#North American island autonomous territory

[northameicanblog]

Kullorsuaq, Greenland: Kullorsuaq is a settlement in the Avannaata municipality in northwestern Greenland. It is the northernmost settlement in the Upernavik Archipelago, located on Kullorsuaq Island at the southern end of Melville Bay, itself part of the larger Baffin Bay. Wikipedia

[northameicanblog]

Greenland: Greenland is a North American autonomous territory of the Kingdom of Denmark. It is the larger of two autonomous territories within the Kingdom, the other being the Faroe Islands; the citizens of both territories are full citizens of Denmark. Wikipedia

by freddychristensen

[head-post]

Greenland “not for sale,” says prime minister

Greenland’s Prime Minister Múte Bourup Egede responded to comments by US President-elect Donald Trump regarding “ownership and control” over the island, stating that it was “not for sale.”

Greenland is ours. We are not for sale and will never be for sale. We must not lose our long struggle for freedom.

Trump announced on Sunday that he had chosen Ken Howery, a former envoy to Sweden, as his ambassador to Copenhagen and commented on the status of Greenland, a semi-autonomous part of Denmark hosting a major US Air Force base.

The Republican leader, who takes office as US president on 20 January, wrote on his social media platform Truth Social:

For purposes of National Security and Freedom throughout the World, the United States of America feels that the ownership and control of Greenland is an absolute necessity.

The Danish government should make it clear that control of Greenland was not subject to discussion or negotiation, MP Rasmus Jarlov of the opposition Conservative Party stated.

To the extent that US activities aim to take control of Danish territory, it must be prohibited and countered. Then they can’t be there at all.

Denmark-Greenland ties

Greenland, rich in mineral, oil and gas resources, is developing slowly, making its economy dependent on fishing and annual subsidies from Denmark. With its Pituffik Space Base, the island is of strategic importance to the US military. Their ballistic missile early warning systems are also important, as the shortest route from Europe to North America passes through the island.

During his previous presidential term, Trump expressed interest in buying Greenland in 2019, but the offer was quickly rejected by Denmark as well as the island’s authorities even before official discussions. Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen called Trump’s proposal “absurd” at the time.

Greenland has the right to declare independence from Denmark. However, the island of about 56,000 people, which receives significant budget transfers from Copenhagen each year, has so far refrained from doing so.

Separately on Sunday, Trump threatened to restore US control of the Panama Canal, accusing Panama of overcharging for use of the Central American passage.

Read more HERE

[newstfionline]

Tuesday, December 24, 2024

Data shows global conflict surged in 2024 (Washington Post) The world saw a staggering surge in conflicts over the past year. At least 233,000 people are estimated to have been killed in conflicts in 2024, according to new data released Thursday by a prominent nonprofit analysis and crisis mapping project. The data, released by Armed Conflict Location and Event Data (ACLED), shows in raw numbers how the level of conflict around the world has doubled over the past five years, amid wars in Ukraine, Gaza, Myanmar and elsewhere. Among the data for this year, ACLED found that the number of people killed in conflicts in 2024 had grown by 30 percent since the preceding year, from 179,099 deaths in 2023 to 233,597 in 2024. The war in Ukraine was the deadliest in 2024, with 67,000 reported deaths, while 35,000 deaths were reported in the Palestinian territories of Gaza and the West Bank. By the end of the year, the number of acts of violence recorded by ACLED is projected to reach almost 200,000, about 25 percent higher than last year and double what it was five years ago, with sharp increases found in Lebanon (958 percent), as Israel staged a large-scale military intervention, and Russia (349 percent), which has seen more attacks amid its ongoing invasion of Ukraine. The violence has remarkable reach. One in 8 people worldwide were exposed to conflict in 2024, ACLED found.

Why does Trump want to buy Greenland? (Washington Post) Donald Trump renewed calls for the United States to gain control of Greenland on Sunday, in a statement announcing his pick for the role of ambassador to Denmark. “For purposes of National Security and Freedom throughout the World, the United States of America feels that the ownership and control of Greenland is an absolute necessity,” the president-elect wrote on Truth Social, his social media platform. The Arctic island, which is roughly three times the size of Texas, has a population of about 57,000 people. It is on the North American continent, to Canada’s northeast, but is in practice part of Europe and is an autonomous territory of Denmark, which ruled over the island for more than 200 years and still maintains some control over its foreign policy. Greenland’s prime minister, Múte Egede, echoed previous statements from Greenland’s leaders on the occasion of similar overtures from Trump during his first term. “We are not for sale and will never be for sale,” Egede said. In a purely hypothetical exercise, The Post estimated in 2019 that the purchase of Greenland could cost up to $1.7 trillion, given the island’s industries and natural resources. Of course, it does not have a real cost if it is not for sale in the first place.

The Christian Surfers of Costa Rica (NYT) A group of missionaries who surf have expanded to a remote part of Costa Rica, where people come from afar looking for the “perfect wave.” And maybe a little Jesus? Chandler Brownlee stood atop a cluster of rocks protruding from a secluded stretch of Costa Rican beach, Bible in hand, gazing at one of the world’s most coveted surfing waves. He was on the hunt—not for the perfect wave (that’s always a given), but for surfers who were ready to accept Jesus Christ as their savior. Born and raised in Florida, Mr. Brownlee, 52, is a real estate agent, an avid wildlife conservationist and the father of three daughters. But he is also a former Baptist minister and a hardcore tatted-up surfer. Those identities combine to make him a senior member of the Christian Surfers organization, an international group of missionaries who love to surf [and win souls].

Target Panama? (Bloomberg) Donald Trump’s latest target: The Panama Canal. He threatened to take control of the waterway if fees on US ships aren’t lowered, prompting a swift rebuff from Panama’s president, who said the shipping tolls aren’t inflated and that its sovereignty is unnegotiable. Trump responded: “We’ll see about that!”

