INTL Trump & Greenland: headed off China trying to buy it?

MinnesotaSmith

Membership Revoked
1 of 2:
https://www.forbes.com/sites/timtre...mesis-china-is-there-before-him/#6c73e9893f3c

Was Greenland “for sale” when the Chinese were shopping in 2017?

Leslie Eastman Thursday, August 22, 2019

While the American media mocks Trump for Greenland purchase remarks, it misses the strategic motivations behind the move.

LI-95-Greenland-e1566440175975.png

Professor Jacobson reported that President Donald Trump postponed a meeting with Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen after her refusal to discuss selling Greenland.

In fact, Frederiksen called the idea “absurd”, and dismissed the notion that Greenland was for sale at all.


ABC News Politics

@ABCPolitics
"Greenland is not for sale": Denmark Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen reacts to Pres. Trump's idea of buying the semi-autonomous Danish territory of Greenland.

"Thankfully, the time where you buy and sell other countries and populations is over," she adds https://abcn.ws/2zbOzgN

Right on cue, the American press began clutching its pearls and deriding Trump for his blunt assessment of the Danish leader’s diplomatic skills.


Aaron Blake

@AaronBlake
List of women Trump has used the word "nasty" to describe:

-Hillary Clinton
-Nancy Pelosi
-Meghan Markle
-Kamala Harris
-San Juan mayor
-Danish prime minister

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Jennifer Bendery

@jbendery
Congrats to the PM of Denmark for earning the "nasty" label from Trump, a term he reserves for powerful women who don't act the way he wants them to.

Past recipients include Hillary Clinton, Nancy Pelosi and Kamala Harris.

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As an American and a patriot, there is something that bothers me far more than Trump’s biting directness. When the Greenland proposal first made news, our press immediately decided that the idea was absolutely “absurd”…which fed into the Dane’s worldview. More professional and sober journalists would have perhaps investigated possible motives for purchasing Greenland.

Therefore, it is only when I turned to foreign publications that I had my first clue for a potential reason behind the move. According to the South China Morning Post, Greenland had been seriously courted by China due to its strategic location and its mineral resources.

The accelerating polar ice melt has left sparsely populated Greenland, a self-governing part of Denmark, astride what are potentially major shipping routes and in the crosshairs of intensifying geopolitical competition between superpowers.

It also has untapped natural resources like oil, minerals and valuable rare earth elements that China, the United States and other major tech economies covet.

A Chinese government-backed group’s offer last year to build three new international airports on Greenland sparked alarms in Copenhagen and Washington.

The Chinese plan was finally nixed in exchange for Danish funding and a pledge of support from the Pentagon.

Why would this be a problem? To start with, a map of the island’s position shows that while it may be a glacier-covered morass teeming with seals, it is smack dab in the middle of flight paths between the US and our allies and interests in Europe. In fact, this summer, I traveled over this area on route to Iceland.

A “stable genius” and his military commanders obviously recognized that a competitor who is failing to negotiate fair trade agreements and who has been expanding its military presence in Asia through island building wants to acquire real estate and airports next to American interests in North America. This is clearly a bad deal for our country.

Fox News analyst Tammy Bruce provides further background on the situation, and demonstrates why it sure looked like Greenland was for sale.

In 2017, Greenland’s prime minister flew to China and asked, as the Journal reported in February of this year, “Chinese state-run banks to finance the new commercial airports, including a big one for one of the smallest capitals on earth, Nuuk, which can now be served only by propeller planes. The bankers were interested, people at the meetings said, so long as a Chinese company constructed the airports.”

Reports indicate this action was triggered by Denmark refusing to help.

Then-Secretary of Defense James N. Mattis was not happy and convinced Danish officials to fund the infrastructure, sidelining China. This was an effort by China starting in 2018 and only ending when they officially withdrew in June of this year. For those who look past their shallow view of the United States and the administration, one would know it’s no coincidence that the president’s remarks on Greenland became public just two months after we successfully fought off China in their latest swing at the North American island.

As Tammy notes, the Danes are keeping Greenland as a giant nature preserve. This substantially limits the wealth-building options of its residents.

Finally, it is important to note that the Trump administration has been supportive of the mining industry, especially rare earths production (a market which China dominates). Our President has been focused on providing our nation options in regards to the tech-essential minerals, which can be found in the Kvanefjeld region that produces uranium ore.

Greenland Minerals said in its June quarter report that the latest work had confirmed Kavenefjeld as: “one of the most significant emerging rare earth projects globally with a large projected output of neodymium, praseodymium, dysprosium and terbium”.

