AIBU to be anxious about the situation with Greenland?

[KitKat1985]

Just that really.

A few years ago I wouldn't have even considered the concept of America trying to forcefully take a territory which is part of a friendly, peaceful country and fellow Nato member. Now though Trump seems so mad I'm worried it could actually happen.

Surely if it did happen America would be expelled from Nato and ourselves (UK) and other Nato countries would have defend Greenland from a US invasion, and a major international conflict would be triggered.

I can't work out anymore if I'm just being alarmist and have watched too much news, or if this is an actual possibility we should all be worried about.

YABU - This is never going to happen in reality. The news is just scare-mongering.

YANBU - Trump is mad enough to actually attempt this and risk major international conflict.

@ I respectfully disagree. Although he doesn't have the best 'stage prescents' is terrible and his statements are often very ill thought out. I think a lot of his policies are refreshing and make sense. He realizes with the Putin situation a bit of deplomacy and ego stroking can go a long way to prevent the situation for going nuclear,. literally!

We Are not unless Putin acts. Don’t worry, and Putin won’t act, as everyone will act back and Russia will fail to exist seconds later, that’s why it’s called a nuclear detterant. The nato countries are just about politics, that’s all.

We can always reinstate them when the lunatics are no longer in charge.

I don't suppose it would be our decision, if as the op suggests we kick the US out of our country and close their bases. It's like Brexit, we want out of that club, we don't get to decide we want back in again when it suits us.

thats the whole purpose of diplomacy. It's getting a win-win, it's sometimes having to hold our noses and do unmentionable things like invite Trump and his entourage to meet our monarchy. We don't do any of that because we enjoy it. It's part of having to operate on a global stage, tiptoeing round uncomfortable truths in the interest of our safety and security,

🫸🏻🔮🫷🏻

I think NATO would fall apart and Starmer would try to keep his/our nose clean.

He’s almost 80 he’ll be off his perch soon enough

Well said.

He's crazy.

What happened to The Great (??) USA.

Horrific that woman going about her business was shot dead.

Scary times we live in.

The USA has been screwed since Obama left office. We had dementia Biden now an egotistical orange mad man

Ukraine wasn't part of NATO when Russia attacked them. Trump had no obligation to help

It's crazy that an 80 year old wields so much power. There should be a compulsory retirement age for presidents and prime ministers.

He has publicly stated that if he doesn’t move into Greenland then Russia or China will and he will not have them as neighbours. He has said he’d rather do it another way - which I assume means he’d rather buy it but obviously not for what’s it’s worth. I fully expect him to start moving troops onto the land and then I guess we watch and wait.

I think we need to accept there are three superpowers and no sovereign nations anymore. If any of them decide to take any country now there is not a thing we could do about it.

Trump is right to point out that Russia and China want Greenland, too. But he could have gone for defending it from them without seeking to 'own' it. He's arrogant and crude and puts everyone's backs up. Someone more statesmanlike and diplomatic, not to mention humane, would have gone for some kind of quid pro quo arrangement with Greenland/Denmark. But of course he's greedy and wants to own the resources of Greenland outright. Is there any big power that has not behaved like this though? I'm worried about Canada too. Surely they have a stake in defending Greenland.

I say this any time the subject comes up. America is a banana republic with prestige and money.

It is not your run of the mill beacon of freedom and a representation of democracy and statesmanship. No class, no skill

The country was borne out of religious extremism, isolation, conspiracy mindset, why would we think a mere couple of hundred years later it would have changed massively.

Warmongers and landgrabbers

Oh come on now. That ship has long sailed.

Thanks for solving the problem 😐

Sadly, this. Successive leaders have made us nothing but a conveniently deniable vassal to the US, much as Belarus is to Russia. Many of our August ‘leaders’ have eyed up high powered low-work positions in the US after their time of service here, having dutifully done the US’s bidding in the EU and elsewhere. That’s one of the main reasons why Europe has few military options now and why our military is going to be seriously hamstrung without the US. Independent nuclear deterrents remember? Far too many men applaud the new return to ‘might is right’ ideologies.

I suspect the consequences will be more keenly felt in Asia, as any further destruction of the current ‘rules-based system’, will likely embolden China to make a move on Taiwan.

That said, unless/until Beijing believe they can successfully invade and occupy Taiwan, it’s difficult to see it happening. Imagine a scenario where they try, and fail. That could prove existential for Xi following the intelligence catastrophe in Venezuela, and Putin’s failing gambit in Ukraine.

Europe will need to provide for its own defence, which has consequences for tax and spending, of course.

I agree. It is scary and if it happens that will be the end of NATO. I don’t think we should be letting US use our bases. Greenland don’t want to be part of US and they are a sovereign country. Trump is power crazed enough to try it though. I despair of what the US has turned into.

i will say it won’t end with Greenland. Trump is constantly knocking UK and Europe. He wants to be King of the World and we need our own better defences and closer ties in EU. We cannot rely on the US now. They are not our friend.

Denmark will sell it to them.

This same old argument. The US has the freedom to set up military bases on Greenland and they had in the past. They dismantled it themselves. And your argument also ignores NATO. The whole concept is based on "an attack on one is an attack on the whole". So why the need to "own" a part of another country's territory? This is based on expansionism and greed, nothing else.

America is a basket case and Trump is trying to distract from everything that is happening domestically to show might on the international stage. The issue is there is no one in opposition with enough support or a really strong leader to challenge him so he feels he can do as he pleases. Certainly a very precarious situation for the world right now.

You can’t do anything about it so zero point feeling anxious. The thing is, Denmark have told Trump he can add more bases on Greenland and essentially do whatever the hell he wants so it’s up to him if he still wants to be an aggressor in the situation and invade.

MAGA don’t want any of this bullshit fwiw, they wanted isolationism hence the tariffs. Vance and Miller are not remotely interested in Greenland or even Venezuela. He’s going to slowly lose his loyal base, it already started with Marjorie Taylor Green.

This.

Or the Greenlanders will accept funds to vote for US rule. There is already talk of $100k per citizen.