Groenland

source: Le Monde

EDITORIAL

translation: GoogleTranslate/doxa-louise

Groenland, Donald Trump's latest whim

The US president canceled at the last minute his visit to Denmark after the country refused to sell the island. If  interest in this territory is not illegitimate, the way Mr Trump did it was disastrous.

The incident could seem burlesque if it did not emanate from the most powerful man on the planet. The episode of Groenland, which President Donald Trump so cavalierly offered to buy before provoking a diplomatic incident with Denmark, one of his strongest allies in NATO, is actually a concentrate of everything which makes this American president unmanageable: narcissism, irrationality, susceptibility and, finally, infantilism.

First, the facts. On August 16, The Wall Street Journal reports that Mr. Trump has repeatedly, privately, expressed interest in buying Groenland  ; his advisers, according to the newspaper, are divided. The subject is immediately the delight of comedy television shows, while the detractors of the president gag on the issue. Seen from Washington, however, to be interested in Groenland is not totally inept: twice, in 1867 - year of the acquisition of Alaska - and then in 1946, under the presidency of Harry Truman, the United States have proposed to purchase this vast territory of the Arctic. Today, Groenland is an autonomous territory of 56 000 inhabitants, attached to Denmark, which manages its sovereign functions and finances most of its budget.

Rich in precious natural resources but difficult to exploit, Groenland also has important strategic assets; it has also been the home for several decades to a large base of the US Air Force, Thule base, which is part of the US missile defense system. After the end of the cold war, the Arctic became the object of much desire, especially from China. The United States, which has fallen behind in this area, managed to block a Chinese attempt to fund airports in Groenland in 2018. US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo planned to go there last May. , which was canceled because of the Iranian crisis.

Bad Play

But if interest in Groenland was not illegitimate, the way Donald Trump did it was disastrous. The President of the United States first confirmed his interest in what he called, "essentially" , "big deal real estate" . Then correcting himself, he posted on Twitter a photo montage that was intended to be humorous to illustrate what he "will not do to Greenland"  : a Trump Tower gleaming amid  pretty little local houses. In fact, he added, he wanted to help Danish taxpayers, who spend $ 700 million a year to maintain Greenland.

Donald J. Trump
✔
@realDonaldTrump
 I promise not to do this to Greenland!

Curiously, the Danes did not find that funny. No more, by the way, than the Groenlanders. This idea is absurd and the territory is not for sale, said Premier Mette Frederiksen. Stung, Mr Trump reacted by canceling the official visit he had planned to make in Denmark on 2 and 3 September, without even notifying his ambassador in Copenhagen. The US president is not told that he is "absurd," he said on Wednesday, as petulant as a kid in the playground.

This is neither the first nor the last whim of this American president, and Ms.  Frederiksen treated it as it deserved. Donald Trump is campaigning for a second term. The United States' allies must remember this element: the important thing, for him, is not the world around him, but his electorate, at home, in front of which he likes to play the big man.


https://www.lemonde.fr/international/visuel/2018/04/24/les-ressources-convoitees-du-groenland_5289725_3210.html

                                                  *     *     *

https://www.cnn.com/interactive/2019/08/world/greenland-cnnphotos/index.html