The most important future use of the rare earths at Kavenfjeld is expected to be in electric motors as well as a large number of advanced and strategically sensitive technologies.

Can you imagine how a President Hillary Clinton would have dealt with the Chinese interest in Greenland?

One last thought. Denmark’s elites are not indicative of their people’s attitudes toward the US. In fact, we were in Copenhagen in 2015, and the many shops and restaurants were flying the American flag. They are better friends to our nation than the Trump Derangement infected press.

LI-95b-Denmark-2015-e1566441829614.png


Perhaps it is time for good people of Greenland to vote for #Dexit?"
 

MinnesotaSmith

Membership Revoked
2 of 2:

https://www.forbes.com/sites/timtre...mesis-china-is-there-before-him/#6c73e9893f3c

Aug 19, 2019,
Trump Might Want to Buy Greenland But His Nemesis, China, Is There Before Him
Tim Treadgold

"The U.S. President, Donald Trump, has reportedly suggested the purchase of Greenland from the Danish Government, but if that's correct he'll find that China has staked out a claim already, and in a commodity the U.S. needs, rare earths.

China's interest in Greenland can be found through an Australian company of the same name, Greenland Minerals, which has Shenghe Resources Holdings as its largest shareholder with a 11% stake.

960x0.jpg

LULISSAT, GREENLAND - AUGUST 03: "Houses stand on August 03, 2019 in Ilulissat, Greenland. As the Earth's climate warms summers have become longer in Ilulissat, allowing fishermen a wider period to fish from boats on open waters and extending the..."

henghe is a leading producer of rare earths in China and has acquired its stake in Greenland Minerals as a future potential source of the elements which find their way into multiple technologies, especially electric motors, as well as certain military applications such as rocket guidance systems.

The Australian company invited Shenghe to invest after it struggled to generate significant support in its home base or in Europe or North America, partly because the original plan for Greenland Mineral's Kvanefjeld project was as a source of uranium.

From Uranium To Rare Earths

Over-supply and low prices saw Greenland switch focus from uranium to the rare earths in the same ore-body which is located in the south-west quarter of Greenland, at one of its closest points to the U.S.

Continued refinement of the exploration and project assessment process has seen the Australian company establish a large resource at Kvanefjeld, enough to sustain an initial mine life of 37 years.

An optimized feasibility completed last month has seen the estimated capital cost of developing the project reduced by 40% to $505 million, with a similar percentage reduction in operating cost.

Greenland Minerals said in its June quarter report that the latest work had confirmed Kavenefjeld as: "one of the most significant emerging rare earth projects globally with a large projected output of neodymium, praseodymium, dysprosium and terbium".

The most important future use of the rare earths at Kavenfjeld is expected to be in electric motors as well as a large number of advanced and strategically sensitive technologies.

960x0.jpg

"EQIP SERMIA, GREENLAND - JULY 31: Meltwater from the Greenland ice sheet reaches a delta near the Eqip Sermia glacier, also called the Eqi Glacier, on July 31, 2019 at Eqip Sermia, Greenland. As the Earth's climate warms summers have become longer in..."

China's dominance of the industry, and threats to impose restrictions on exports to the U.S. has made rare earths a hot topic in the ongoing trade dispute between the two countries.

But, as Greenland Minerals has been trying to find a way to develop its project it also conducted two important meetings that could have been a trigger for the reports that President Trump has suggested buying the island from Denmark.

The first meeting was between Greenland Minerals and Shenge in the head office of The Australian company in the west coast city of Perth where discussions focused on how to move from technical studies to a "commercial strategy and path to market" with the critical question being finding a buyer for Kvanefjeld's rare earths..

Meet The Ambassador

The second meeting was with the U.S. Ambassador to Greenland, Carla Sands, who also visited the remote project site where a team from the U.S. Geological Survey had been working with Greenland Minerals.

The timing of the meetings is interesting given the high profile of rare earths in the trade dispute, especially the site visit by the Ambassador, and the recent media reports of President Trump showing an interest in Greenland, even if suggestions of buying the island are fanciful.

What the work of Greenland Minerals demonstrates is that a small Australian company appears to have a tiger by the tail with both China and the U.S. showing interest in the Kvanefjeld project — all the way up to a very senior government level."
 

WalknTrot

Veteran Member
Haha! China buying (or even seriously nosing around) Greenland would set off a rather nasty chain of events.

Denmark...fair warning. Better take the best hand you've been dealt. :lkick:
 

NoDandy

Has No Life - Lives on TB
Well, I cannot speak for everyone here, but I support Pres Trumps move to try to buy Greenland for the USA !!!