Zelensky’s slow shift toward negotiating for Ukraine’s future (Washington Post) As Ukrainian forces struggle to hold off Russia’s army on the battlefield and President-elect Donald Trump looks to broker a peace deal, President Volodymyr Zelensky has in recent weeks signaled a greater willingness for negotiations to end the war—a major shift for the Ukrainian leader, who had long vowed to fight for every last inch of his country’s land. Zelensky’s messaging has been careful; he has not explicitly said Kyiv would agree to concessions—territorial or otherwise—even while Russia occupies more than 20 percent of Ukraine and would probably retain control of that land after any ceasefire. But after previously stating that negotiations could begin only once Moscow withdrew all its troops, Zelensky is now emphasizing the need for long-term security rather than the immediate return of territory. Zelensky’s change in rhetoric—something Ukrainian and Western officials have noticed—can probably be attributed to a worsening situation on the front line and an incoming U.S. administration that has put future security assistance for Kyiv in doubt.

Memes, Jokes and Cats: South Koreans Use Parody for Political Protest (NYT) As South Koreans took to the streets this month demanding the ousting of their president, some found an unexpected outlet to express their fury: jokes and satire. They hoisted banners and flags with whimsical messages about cats, sea otters and food. They waved signs joking that President Yoon Suk Yeol’s declaration of martial law had forced them to leave the comfort of their beds. Pictures of the flags spread widely on social media. The idea was to use humor to build solidarity against Mr. Yoon, who has vowed to fight his impeachment over his ill-fated martial law decree on Dec. 3. Some waved flags for nonexistent groups like the so-called Dumpling Association, a parody of real groups like labor unions, churches or student clubs. Kwon Oh-hyouck, a veteran protester, said that he had first seen such flags emerge during demonstrations in 2016 and 2017 that ultimately resulted in the removal of President Park Geun-hye. Mr. Kwon said that satire was part of the Korean spirit of protest. Some held signs ridiculing Mr. Yoon, saying that he had separated them from their pets at home and disrupted their routine of watching Korean dramas. One group called itself a union of people running behind schedule, referring to the idea that the need to protest over martial law had forced them to reschedule their appointments.

To evade Assad’s secret police, Syrians developed a code language (Washington Post) For decades, Syrians passed down a warning from one generation to the next: “The walls have ears.” In cafes, taxis and markets—even in their own living rooms—most could not speak freely, fearing they might be overheard by Bashar al-Assad���s mukhabarat, or secret police. To maintain its grip, the Assad regime planted fear, its roots spreading into every aspect of civilian life. Street cleaners, garbage collectors, balloon sellers, colleagues—anyone could be an informant. In this environment of surveillance, Syrians improvised. They developed a code allowing them to discuss everything from everyday commerce to fears for their families, even veiled criticisms of the regime. They were used among trusted family and friends. “You can’t talk at all about the regime. If we want to nag about something, we used to mime it with our finger and point toward the ceiling meaning the government,” said Maysoun. If Syrians were suspicious of someone nearby, they would say, “This person has nice handwriting,” which means, “This person is an informant.”

Bethlehem plans another somber Christmas under the shadow of war in Gaza (AP) The Nativity Store in Manger Square has sold handmade olive wood carvings and religious items to people visiting the traditional birthplace of Jesus since 1927. But as Bethlehem prepares to mark its second Christmas under the shadow of the war in Gaza, there are almost no tourists, leaving the Nativity Store and other businesses unsure of how much longer they can hold on. For the second straight year, Bethlehem’s Christmas celebrations will be somber and muted, in deference to ongoing war in Gaza. There will be no giant Christmas tree in Manger Square, no raucous scout marching bands, no public lights twinkling and very few public decorations or displays. “Last year before Christmas, we had more hope, but now again we are close to Christmas and we don’t have anything,” said Rony Tabash, the third-generation owner of Nativity Store. Since the war began, tourism to Israel and the Israeli-occupied West Bank has plummeted. And after Israel barred entry to most of the 150,000 Palestinians in the West Bank who had jobs in Israel, the Palestinian economy contracted by 25% in the past year.

Ballerinas turn one of Kenya’s largest slums into a stage for a Christmas show (AP) With perfect pirouettes and plies, dozens of young ballet dancers gracefully moved between the makeshift iron houses of one of Africa’s largest urban slums, spreading Christmas spirit. Hundreds of residents in Kenya’s Nairobi cheered as the nimble ballerinas, wearing Santa hats and sparkling colorful outfits, turned the dusty narrow roads of the neighborhood of Kibera into a dance-worthy stage on Saturday. The annual show was a hit. Organized by the Kibera Ballet School, one of the east African country’s smaller institutions that provides free lessons to children who otherwise wouldn’t have had access to this kind of training, the production was the result of rigorous practice. For months, the children rehearsed in modest community halls while juggling their household chores, which included fetching water in plastic jerricans in the neighborhood with no clean running water. Like the rest of Africa, Kenya boasts of a youthful population—with a median age of 19—and the ballet school, funded by a local non-government organization, aims to give some of them a creative outlet.

[brookstonalmanac]

Events 4.17 (before 1950)

