Monday, March 17, 2025. Annette’s Roundup for Democracy.
The Bully who destabilized the world.
That is what history should call Trump.
His idea of policy. Artificial crises that create chaos.
Most recently Greenland.
Below is what Yale historian Timothy Snyder wrote, What the Bulwark reposted, and what I too repost here, as a worthwhile weekend read, putting the Greenland confusion in context.
Read it all. Memorize the painful last paragraph. 👇
The Imperialism has no clothes.
“No one would allow that he could not see these much-admired clothes; because, in doing so, he would have declared himself either a simpleton or unfit of his office.” Hans Christian Andersen, “The Emperor’s New Clothes”
Musk-Trump inherited a state with unprecedented power and functionality, and are taking it apart. They also inherited a set of alliances and relationships that underpinned the largest economy in world history. This too they are breaking.
The American vice-president, JD Vance, visited an American base Greenland for three hours yesterday, along with his wife. National Security Advisor Mike Waltz and his wife also came along. Fresh from illegally using an unsafe social media platform to carry out an entirely unnecessary group chat in which they leaked sensitive data about an ongoing military attack to a reporter, Waltz and Vance perhaps hoped to change the subject by tagging along on a trip which was initially billed as Vance’s wife watching a dogsled race.
The overall context was Donald Trump’s persistent claim that America must take Greenland, which is an autonomous region of Denmark. The original plan had been that Usha Vance would visit Greenlanders, apparently on the logic that the Second Lady would be an effective animatrice of colonial subjection; but none of them wanted to see her, and Greenland’s businesses refused to serve as a backdrop to photo ops or even to serve the uninvited Americans. So instead the American couples all made a very quick visit to Pituffik Space Base. (Pete Hegseth, another group chatter, stayed home; but his wife was in the news as well, as an unorthodox participant in sensitive military discussions.)
At the base, in the far north of the island, the American visitors had pictures taken of themselves and ate lunch with servicemen and servicewomen. They treated the base as the backdrop to a press conference where they could say things they already thought; nothing was experienced, nothing was learned, nothing sensible was said. Vance, who never left the base, and has never before visited Greenland, was quite sure how Greenlanders should live. He made a political appeal to Greenlanders, none of whom was present, or anywhere near him. He claimed that Denmark was not protecting the security of Greenlanders in the Arctic, and that the United States would. Greenland should therefore join the United States.
It takes some patience to unwind all of the nonsense here.
The base at Pituffik (formerly Thule) only exists because Denmark permitted the United States to build it at a sensitive time. It has served the United States for decades as a central part of its nuclear armory and then as an early-warning system against Soviet and then Russian nuclear attack.
When Vance says that Denmark is not protecting Greenland and the base, he is wishing away generations of cooperation, as well as the NATO alliance itself. Denmark was a founding member of NATO, and it is already American’s job to defend Denmark and Greenland, just as it is Denmark’s job (as with other members) to defend the United States.
Americans might chuckle at that idea, but such arrogance is unwarranted. We are the only ones ever to have invoked Article 5, the mutual defense obligation of the NATO treaty, after 9/11; and our European allies did respond. Per capita more Danish soldiers were killed in the Afghan war than were American soldiers. Do we remember them? Thank them?
The threat in the Arctic invoked by Vance is Russia; and of course defending against a Russian attack is the NATO mission. But right now the United States is supporting Russia in its war against Ukraine. No one is doing more to contain the Russian threat than Ukraine. Indeed, Ukraine is in effect fulfilling the entire NATO mission, right now, by absorbing a huge Russian attack. But Vance opposes helping Ukraine, spreads Russian propaganda about Ukraine, and is best known for yelling at Ukraine’s president in the Oval Office. On the base, Vance blamed the killing in Ukraine on Biden rather than on Putin, which is grotesque. Vance claimed that there is now an energy cease-fire in place between Russia and Ukraine; in fact, Russia violated it immediately. Russia is now preparing a massive spring offensive against Ukraine; the response of Musk-Trump has been to ignore this larger reality completely while allowing Biden-era aid to Ukraine to come to an end. Denmark meanwhile has given more than four times as much aid to Ukraine, per capita, as does the United States.