I hope he can accomplish it !!!
 

WalknTrot

Veteran Member
I love his move to snub the Danish Pres or Chancellor or Queen or whatever. Great opening move for negotiations. The guy knows his way around deal-making alright.

Heck yes, he is serious about this...but probably having as much fun with it as we all are, too. Don't know about everybody else, but I could use some light entertainment in the news.
 

Melodi

Disaster Cat
Some of us (especially over here) are well aware of why Trump wants Greenland and while I wasn't aware that China already tried to infiltrate it, that is no surprise because that has been their model in Africa, the other place with lots of rare Earth metals.

It isn't my area of study but it looks to me like Europe and the US/West have already "lost" Africa first by the lingering Colonial Hostility and the US recognizing after a few attempts to intervene in various civil wars that trying to play their usual "set up a puppet government game" doesn't work very well there, at least not long enough to actually get anything done.

The Chinese on the other hand, simply "offer" to build roads, bridges, factors and buy up agricultural land; then they bring in Chinese workers to build most of it and do what the US/Europe used to do; take everything they can get out of the countries but leave just enough (or pay just enough) to keep the local Big Men happy.

The Africans (like the Venezuelans in the 1940s and 1950s) get better roads, bridges, and factories for a few workers but get almost no rise in living standards because most of the money flows back to the "investors" (in this case mostly the Chinese government no matter whose name is on the paperwork).

My husband and I have been talking a lot about Greenland the last few days and the people not be asked what they want at all are, as usual, the 50,000 or so actual Greenlanders (most of whom are Inuit with some Danish settlers and intermarriage over the last couple of centuries).

If Trump was really smart, he wouldn't try to buy them (they do not wish to be for sale) but he would make them a great offer that exchanged some mining rights for whatever trust funds, individual stipends (like the Alaska Oil profits) or whatever the Greenlander's want to improve their lives and provide some compensation.

This could also include a training program and even scholarships for things like geological engineering and other forms of job training in the new industries with even a first-hired policy for properly TRAINED workers.

Denmark would probably also want something out of the deal, rather than trying to buy the Island outright; some sort of payment or exchange might work; along with a promise that says in 25 years plus the Greenlanders would get an independence vote (like Scotland gets to hold every few years).

Basically America still "buys" Greenland in pretty much the same way that China "buys" Africa but it is by investment and building infrastructure not "buying" it from Denmark without even consulting the 50,000 plus people who live there (and believe it or not may or may not want to become overnight American citizens).
 

Melodi

Disaster Cat
I love his move to snub the Danish Pres or Chancellor or Queen or whatever. Great opening move for negotiations. The guy knows his way around deal-making alright.

Heck yes, he is serious about this...but probably having as much fun with it as we all are, too. Don't know about everybody else, but I could use some light entertainment in the news.

The Scandinavians are a very-very-very polite people in person and on the phone, especially the Danes; someone has obviously told Trump this little tidbit which is why he's calling her a "lovely women" (or whatever) today.

His style of personal attack may work great when dealing with the Mob or even China but it tends to backfire spectacularly in Northern Europe, especially in Denmark.

Even in Norway which is famous for being the least polite of the Scandi nations is just isn't done to directly insult someone you wish to do business with like that over the phone and expect anything but a shock reaction followed by your phone being blocked.

Now the Germans, Italians, Poles and some others are just fine with "in your face" mano-a-mano insults but NOT the Scandinavians.

Finland does have a face-saving culture somewhat as the Easterner's do, so an insult like that still won't get you what you want but you may not get a relatively peaceful shock reaction either.

I don't know Finland all that well but Nightwolf's best friend in Sweden was actually a Finn and they have a very short temper.
 

Cacheman

Ultra MAGA!
https://theworldnews.net/au-news/us-to-open-greenland-consulate-as-part-of-broader-arctic-plan

theworldnews.net
US to open Greenland consulate as part of broader Arctic plan
Lisa Mascaro
2-3 minutes

Washington: The Trump administration is planning to open a US consulate in Greenland for the first time in decades amid increased strategic and economic interest in the Danish territory.

The US State Department has said in a letter to Congress that re-establishing a consulate in Nuuk is part of a broader plan to increase the US presence in the Arctic.

The US has a "strategic interest in enhancing political, economic, and commercial relationships across the Arctic region," said the letter to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

President Donald Trump sparked a diplomatic dispute with US-ally Denmark this week after he proposed the US buy Greenland and the Danish government rejected the idea.