1080 – Harald III of Denmark dies and is succeeded by Canute IV, who would later be the first Dane to be canonized. 1349 – The rule of the Bavand dynasty in Mazandaran is brought to an end by the murder of Hasan II. 1362 – Kaunas Castle falls to the Teutonic Order after a month-long siege. 1492 – Spain and Christopher Columbus sign the Capitulations of Santa Fe for his voyage to Asia to acquire spices. 1521 – Trial of Martin Luther over his teachings begins during the assembly of the Diet of Worms. Initially intimidated, he asks for time to reflect before answering and is given a stay of one day. 1524 – Giovanni da Verrazzano reaches New York harbor. 1797 – Sir Ralph Abercromby attacks San Juan, Puerto Rico, in what would be one of the largest invasions of the Spanish territories in the Americas. 1797 – Citizens of Verona begin an unsuccessful eight-day rebellion against the French occupying forces. 1861 – The state of Virginia's secession convention votes to secede from the United States; Virginia later becomes the eighth state to join the Confederate States of America. 1863 – American Civil War: Grierson's Raid begins: Troops under Union Army Colonel Benjamin Grierson attack central Mississippi. 1864 – American Civil War: The Battle of Plymouth begins: Confederate forces attack Plymouth, North Carolina. 1869 – Morelos is admitted as the 27th state of Mexico. 1876 – Catalpa rescue: The rescue of six Fenian prisoners from Fremantle Prison in Western Australia. 1895 – The Treaty of Shimonoseki between China and Japan is signed. This marks the end of the First Sino-Japanese War, and the defeated Qing Empire is forced to renounce its claims on Korea and to concede the southern portion of the Fengtian province, Taiwan and the Penghu to Japan. 1905 – The Supreme Court of the United States decides Lochner v. New York, which holds that the "right to free contract" is implicit in the due process clause of the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution. 1907 – The Ellis Island immigration center processes 11,747 people, more than on any other day. 1912 – Russian troops open fire on striking goldfield workers in northeast Siberia, killing at least 150. 1931 – After negotiations between Catalan and Spanish provisional governments, the Catalan Republic proclaimed in April 14 becomes the Generalitat de Catalunya, the autonomous government of Catalonia within the Spanish Republic. 1941 – World War II: The Axis powers invasion of Yugoslavia is completed when it signs an armistice with Germany and Italy. 1942 – French prisoner of war General Henri Giraud escapes from his castle prison in Königstein Fortress. 1944 – Forces of the Communist-controlled Greek People's Liberation Army attack the smaller National and Social Liberation resistance group, which surrenders. Its leader Dimitrios Psarros is murdered. 1945 – World War II: Montese, Italy, is liberated from Nazi forces. 1945 – Historian Tran Trong Kim is appointed the Prime Minister of the Empire of Vietnam. 1946 – The last French troops are withdrawn from Syria.

[northameicanblog]

Greenland: Greenland is a North American autonomous territory of the Kingdom of Denmark. It is the larger of two autonomous territories within the Kingdom, the other being the Faroe Islands; the citizens of both territories are full citizens of Denmark. Wikipedia

“ Ice shards “ // Luke Stackpoole

Music:  Hans Zimmer - Cornfield Chase

[alexanderrekeda1]

Which countries cannot be invaded?

A few countries are virtually impossible to invade. These countries have the world's best defenses. Switzerland is the first country on this list. The landlocked country is a great world power.

The United Kingdom, or UK, is a world-leading country with significant economic, cultural, and military might. It is also a nuclear power with a permanent seat on the UN Security Council.

Britain is an island country in northwest Europe, bounded to the west by the Atlantic Ocean and the English Channel, to the east by the Celtic Sea and the Irish Sea, and to the south by France and Northern Ireland. It consists of England, Scotland, and Wales.

The legal systems of England and Scotland are based on common law concepts, while Northern Ireland's judicial system is mostly based on civil law. Scots Law is a different legal system in Scotland that is essentially a combination of English Common Law and civil law.

Bhutan is a small, landlocked country in the Himalayas' east. It is bounded to the north by China, to the east by the Chumbi Valley of Tibet, and to the south by the Indian states of Arunachal Pradesh and Assam.

A king rules the country. It is a Buddhist state dominated by Ngalops, with Sharchops and Lhotsampas being the main ethnic groupings.

Ngawang Namgyal, Bhutan's first monarch, founded a government based on combining monastic and civil authority. Religious institutions were managed by a Je Khempo (head abbot), while civil concerns were handled by the Druk Desi (regent of Bhutan).

Bhutan began to emerge from its seclusion during the rule of his son, Jigme Dorji Wangchuck, with a National Assembly and a code of laws. Since 1971, the country has also been a member of the United Nations.

Canada is North America's second-largest country by land area, with 10 provinces and three territories ranging from the Atlantic to the Arctic. Invading this country is quite difficult.

The Canadian people have a distinct history and worldview. They have a close bond with Europe and a deep aversion to the United States.

This is evident in their political thought as well as their culture. They prefer organized government to individualism and are less likely to conduct war overseas than Americans.

Australia, the world's smallest continent and largest island, has a diverse population, including Indigenous Aborigine communities that had lived in the area for thousands of years before Europeans arrived.

It is located in the southern hemisphere, between the Pacific and Indian seas, with its capital, Canberra, in the southeast, between the larger and more prominent cities of Sydney and Melbourne. It is ruled by a federal government with limited authority over the states of New South Wales, Victoria, Queensland, and South Australia.

The Australian government is increasing its military presence, particularly in Northern Australia, in order to establish a naval base and improve cooperation with friends and partners. It has agreed to construct nuclear-capable assault submarines and autonomous underwater vehicles with the United Kingdom and the United States.

With a population of 1.44 billion people, China is the world's most populated country. It has the world's second-largest economy and the third-largest territory, covering 14 countries.

It possesses significant military capabilities. It spends the most on defense of any country and has a wide range of military capabilities, including aircraft, missile technology, and cyberattacks.

However, in the event of a military war, the PLA would need considerably more troops to protect Taiwan than it could send to invade. Furthermore, there is a significant space between the two sides.

[northameicanblog]

Downtown Nuuk, Greenland: Nuuk is the capital of and most populous city in Greenland, an autonomous territory in the Kingdom of Denmark. Nuuk is the seat of government and the territory's largest cultural and economic center. Nuuk is also the seat of government for the Sermersooq municipality. It one of the smallest capital cities in the world by population. Nuuk is considered a modernized city after the policy began in 1950. Wikipedia

[tanadrin]

I want to expand briefly on something in the tags in that last ask, because I think this point informs how I think about the whole question in a way that be different from anon.

The whole idea of an empty, natural, trackless wilderness suitable for building an autarkic community is a fiction. By the time humans finished spreading out into the Americas, most of the surface of the Earth was inhabited to some extent by human beings who developed a suite of technologies appropriate to the climate, and further innovation took place within that framework. In short, the whole world was peopled in 1492, except for some remote islands and Antarctica. The density of that population varied a lot, and the kinds of social organization, and the cultural institutions around law and territory and property, but there was really very little wilderness that was also suitable to human habitation. And much land not at all suitable to human habitation that humans stubbornly decided to live in anyway.

