Date: 2025-07-02 Page is: DBtxt003.php txt00028308
TRUMP FOREIGN POLICY
WORSE THAN NIHILISM
Ex-Danish leader: ‘Nothing is stopping the Americans’ from having more bases in Greenland
WORSE THAN NIHILISM
Ex-Danish leader: ‘Nothing is stopping the Americans’ from having more bases in Greenland
Original article: https://thehill.com/policy/international/5222640-greenland-us-denmark-thorning-schmidt/
Peter Burgess COMMENTARY
Trump and a big part of his administration are awful ... more like petulent three year olds than mature adults.
But what is worse is that a big part of the American population simply cannot or will not see how awful the political leadership they have voted for is!
But worse ... most Americans have no idea what the world has thought about America and Americans since the end of WWII some 80 years ago.
In 1945, it was only the United States that was left with a significant manufacturing base ... everywhere else the industrial base had been destroyed dyrung the years of war. Better yet for the United States, they had 'sold' military supplies manufactured in the United States to Britain and its allies around the world since the start of the war in 1939 ... more than two years before the United States suffered Pearl Habor and declaired war against Japan and Germany! Much of the supply of munitions to the allies was done under the terms of 'Lend-Lease' ... a payment arrangement that allowed the use of the product prior to the full payment for the product. Britain and its Commonwealth allies made use of this credit arrangement ... essentially its only option ... throughout the war and then spend more than a decade paying off these liabilities after the war.
During the war period and for almost a decade after the war gold in the Bank of England was shipped to the United States in order to settle these Lend-Lease debts incurred during the war.
With friends like the United States ... who needs enemies!
It is now 80 years since the end of WWII ... and President Trump with the support of many Americans now sees fit to insult the NATO allies at every opportunity he gets. This is not appreciated by these countries, and there is going to be 'push-back'.
The recent trip ... joy-ride ... by Vance and his wife to Greenland is a pathetic piece of 'grandstanding' by the Vice-President of the United States. I am reminded of the phrase 'signifying nothing' but serving to show off the obnoxious character of not only President Trump but most of the people at the tope of his Administration!
My prediction is that the people of the United States are going to be surprised when its former allies in NATO push back together against the nastiness of the Trump Administration and hold the USA to account ... and settle the score, a debt, if you will, accumulated over the past 80 years!
Financial markets are aware that this is coming ... but not so much how deep this could be ... and stock markets in the USA have declined. My view is that the decline to date is small compared to what is coming under Trump leadership. We shall see. I am not optimistic that there will be a 'soft landing!. I hope I am wrong ... but fear I am right!
Peter Burgess
Written by Lauren Irwin
03/30/25 5:12 PM ET
Helle Thorning-Schmidt, former Prime Minister of Denmark waves from the stands ahead of the Euro 2020 soccer championship semifinal between England and Denmark at Wembley stadium in London, Wednesday, July 7, 2021. (Justin Tallis/Pool Photo via AP)
Former Danish Prime Minister Helle Thorning-Schmidt said there is nothing that’s stopping the Americans from setting up more bases in Greenland amid the territory’s fight to not be acquired by the U.S.
Thorning-Schmidt joined CNN on Sunday, where she was asked about what the Trump administration wants from Greenland, the land owned by Denmark.
“There is a treaty from 1951 where it is very clear that the Americans have huge access to Greenland,” she said.
Thorning-Schmidt questioned if it was time for Denmark to “scale up” on the island.
“The irony of all this is that the Americans could do exactly the same,” she said. “Greenland is NATO territory. There’s nothing stopping the Americans from getting more engaged militarily in Greenland, having more bases, if that’s what they want.”
She noted that during World War II, the U.S. had 16 bases in Greenland but has since reduced that total to one.
That base, Thorning-Schmidt said, is the one that Vice President Vance visited late last week.
Vance and other Trump administration officials traveled to Greenland after months of the president reiterating his desire to acquire the territory, despite pushback from Denmark and Greenland.
While there, the vice president said the U.S. had no plans to expand its military presence on the island and slammed Denmark for failing to prioritize the territory’s security.
Thorning-Schmidt said the remarks were a bit insulting.
“I must say that we are taken aback by the language used by the vice president on Friday. First of all, this whole talk about Denmark not being a good ally, that is simply not true. And it is a little bit insulting, to be honest, that we have stood side by side with America for decades,” she said.
Tags Donald Trump Greenland greenland independence Helle Thorning-Schmidt JD Vance Trump administration
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