A permanent diplomatic presence would allow the US to "protect essential equities in Greenland while developing deeper relationships with Greenlandic officials and society," the letter said.

It said the consulate would be "a critical component of our efforts to increase US presence in the Arctic and would serve as an effective platform to advance US interests in Greenland."

US Congress would likely have been open to the idea, but after Trump's actions the proposal will likely gain greater scrutiny.

The US opened a consulate in Greenland in 1940 after the Nazi occupation of Denmark. It closed in 1953. The new one would open next year in the capital of the semi-autonomous territory.

The State Department said it has already assigned a Greenlandic affairs officer working out of the US Embassy in Copenhagen.

It now plans to hire locally-employed staff in Greenland by fall, or soon thereafter. Ultimately, it expects a staff of seven at the consulate in 2020.

AP
 

WalknTrot

Veteran Member
The Scandinavians are a very-very-very polite people in person and on the phone, especially the Danes; someone has obviously told Trump this little tidbit which is why he's calling her a "lovely women" (or whatever) today.

His style of personal attack may work great when dealing with the Mob or even China but it tends to backfire spectacularly in Northern Europe, especially in Denmark.

Even in Norway which is famous for being the least polite of the Scandi nations is just isn't done to directly insult someone you wish to do business with like that over the phone and expect anything but a shock reaction followed by your phone being blocked.

Now the Germans, Italians, Poles and some others are just fine with "in your face" mano-a-mano insults but NOT the Scandinavians.

Finland does have a face-saving culture somewhat as the Easterner's do, so an insult like that still won't get you what you want but you may not get a relatively peaceful shock reaction either.

I don't know Finland all that well but Nightwolf's best friend in Sweden was actually a Finn and they have a very short temper.

Haha! I grew up and live in "displaced Scandinavia". They aren't really nice or polite, just relatively quiet and reserved, cold as hell, calculating, and best to know they are plotting to murder you in your sleep. The Finlanders are even worse. Trump will do fine. ;)
 

Cacheman

Ultra MAGA!
Haha! I grew up and live in "displaced Scandinavia". They aren't really nice or polite, just relatively quiet and reserved, cold as hell, calculating, and best to know they are plotting to murder you in your sleep. The Finlanders are even worse. Trump will do fine. ;)

They become somewhat warmer, more polite and likeable and show (in a sense) a deal of credibility when on their weekend binge drinking that I personally witnessed while in Norway and Denmark (due to drunken people having a tendency towards sincerity). Scandinavians are a relatively uptight, calm and controlled people and therefore they like to let loose completely on the weekends.
 

WalknTrot

Veteran Member
They become somewhat warmer, more polite and likeable and show (in a sense) a deal of credibility when on their weekend binge drinking that I personally witnessed while in Norway and Denmark (due to drunken people having a tendency towards sincerity). Scandinavians are a relatively uptight, calm and controlled people and therefore they like to let loose completely on the weekends.

Drunk Norskies? When it happens, best to be someplace else.
 

night driver

ESFP adrift in INTJ sea
Have to remember that Chess is War by SLIGHTLY different rules.

Donald understands this, though he MIGHT be a tad behind on the land acquisition part of it, though he has DISGUSTED and freaked people out by being a DAMN quick study in a lot of ways.

It's damned embarrassing when you think you have a few weeks to get your approach together and you watch your planned loophole evaporate when Donnie drops a small bag of convincement on the other guy you were working up 2 weeks ahead of you.
 

Melodi

Disaster Cat
Haha! I grew up and live in "displaced Scandinavia". They aren't really nice or polite, just relatively quiet and reserved, cold as hell, calculating, and best to know they are plotting to murder you in your sleep. The Finlanders are even worse. Trump will do fine. ;)

Have you actually lived in Denmark or Sweden? The diaspora is not always the same as the Mother Country, and the modern culture is to be very polite at least to your face, especially in public discourse - which does NOT mean they are not plotting what to do to you in your sleep; just that it is frowned upon to hint about it in public.
 

Zahra

Veteran Member
Our press is ridiculous! Not only are the reasons for buying Greenland sound, but President Trump isn't the first US President to try to buy it either. President Truman offered $100 million to Denmark in 1946 to buy Greenland but the offer was declined (without being called "absurd" or any other insulting name).
 

WalknTrot

Veteran Member
Have you actually lived in Denmark or Sweden? The diaspora is not always the same as the Mother Country, and the modern culture is to be very polite at least to your face, especially in public discourse - which does NOT mean they are not plotting what to do to you in your sleep; just that it is frowned upon to hint about it in public.

IOW...Minnesota Nice. :)
 
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