Part of the self-mythologizing of North American (and later Australian) settlers, because of the lower population density of many of the areas they settled (though at least in the Eastern Woodlands in the US, this may have been a very recent change caused by smallpox), and because conflict with expanding settler states drove the natives out so that their own farmers could move in. Since “we tamed a virgin wilderness” is more appealing as a national mythology than “we drove out and exterminated the savages” (although there was plenty of romanticizing of that part, too, back in the 19th century!), that view of American history is the culturally preferred version. It’s the sort of thing I would point out as settler-colonial ideology, if the phrase settler-colonial hadn’t been driven into the ground by overuse. The natives are treated as a footnote, which is easy because they’ve been demographically swamped by higher settler population densities and by centuries of immigration. I’m sure apartheid South Africa would have tried to take the same tack with regard to its own history, if the native population hadn’t stubbornly insisted on being much more numerous and sticking around.

This national mythology was developing while at the same time new theories of government were being articulated; the American revolution (anger at the British crown was motivated in part by settlers being forbidden from crossing the Appalachians, remember!) not only occasioned but may have been necessary to the great push west, and so a lot of thinking and writing on liberty, on the origins and purpose of government, and the ideal nature of government was being done in a period of time when, it just so happened, a lot of people found themselves in a position to set up big family farms in frontier “wilderness,” and had occasion to justify and celebrate as ideal a form of economic organization that is actually historically very anomalous. Patterns of land use and property distribution in the colonial Americas looked nothing like patterns of land use and property distribution in Europe, and though they used approximately the same principles of land tenure, the actual situation on the ground was a lot different. Small family land holdings for a European peasant would have been distributed among other small family land holdings of neighbors within the same community. Tenant farming by small farmers working the land of a local bigshot were still common. This system worked given the conditions on the frontier at the time, but it was never going to be stable long-term. It’s not very efficient, and it’s not always environmentally sustainable either.

But the fallout of all this is that a really unusual episode of history has provided an abstract template for thinking about economics and politics for generations! When we imagine building a utopian community ex nihilo, we imagine doing it in some nonexistent but fecund wilderness that really hasn’t existed anywhere on Earth since humans made it to Tierra del Fuego. I think this hampers our understanding a lot of the time. It blinds us to how dependent current institutions are on the shape of past institutions (we can build institutions from nothing!), it emphasizes an unrealistically individualist and autonomous approach to society (we can live far enough away from our neighbors we never have to interact!), and it handwaves away a central problem of land and wealth distribution, which is how often acquiring those things necessarily comes at someone else’s expense. It seems to me that a lot of people of anarcho-capitalist inclinations live in a world where that frontier-possibility exists as a self-evident, perennial feature of the world. Whereas to me, it feels like a mirage: something that has never existed in recorded history, and which has no actual relevance (at least until we colonize other planets, I guess).

[harrelltut]

JEHOVAH OCCULT BIBLE [JOB] WITNESS Me [ME = U.S. Michael Harrell = TUT = JAH] on Earth [JE = JESUS] 60,000 Years Ago in 2022 [VI]… Intuitively MAPPING [I’M] HIDDEN OLMEC Territories from the Empire in the PACIFIC [HOTEP] OCEAN of Ægyptian RAMESES’ Lost American [L.A. = NEW Atlantean] SUN_KING [Sunken] DOME Continent [D.C.] Kingdom of AMENHOTEP’s Lower Island [KALI] SUN Natives… who Dynastically COLONIZED [D.C.] SIRIUS Aquatic Terrain Underneath the Reservoirs of the NILE [SATURN] VALLEY PEOPLES [DOGON] of New [NU] North African Genealogies of Ancestral [NAGA] Human SPIRIT [NOMMO] Indians [NI = NIBIRUANS/NUBIANS] in QHTut’s Highly Official… U.S. Ancient [USA = PREHISTORIC] 18th American Ægyptian [ATLANTEAN] TOLTEC Dynasty of Clandestine [D.C.] STATE Island Maps [I’M] from the AMAZONIANS of California [CALAFIA]… Geographically ISOLATED by this Historically AFFLUENT [HA = HARRELL] Astronomically Intelligent ANUNNAKI [AIA = AMÚN] SUN GOD [RA] NOBLE... who Authored Records from MENES’ Ægyptian ROMAN [NARMER] PROVINCE of MESOPOTAMIA’s Lost American [L.A. = NEW Atlantean] SUN_KING [Sunken] DOME Continent [D.C.] of Pharaonic LEMURIAN [MU] SUN Temples by King ZOSER [DJOSER]... who Dynastically CONQUERED [D.C.] MESOAMÊRICA’s Ancient Yucatán Aborigines of NANAHUATL’s [MAYANS] SUN Languages Artistically [L.A.] Illustrated on MAYAS' [I'M] Northern & Central American TOLTEC [CAT = SPHINX] PYRAMIDS of Lost LEMURIAN [MU] WRITES by the Ægyptian [WE] American [ATLANTEAN] MOORS from QHTut's Primordially Ancient [PA = SUPERNATURAL] Celestial Human GOD [EXTRATERRESTRIAL] STAR Constellation of Archangel [CA] MICHAEL… who Immaculately [MI = MITANNI] MANIFESTED this Historically AUTONOMOUS [HA = HARRELL] North American Gnostic of AZTEC [NAGA] CODICES from My Highly Complex [ADVANCED] Dematerialized [A.D.] REPTILIAN [URAEUS] Human METALLURGICAL Fossil Records of Ancient [RA] Crystallographic SUN DNA/MOON RNA Genealogies @ the Back of My Heavenly Father AKHENATEN’s OCCULTED [HIDDEN] MOON Universe [MU] of MITANNI’s Astronomical NIBIRU [MAN] KINGDOM… from ORION’S 9th Human SOUL City of Egyptian THOTH’s [E.T.’s] Interstellar Luz ATLANTIS [iLA] 👁️👑☥ (at San Diego, California) https://www.instagram.com/p/CUqm54WF7e8/?utm_medium=tumblr

[bountyofbeads]

https://amp.theguardian.com/world/2019/aug/21/trump-state-visit-cancellation-over-greenland-shocks-danes?CMP=twt_gu&utm_medium=&utm_source=Twitter&__twitter_impression=true

Donald J. Trump is the world's WORST negotiator. No wonder he has gone BANKRUPT 6Xs.