Greenland, Denmark, and the United States have been enmeshed in complex and effective security arrangements, touching on the gravest scenarios, for the better part of a century. Arctic security, an issue discovered by Trump and Vance very recently, was a preoccuption for decades during and after the cold war. There are only a couple hundred Americans at Pituffik where once there were ten thousand; there is only that one US base on the island where once there were a dozen; but that is American policy, not Denmark’s fault.
We really do have a problem taking responsibility. The United States has fallen well behind its allies and its rivals in the Arctic, in part because members of Vance’s political party denied for decades the reality of global warming, which has made it hard for the U.S. Navy to persuade Congress of the need to commission icebreakers. The United States only has two functional arctic icebreakers; the Biden administration was intending to cooperate with Canada, which has some, and with Finland, which builds lots, in order to compete with Russia, which has the most. That common plan would have allowed the United States to surpass Russia in icebreaking capacity. This is one of countless examples of how cooperation with NATO allies benefits the United States. It is not clear what will happen with that arrangement now that Trump and Vance define Canada, like Denmark, as a rival or even as an enemy. Presumably it will break down, leaving Russia dominant.
As with everything Musk-Trump does, however, the cui bono question about imperialism in Greenland is easy to answer: Russia benefits. Putin cannot contain his delight with American imperialism over Greenland. In generating artificial crises in relations with both Denmark and Canada, America’s two closest allies these last eighty years, the Trump people cut America loose from security gains and create a chaos in which Russia benefits.
The American imperialism directed towards Denmark and Canada is not just morally wrong. It is strategically disastrous. The United States has nothing to gain from it, and much to lose. There is nothing that Americans cannot get from Denmark or Canada through alliance. The very existence of the base at Pituffik shows that. Within the atmosphere of friendship that has prevailed the last eighty years, all of the mineral resources of Canada and Greenland can be traded for on good terms, or for that matter explored by American companies. The only way to put all of this easy access in doubt was to follow the course that Musk-Trump have chosen: trade wars with Canada and Europe, and the threat of actual wars and annexations. Musk-Trump are creating the bloodily moronic situation in which the United States will have to fight wars to get the things that, just a few weeks ago, were there for the asking. And of course wars rarely turn out the way one expects.
Much effort is spent trying to extract a doctrine from all this. But there is none. It is just senselessness that benefits America’s enemies. Hans Christian Andersen told the unforgettable tale of the naked emperor. In Greenland what we saw was American imperialism with no clothes. Naked and vain.
As a parting shot, Vance told Greenlanders that life with the United States would be better than with Denmark. Danish officials have been too diplomatic to answer directly the insults directed at them from their own territory during an uninvited visit by imperialist hotheads. Let me though just note a few possible replies, off the top of my head. The comparison between life in the United States and life in Denmark is not just polemical. Musk-Trump treat Europe as though it were some decadent abyss, and propose that alliances with dictatorships would somehow be better. But Europe is not only home to our traditional allies; it is an enviable zone of democracy, wealth and prosperity with which it benefits us to have good relations, and from which we can sometimes learn.
So consider. The US is is 24th in the world in the happiness rankings. Not bad. But Denmark is number two (after Finland). On a scale of 1 to 100, Freedom House ranks Denmark 97 and the US 84 on freedom — and the US will drop a great deal this year. An American is about ten times more likely to be incarcerated than a Dane. Danes have access to universal and essentially free health care; Americans spend a huge amount of money to be sick more often and to be treated worse when they are. Danes on average live four years longer than Americans. In Denmark university education is free; the average balance owed by the tens of millions of Americans who hold student debt in the US is about $40,000. Danish parents share a year of paid parental leave. In the US, one parent might get twelve weeks of unpaid leave. Denmark has children’s story writer Hans Christian Andersen. The US has children’s story writer JD Vance. American children are about twice as likely as Danish children to die before the age of five.
(Substack).
The Danes and some Americans, like us, don’t “appreciate” Vance.
Denmark doesn't 'appreciate the tone' of US Greenland remarks, minister says - ABC News
Vice President JD Vance said Denmark had failed to ensure Greenland's security.
