Greenland: America or Europe

Hello

Would it be possible to categorize Greenland under Northern Europe given the context? I don’t think Greenlanders would appreciate being associated that way right now. Thanks a lot

hi there—is this a political question or a travel question about getting to Greenland? Greenland is an autonomous territory that belongs to Denmark. So there’s definitely an autonomous parliament on this continent. But what’s not mentioned in all this is that the Americans are already present on the continent, particularly by maintaining an air base at Thule. So the US more or less has a foothold on the continent.

I know Greenland pretty well. Yes, it's an autonomous territory that depends on Denmark. Greenlanders are torn between becoming independent and staying under Danish influence. Overall, though, they do aspire to independence.

Seeing Greenland grouped with North America feels odd to me, especially in the current context, even if geographically it *is* part of North America.

Trump can't just claim this territory as he pleases since it's a sovereign state. And anyway, the people living on the continent would have to agree, so any potential annexation would need to be put to a local referendum. After all, it depends on what we mean by "sovereign state." After all, Ukraine was a sovereign state until Mr. Putin decided to invade it. But that's another topic 🙁

Good evening,

Would it be possible to place Greenland in Northern Europe given the context

Isn’t the initiative a bit pointless?

In terms of form, the question was settled by VF over a decade ago after heated discussions and despite strong opposition. It was about the new division of Europe into sections, particularly EAST/WEST, considering the history and the strong connotations of these terms. VF argued that their division was strictly based on location.

On the substance, whether it becomes independent or remains Danish, Greenland will hardly escape the empires. At best, it will have to choose between the West, China, and Russia. Since you know its inhabitants, do you have any idea what their choice might be?

Overall, opinions aren't uniform. What's fairly common is a desire for independence, but the economic question is complicated because Greenland currently lives on financial and social life support from Denmark. There's the potential windfall from mineral resources, but extraction won't be easy given the weather conditions, and Greenlanders are also very attached to their way of life and their nature. This debate isn't settled yet and might end up somewhere in between.

What's certain is that they don't want to go from one colonization to another, and with Trump's son coming to Nuuk to hand out greenbacks like trinkets, treating them like fools, that probably didn't help the U.S.'s case.

It'd be nice if we stopped treating them like idiots. These people have managed to survive and adapt to horrendous climate conditions, where the Vikings failed—yet Vikings seemed pretty tough...

but the economic question is complicated because Greenland currently lives on financial and social life support from Denmark.

The Danish government would make a serious mistake selling Greenland to the U.S. because it would lose a significant guaranteed financial income from mining operations, even if extraction costs are high—basic business logic. Let’s say mining resources bring in billions of dollars; divided by Greenland’s 50,000 inhabitants, that’s a lot of revenue per person.

Denmark has no interest whatsoever in selling Greenland, so let’s just hope Trump won’t resort to awful measures to force their hand. For now, Greenland has more geo-strategic value than economic value. The worth of its mineral resources is still only potential at this point.

For now, Greenland has more geo-strategic than economic value. The value of its mineral resources is only potential at this point.

Maybe what I wrote wasn’t understood. Even if mineral resources only represent potential value, it’s still value—and it brings in money that goes into Danish state coffers, basically a sovereign wealth fund, I’m guessing (I say that because I haven’t looked into it further). Then the Danish state can buy assets on the financial markets that yield returns—that’s the capitalist logic. So funding the welfare state, among other things, which is another topic, costs nothing. For comparison, it’s the Norwegian sovereign wealth fund that’s accumulated $214 billion in financial assets—talk about comfortable! 😉

Denmark really doesn’t want to sell Greenland at all—let’s just hope Trump won’t use awful means to force them.

Of course, it’s just a political cartoon from a French daily that claims to be liberal and pro-European (yes, they still exist), but you feared it, and he did it. 🙁

Would it be possible to place Greenland in Northern Europe

And take the risk of seeing VF banned from access to the Oval Office and Air Force One?