Greenland highlights Trump’s willingness to offend close US allies

By cancelling his state visit to Denmark, the US president has again showed his thin skin

By Simon Tisdall | Published:07:51 Wed August 21, 2019 | Guardian | Posted August 21, 2019 100:00 AM ET |

Donald Trump’s abrupt decision to cancel his state visit to Denmark after it rejected his unsolicited offer to buy Greenland at a knockdown price took most people by surprise, not least his own ambassador.

“Denmark is ready … Partner, ally, friend”, tweeted Carla Sands, the neophyte US envoy to Copenhagen who was previously an actor and chiropractor. Hours later, it was off.

The embarrassment of Sands, a loyal Trump campaign fundraiser best known until now for her starring role in the 1988 film Deathstalker and the Warriors from Hell, elicited scant sympathy from Danes apparently relieved the US president was not coming.

“Hahaha, well maybe your boss should update you about what is going on in his mind. This proves how crazy this administration is,” one Twitter user wrote. Some American respondents apologised for their president’s behaviour.

Greenland’s unsought role in this new Nordic saga, wacky even by Trump’s eccentric standards, has again raised questions about his mental state and a chaotic decision-making process in Washington that often leaves partners and allies out in the cold.

Trump recently secretly ordered military strikes on Iran, then called them off with 10 minutes to go. He caused more Scandinavian amazement and amusement last month when he sent a hostage negotiator to Sweden after the American rapper A$AP Rocky was arrested for common assault.

Anthony Scaramucci, a former communications director for Trump, told the BBC the much-pummelled president was like a punch-drunk boxer still standing in the 12th round with no real idea what he was doing. His handlers should throw in the towel, Scaramucci suggested.

That may be an overly kind explanation. The Greenland episode has also highlighted Trump’s personal rudeness and undiplomatic willingness to offend close US allies. The visit next month was at the invitation of Queen Margrethe II, who, unlike Prince Hamlet, was apparently prepared to tolerate something rotten in the state of Denmark, at least for a couple of days. She will not be amused.

Mette Frederiksen, the Danish prime minister, was glacially cool towards the idea of selling Greenland to Trump. She described the US, which maintains a military base in Qaanaaq, also known as Thule, in north-west Greenland, as a valued strategic and Nato partner. But she poured cold water on the purchase, suggesting it smacked of disrespectful neocolonial attitudes.

“Thankfully, the time where you buy and sell other countries and populations is over. Let’s leave it there,” Frederiksen said during a trip to Greenland, a semi-autonomous Danish territory. The attempt to buy it was “absurd”. It is this blunt response that seems to have provoked the thin-skinned Trump to put his trip on ice.

The idea of such deals is not new, though dated. An expansionist US, pursing what was once called its “manifest destiny”, often bought or seized territory in the past. In 1803, it paid Napoleon $15m for a huge area of land ranging from what is now Canada to the south-eastern US, a deal known as the Louisiana purchase.

In 1848, the US relieved Mexico of about half its national territory, including most of what is now California, Nevada, Utah, Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico and Wyoming. In 1867, it bought Alaska from the Russians. In 1898, it took possession of the Philippines, Guam and Puerto Rico after fighting a war with Spain. The US once harboured designs on Cuba and Panama.

But Greenland residents plainly do not want to follow the US Virgin Islands, sold by Denmark in 1917. They have reportedly dismissed Trump’s offer, calling it patronising and unwelcome. Yet the fact the idea was even raised may serve to reinforce longstanding resentment, mostly directed at Copenhagen, that Greenlanders are treated as second-class citizens.

Political tensions have fuelled calls for independence among residents of the vast, sparsely populated island where about 57,000 people occupy 836,000 sq miles. Despite its largely untapped mineral wealth, which is what is said to most interest Trump, it is heavily dependent on more than £400m in annual subsidies from Denmark.

In common with other Arctic territories, Greenland has a recent history of social problems, including high rates of alcoholism, drug abuse and suicide among the indigenous Inuit people. Increased tourism has proved a mixed blessing.

Greenland is also disproportionately affected by the climate crisis and global heating.

According to a CNN report from Kulusuk this week, scientists say 12.5bn tonnes of ice melted on one day this month – the biggest single-day loss ever recorded. That’s no joke – and it is a problem Trump stubbornly refuses to address.

‘A narcissistic fool’: Danes hit out at Trump over cancelled visit

US president faces criticism for calling off Denmark trip after he is told Greenland not for sale

Shaun Walker | Published Wed 21 Aug 2019 08.59 EDT | Guardian | Posted August 21, 2019 9:48 AM ET |

The Danish prime minister has said she is surprised and disappointed that Donald Trump has called off his planned visit to the country over Copenhagen’s refusal to sell Greenland to the US.

Mette Frederiksen said the US president’s decision would not affect strategic, military or commercial cooperation between their two countries. She had previously said his Greenland proposal was absurd.

Politicians from across the spectrum were united in their condemnation. “There are already many good reasons to think that the man is a fool, and now he has given another good reason,” Eva Flyvholm, the foreign policy chair for Denmark’s Red-Green Alliance, told Danish media.

The former prime minister Helle Thorning-Schmidt tweeted: (See Website or Twitter)

Villy Søvndal, a former foreign minister, said the decision “confirms that Donald Trump is a narcissistic fool”.

The US president had been due to visit Denmark in early September but announced on Twitter late on Tuesday night that there was no longer any point in the visit. “Based on Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen’s comments, that she would have no interest in discussing the purchase of Greenland, I will be postponing our meeting scheduled in two weeks for another time,” Trump wrote. The White House later confirmed the visit had been called off.

Søvndal told the Danish newspaper Berlingske that Trump’s decision showed he was unaware of the basic rules of diplomacy. “If he had been a clown in a circus, you could probably say that there is considerable entertainment value. The problem is that he is the president of the most powerful nation in the world,” he said.

The awkwardness was compounded by the fact that the US ambassador to Denmark had tweeted her excitement about the upcoming visit a few hours before Trump made his announcement. “Denmark is ready for the POTUS visit! Partner, ally, friend,” she wrote.

A spokeswoman for the Danish royal household, which had formally invited Trump, said she was surprised by the cancellation.