LONDON -- Denmark is open to discussions with the U.S. on how to "fix" the status quo in Greenland, the country's foreign minister said, after Vice President JD Vance accused Copenhagen of failing to adequately protect the Arctic island during a controversial visit on Friday.
In a post to X addressed to Denmark's "dear American friends" late Friday, Danish Foreign Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen said his nation agrees that the "status quo" in the Arctic "is not an option."
"So let's talk about how we can fix it -- together," Rasmussen wrote.
In a video statement, Rasmussen acknowledged the "many accusations and many allegations" about Greenland. "Of course, we are open to criticism, but let me be completely honest -- we do not appreciate the tone in which it's being delivered."
"This is not how you speak to your close allies," Rasmussen continued, "and I still consider Denmark and the United States to be close allies."
Traditional Greenlandic housing/ village.
Danish and Greenlandic leaders have pushed back on Trump's desire to gain control of Greenland. They have simultaneously criticized his perceived overreach while seeking to ease tensions by proposing deeper military and economic cooperation on the Arctic landmass.
"We respect that the United States needs a greater military presence in Greenland, as Vice President Vance mentioned this evening. We -- Denmark and Greenland -- are very much open to discussing this with you," Rasmussen said in his statement.
The existing bilateral defense agreement -- signed in 1951 -- "offers ample opportunity for the United States to have a much stronger military presence in Greenland," Rasmussen said. "If that is what you wish, then let us discuss it."
President Donald Trump has repeatedly -- both in his first term and since returning to office for his second -- expressed his ambition to take control of the island. Rasmussen's appeal for dialogue came shortly after Vance completed his visit to Greenland, which is an autonomous territory within the Kingdom of Denmark.
Speaking to American service members at the U.S. Pituffik Space Base on the northwestern coast of Greenland, Vance said, "Well, the president said we have to have Greenland. And I think that we do have to be more serious about the security of Greenland."
We can't just ignore this place," he continued. "We can't just ignore the president's desires."
Vance said Trump's administration "respects the self-determination of the people of Greenland," but suggested the island would be safer under the U.S. security umbrella.
Greenland is already covered by the Article 5 collective defense clause that underpins NATO, of which both Denmark and the U.S. are members.
Yes, the people of Greenland are going to have self-determination," Vance said. "We hope that they choose to partner with the United States because we're the only nation on Earth that will respect their sovereignty and respect their security -- because their security is very much our security."
Vance accused Denmark of failing to provide adequate security against "very aggressive incursions from Russia, from China and from other nations."
"Our message to Denmark is very simple: You have not done a good job by the people of Greenland. You have underinvested in the people of Greenland, and you have underinvested in the security architecture of this incredible, beautiful landmass filled with incredible people. That has to change," he said.
Rasmussen said that both Denmark and the U.S. had done too little in the Arctic since the end of the Cold War. "We all acted on the assumption that the Arctic was and should be a low tension area, but that time is over," he said. "Status quo is not am option."
Trump has repeatedly expressed his ambition to acquire Greenland, despite fierce criticism from leaders in Greenland, Denmark and Europe. There appears little support among Greenlanders for his proposal. A January poll by Verian, commissioned by the Danish paper Berlingske, showed that only 6% of Greenlanders are in favor of becoming part of the U.S., with 9% undecided.
The island sits in a strategic position facing the northern coast of Russia across the Arctic Ocean and close to two shipping routes -- the Northeast and Northwest passages. Greenland is also thought to be home to a large amount of valuable mineral deposits. Both the shipping routes and minerals are expected to become more accessible as the warming climate causes sea ice to recede further.
"We have to have Greenland. It's not a question of: Do you think we can do without it? We can't," Trump said in the Oval Office on Friday. "If you look at Greenland right now, if you look at the waterways, you have Chinese and Russian ships all over the place, and we're not going to be able to do that."
"We're not relying on Denmark or anybody else to take care of that situation," he added. "And we're not talking about peace for the United States."
"Greenland's very important for the peace of the world -- not us, the peace of the entire world," the president said. "And I think Denmark understands it. I think the European Union understands it. And if they don't, we're going to have to explain it to them." (ABC News)