US pays zero. Nothing to Denmark. Nothing to the Greenlanders. (At least, no payment terms were mentioned by anyone.)
Trump said the deal will have an “indefinite” timeframe; i.e., permanent.

On April 9th, 1940, the Nazis captured the entire country of Denmark after a scrappy, heroic resistance lasting a total of just under six hours. Copenhagen didn’t exactly surrender, not so to speak, but they didn’t exactly resist much either. The Nazis immediately began building bases on the Arctic island and threatening the West’s sole supply of critical aluminum ore, which came from a single Greenland mine. It was a problem.

Later, one year to the day in 1941, Danish Ambassador-in-exile Henrik Kauffmann —acting independently, against his occupied government’s instructions— signed the “Agreement Relating to the Defense of Greenland” with U.S. Secretary of State Cordell Hull. It made Greenland a de facto U.S. protectorate for the duration of the war, allowing American forces to assume responsibility for its security.

“We were fighting to save Greenland for Denmark,” Trump reminded the WEF audience. “Big, beautiful piece of ice. It’s hard to call it land. It’s a big piece of ice.” He continued, also reminding them, “The United States was then compelled —we did it, we felt an obligation to do it— to send our own forces to hold the Greenland territory. And hold it we did, at great cost and expense.”




The implication was clear. Trump was reminding them all that, if Russia or China invaded Greenland, it would once again fall to the U.S. to fix it. They all knew he was right.

“After the war, we gave Greenland back to Denmark,” Trump recollected. “How stupid were we to do that? But we did it. And how ungrateful are they now?” He mused, “We want a useless piece of ice for world protection, and they won’t give it. We’ve never asked for anything else, and we could have kept that piece of land, and we didn’t.”

Then the President made dozens of headlines by saying, “I don’t have to use force. I don’t want to use force. I won’t use force.” But consider how different that looks in light of the deal announcement? When he promised not to use force, President Trump already knew he had a deal. So there was no need for force. (Not that much force would be required to defeat 30 Danish troops and two dogsleds. It would be over faster than when the Nazis conquered the entire Kingdom in 1940.)

In other words, the only reason Denmark got Greenland back and has kept it for the last 80+ years is attributable solely to the Pax Americana. The Danes don’t need more than 30 troops and two dogsleds because they count on the U.S. to safeguard the island for them, just like last time. And the main reason the U.S. would protect their silly ice sheet is because it is vital to America’s national security— but not Denmark’s.

Why the President had to remind everyone about all this important historic World War II context, the reason it came as surprising news to most people, is because the blind squirrels impersonating reporters at our corporate media platforms can’t spend ten seconds on Google learning the history, in order to mention it in any of their ten thousand articles about Trump ‘bullying’ Denmark.

No more Greenland goodies.