Greenland, a vast island bordering the Arctic Ocean that is 85% covered in ice, was a Danish colony until 1953. It gained autonomous territory status in 1979, but the island’s economy depends heavily on Danish subsidies. It has 55,000 inhabitants, many of whom favour full independence from Denmark.

Many in Denmark had initially assumed the story of Trump’s desire to buy the large, sparsely populated island was either meant in jest or as a distraction tactic. Trump even tweeted a photograph of a small Greenland village with a large Trump tower photoshopped in, but he appears to have been serious about the proposal, or at least offended by the firm rebuff it received.

Why might Donald Trump want to buy Greenland?

Greenland harbours some of the largest deposits of rare-earth metals, including neodymium, praseodymium, dysprosium and terbium, along with uranium and the byproducts of zinc.

US corporations once thought of China as a benign supplier of rare-earth metals for mobile phones, computers and more recently electric cars. And the US government was relaxed when Chinese companies began hoovering up mines across central and southern Africa to secure an even greater dominance of the global market.

But the arrival of Xi Jinping as China’s leader, and his more aggressive foreign policy stance, has spooked many US policymakers. Among Trump’s advisers, the need for greater economic independence has raced up the agenda.

A potential target for the US is Greenland Minerals, an Australian company that has generated a good deal of excitement since it started operating on Greenland’s south-west peninsula in 2007 to develop the Kvanefjeld mine, which is home to many rare-earth metals.

More than 100m tonnes of ore are believed to be sitting below the surface and the project is expected to become one of the largest global producers outside China.

[northameicanblog]

Greenland: Greenland is a North American autonomous territory of the Kingdom of Denmark. It is the larger of two autonomous territories within the Kingdom, the other being the Faroe Islands; the citizens of both territories are full citizens of Denmark. Wikipedia

Schooner Opal off Greenland

[newstfionline]

Headlines

WHO Issues Warning As Daily Caseload Grows (Foreign Policy) As dense crowds of protesters gather around the world, and New Zealand announces a return to life as usual, it’s easy to forget that a pandemic is still raging. On Monday, the WHO recorded the largest daily increase in new coronavirus cases since the pandemic began, 136,000 in total; 75 percent of new cases came from just ten countries, mostly in the Americas and South Asia.

Stress is skyrocketing among the middle-aged (Marketwatch) If you’re middle-aged and you’re thinking, “I don’t remember everyone being this angry and miserable 20 or 30 years ago,” you’re not wrong. A recent study confirms what many people in later middle age already feel: We really are much more stressed than middle-aged people were back in the 1990s. The good news? As we get older our levels of stress will go down again. We’ll be happier in retirement than we are in our 40s and 50s, even with health issues. Older people experience fewer stressors and are able to cope with them better, says David Almeida, a psychologist and professor of human development at Pennsylvania State University. Meanwhile, the simplest answer is to move more. “My advice to people is to move when you are exposed to stress,” he says. “Moving, physical activity, is probably the best stress reducer.”

After Protests, Politicians Reconsider Police Budgets and Discipline (NYT) In an abrupt change of course, the mayor of New York vowed to cut the budget of the nation’s largest police force. In Los Angeles, the mayor called for redirecting millions of dollars from policing after protesters gathered outside his home. And in Minneapolis, City Council members pledged to dismantle their police force and completely reinvent how public safety is handled. As tens of thousands of people have demonstrated against police violence over the past two weeks, calls have emerged in cities across the country for fundamental changes to American policing. The pleas for change have taken a variety of forms—including measures to restrict police use of military-style equipment and efforts to require officers to face strict discipline in cases of misconduct. Parks, universities and schools have distanced themselves from local police departments, severing contracts. In some places, the calls for change have gone still further, aiming to abolish police departments, shift police funds into social services or defund police departments partly or entirely.

U.N. General Assembly won’t meet in person for first time in 75-year history (Washington Post) For the first time in the United Nations’ 75-year history, world leaders won’t convene in New York for the annual U.N. General Assembly meeting this September. U.N. General Assembly President Tijjani Muhammad-Bande explained Monday that an in-person gathering during the coronavirus pandemic would be impossible because world leaders typically travel with large delegations of aides and security personnel, making it hard to keep the numbers of attendees at events low. “A president doesn’t travel alone, leaders don’t travel alone,” he said. The session will instead take place remotely, though U.N. officials have yet to say exactly what that might look like.

Mexico’s Leader Rejects Big Spending to Ease Virus’s Sting (NYT) Across the globe, governments have rushed to pump cash into flailing economies, hoping to stave off the pandemic’s worst financial fallout. They have mustered trillions of dollars for stimulus measures to keep companies afloat and employees on the payroll. The logic: When the pandemic finally passes, economies will not have to start from scratch to bounce back. In Mexico, no such rescue effort has come. The pandemic could lead to an economic reckoning worse than anything Mexico has seen in perhaps a century. More jobs were lost in April than were created in all of 2019. A recent report by a government agency said as many as 10 million people could fall into poverty this year. Yet most economists estimate that Mexico will increase spending only slightly. Hostile toward bailouts, loath to take on public debt and deeply mistrustful of most business leaders, Mexico’s president has opted largely to sit tight.

Cuba almost coronavirus free (Foreign Policy) Cuba—a country that prides itself on its health system—has almost vanquished its coronavirus epidemic, according to official data. It has recently averaged less than ten cases per day and on Monday went nine consecutive days without a reported death from COVID-19. “We could be shortly closing in on the tail end of the pandemic and entering the phase of recovery from COVID,” President Miguel Diaz-Canel said over the weekend.

Spain makes masks mandatory until coronavirus defeated (Reuters) Wearing masks in public will remain mandatory in Spain after the country’s state of emergency ends on June 21 until a cure or vaccine for the coronavirus is found, Health Minister Salvador Illa said on Tuesday.

This round’s on us, says Malta (Reuters) Residents of Malta will be given $112 vouchers by the government to spend in bars, hotels and restaurants in an effort to revitalize the tourist industry. Tourism accounts for a quarter of the Mediterranean island’s GDP but it has been at a standstill since mid-March when flights were stopped during the coronavirus emergency. Flights to a small number of countries will resume on July 1 but they exclude big tourism source markets Britain and Italy.

Russia rejects Iran embargo (Foreign Policy) Russian foreign minister Sergey Lavrov has called for “universal condemnation” of the U.S. campaign to pass a permanent arms embargo on Iran through the United Nations Security Council. In a letter to U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, Lavrov called the U.S. attempt to hold Iran to the confines of the Iran deal while the United States had already broken the deal was “ridiculous and irresponsible.”

Moscow’s strict coronavirus lockdown turns lax overnight (Washington Post) In a sudden about-face from one of the world’s strictest coronavirus lockdowns, Moscow dramatically eased restrictions Tuesday, abolishing the city’s digital-pass system for travel and allowing salons and most other nonessential businesses to open. Schedules for when Muscovites were allowed outside based on their address have also been done away with after just one week. Restaurants and cafes will be allowed to serve people on verandas starting June 16 and nearly all restrictions will be lifted by June 23—the day before Russia’s rescheduled Victory Day parade on Moscow’s Red Square. The city’s walk schedules and requirements for wearing face masks outside have increasingly been ignored by residents, and Moscow authorities might have been feeling the pressure from small businesses that have been closed since late March with little government aid to sustain them.

Tracking the origin of the coronavirus outbreak (Daily Telegraph) Coronavirus may have broken out in the Chinese city of Wuhan much earlier than previously thought, according to a new US study looking at satellite imagery and internet searches. The Harvard Medical School research found that the number of cars parked at major Wuhan hospitals at points last autumn was much higher than the preceding year. It also found that searches from the Wuhan region for information on “cough” and “diarrhea”, known Covid-19 symptoms, on the Chinese search engine Baidu spiked around the same time. It has led researchers to suggest that the outbreak began much earlier than December 31, the date the Chinese government notified the World Health Organization of the outbreak.​

North Korea cuts off all communication with South Korea (AP) North Korea said it was cutting off all communication channels with South Korea on Tuesday, a move experts say could signal Pyongyang has grown frustrated that Seoul has failed to revive lucrative inter-Korean economic projects and persuade the United States to ease sanctions. The North’s Korean Central News Agency said all cross-border communication lines would be cut off at noon in the “the first step of the determination to completely shut down all contact means with South Korea and get rid of unnecessary things.” North Korea has cut communications in the past—not replying to South Korean phone calls or faxes—and then restored those channels when tensions eased.

The Palestinian Plan to Stop Annexation: Remind Israel What Occupation Means (NYT) Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel is pressing for annexation in conjunction with the Trump administration’s peace plan, which at least ostensibly contemplates an autonomous Palestinian entity as part of what it calls a “realistic two-state solution.” Mr. Netanyahu has vowed to annex up to 30 percent of the West Bank, and could do so as early as next month. But to the Palestinians, annexation flouts the ban on unilateral land grabs agreed to in the Oslo Accords in the 1990s, and would steal much of the territory they have counted on for a state. For that reason, they say it would kill all hope of a two-state solution to the conflict. In response to the annexation plan, Mr. Abbas renounced the Palestinians’ commitments under the Oslo agreements last month, including on security cooperation with Israel. The strategy aims to remind the Israelis of the burdens they would assume if the Palestinian Authority disbanded, and to demonstrate that they are willing to let the authority collapse if annexation comes to pass. The Palestinian Authority says it will cut the salaries of tens of thousands of its own clerks and police officers. It will slash vital funding to the impoverished Gaza Strip. And it will try any Israeli citizens or Arab residents of Jerusalem arrested on the West Bank in Palestinian courts instead of handing them over to Israel.

[rjzimmerman]

This is not “fake news.” Never doubt the fact of what goes on in this man’s feeble, infantile mind. Question the motive, the purpose, the understanding, the relevance, the morality, the whatever, but don’t question the fact.

Excerpt from this Wall Street Journal story:

President Trump made his name on the world’s most famous island. Now he wants to buy the world’s biggest.

The idea of the U.S. purchasing Greenland has captured the former real-estate developer’s imagination, according to people familiar with the discussions, who said Mr. Trump has, with varying degrees of seriousness, repeatedly expressed interest in buying the ice-covered autonomous Danish territory between the North Atlantic and Arctic oceans.

In meetings, at dinners and in passing conversations, Mr. Trump has asked advisers whether the U.S. can acquire Greenland, listened with interest when they discuss its abundant resources and geopolitical importance and, according to two of the people, has asked his White House counsel to look into the idea.

Some of his advisers have supported the concept, saying it was a good economic play, two of the people said, while others dismissed it as a fleeting fascination that will never come to fruition. It is also unclear how the U.S. would go about acquiring Greenland even if the effort were serious.

With a population of about 56,000, Greenland is a self-ruling part of the Kingdom of Denmark, and while its government decides on most domestic matters, foreign and security policy is handled by Copenhagen. Mr. Trump is scheduled to make his first visit to Denmark early next month, although the visit is unrelated, these people said.

U.S. officials view Greenland as important to American national-security interests. A decades-old defense treaty between Denmark and the U.S. gives the U.S. military virtually unlimited rights in Greenland at America’s northernmost base, Thule Air Base. Located 750 miles north of the Arctic Circle, it includes a radar station that is part of a U.S. ballistic missile early-warning system. The base is also used by the U.S. Air Force Space Command and the North American Aerospace Defense Command.

The U.S. has sought to derail Chinese efforts to gain an economic foothold in Greenland. The Pentagon worked successfully in 2018 to block China from financing three airports on the island.

People outside the White House have described purchasing Greenland as an Alaska-type acquisition for Mr. Trump’s legacy, advisers said. The few current and former White House officials who had heard of the notion described it with a mix of anticipation and apprehension, since it remains unknown how far the president might push the idea.

[ordinary-wonder]

Former Spanish-held territory.

“If only I could be in Africa and Europe at the same time… Oh, wait! I can! I can go to Melilla!”

I’m a fan of the odd, the unusual, the out of the ordinary, but when you combine that with some history, I’m hooked to the point of obsession. North Africa, or alternatively the southern coast of the Mediterranean Sea, has seen its share of invaders and occupiers, most of which came from across the selfsame sea. The Phoenicians, Carthaginians, and Romans were here, as were the Arabs, or course, but more recently, within the last century, the area was occupied variously by European powers such as England, Germany, Portugal, Spain, and France. Even Italy wanted in on the action. Ultimately, the French and Spanish prevailed and divided the country into different spheres of influence with the Spanish having the north and south while France occupied the middle. The exception being Tangier which, for all intents and purposes, was an international zone.

“Mapa del sur de España neutral” by Ecemaml – From Polish Wikipedia, translated to Spanish and neutralized.. Licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0 via Commons

Eventually, the occupiers left. The French, though they left their language, ceded the whole of their claims to the country back to Morocco, The Spanish, however, gave back only 99%. They kept little bits and pieces along the coast.

Along the northern coast of Morocco, there are numerous land holdings that Spain still considers part of its territory, part of larger Spain. Two of them, Ceuta and Melilla, are autonomous cities, while the many islands off the coast, and one tiny peninsula, are predominately used as military bases. (See the map at the left for more details.)

From below

Morocco, to no one’s surprise, disagrees with Spanish claims and argues that the land should be given back to them as was the rest of their former northern claims. They are fond of comparing the status of Gibraltar, a territory of the United Kingdom, which has long been s thorn in Spanish pride. Spain did return a small southern, coastal claim, Sidi Ifni, (See the Ifni War) in 1969 after increasing tensions in the area and due to international pressure, but the littoral areas remain Spanish as does a small island in the middle of the sea between the two countries. The Spanish Sahara, now sometimes called the Western Sahara, was relinquished to Morocco after the Green March in 1975 in which “some 350,000 Moroccans advanced several miles into the Western Sahara territory, escorted by nearly 20,000 Moroccan troops…” (Wikipedia). More recently (2002), there was a minor crisis between the two countries surrounding Perejil Island which Moroccan soldiers occupied and which Spanish commandos retook without casualties.

The bell on the old convent.

The population of Melilla, in speaking with locals, is divided roughly 50/50 with people of Spanish decent and people of Rif Mountain Amazigh (Rifian) decent in fairly equal proportions. Thankfully, since I don’t speak a lick of Spanish, I was able easily find Arabic speakers when I needed help or directions. In fact, it was a bit surreal. Here I was ostensibly in Spain, but surrounded by what looked like everyday Moroccans in both dress and complexion. It was the best of both worlds.

Being on the African continent has its challenges as ell. Both Melilla and its sister city Ceuta have become focal points for refugees seeking asylum.Refugees from sub-Saharan Africa and the Middle East come seeking sanctuary in Europe through the gates of the cities, as was mistakenly made famous by Donald Trump in a rant about immigration in America.

Being a strategic peninsula, Melilla is dominated by an ancient citadel, or fortified city, overlooking the sea from a craggy outcropping of stone. Over the years, it has grown and been added to in six distinct phases, each with its own architectural touches. The museum I went to showed each stage and highlighted each variation. It was a nice little museum that dedicated an entire wing to Sephardic and Amazigh heritage. I met and spoke with one of the curators, an Amazigh, who was very helpful in showing me around.

The citadel

In fact, the entire citadel is quite well-preserved and interesting. There are large, cavernous cisterns for holding water in ancient times, an archaic chimney jutting up from the shore, an old, though functioning, drawbridge, as well as extensive cave systems used by nuns who lived in the convent and in which they would spend the time in contemplation. It was quite impressive, but best of all is that it’s completely free to visit and see all the areas, even the museums, such as the military museum.

The official imprint of Melilla that honors its multifaith population living in harmony.

Perhaps the best part of Melilla, since it is steeped in Spanish cuture, is the tapas. Across from my hotel was a little tapas bar that for between €5-10 I could get four or five delicious tapas and a few beers. I had intentions to dine out for a more formal birthday dinner, but I was more than contented visiting the various tapas offerings than blowing a wad of cash on something fancier. And Hell, it was my birthday, after all.

Not really Spain and not really Morocco, Melilla is a wonderful little anomaly not to be missed. Despite its divergent cultures, its people live in harmony. Most telling of this, perhaps, is in the city’s official logo. In it, one can see a melding of the four dominant religions within the city. (See left) Above the city name are the four sounds of “m” in each of the four languages, Hindi/Sanskrit, Arabic, Hebrew, and Spanish.

It’s a beautiful town. There are lovely beaches, great food, and plenty of interesting history.

An older citadel

Cannon face the sea

The citadel

Within the citadel

Grafitti

Grafitti

Amazigh and Jewish museum

A church atop, and within, the citadel that was also used as a convent

Excavations

Cactus tree

Ancient Arabic coins

Promontory

The citadel

The citadel

Rooftops

Coastline

Coastline and chimney

A new citadel on a different hill

American Dreams

The citadel

The citadel

An old chimney

From the citadel

The citadel

Rif definition

The citadel

Cannon

Chillin’

A Gaudiesque bulding.

From below

Citadel facade

The bell on the old convent.

Steeples

City mural

Jewish Amazigh-style pins

Atop the citadel

Palm trees

The citadel

City plan

Community park

Standing guard

One of several churches

Within the citadel

An old lighthouse along the coast

The official imprint of Melilla that honors its multifaith population living in harmony.

Canada House

Cannon and lighthouse

Coastline

Another citadel on a different hill, built later

Excavation

The citadel

The oldest part of the citadel dating from the 14th century

Many houses have tiles above their doors.

Carthaginian boat docks as depicted in the museum

Statue of a Spanish explorer

A monument that, on each side, has words written in the four languages of faith within the city

The citadel

Cannon

Perching seagull

The citadel

An odd statue of a boy and his cat in the city park

The town rambla

Melilla "If only I could be in Africa and Europe at the same time... Oh, wait! I can!

[northameicanblog]

Greenland: Greenland is a North American autonomous territory of the Kingdom of Denmark. It is the larger of two autonomous territories within the Kingdom, the other being the Faroe Islands; the citizens of both territories are full citizens of Denmark. Wikipedia

Greenland