Donald Trump’s Twenty first-Century Colonialism | The Nation

Donald Trump dispatched his son, Don Jr., on a real-estate reconnaisance mission Tuesday. The president-elect, who made his identify as a developer of “properties” in Manhattan and Atlantic Metropolis earlier than a enterprise setbacks and controversies steered him towards a steadier profession as a reality-TV present billionaire, is obsessive about making Greenland part of the USA– both by buy or, probably. as  he prompt in a televised press convention on the identical day as his son’s Arctic journey, by drive. So Trump Jr. was dispatched to take a look at the biggest island on the planet.

It was a fast journey that noticed the presidential projeny play vacationer for a couple of hours in Nuuk, the capital metropolis of what stays an autonomous territory of Denmark.

The spotlight got here when the president-elect referred to as in on a speaker telephone to speak together with his child. The few locals who have been within the neighborhood of Trump Jr. when the decision got here have been assured by Trump Sr., with a traditional colonial flourish, that  “we’re going to deal with you nicely.” Across the identical time, the person who on January 20 will turn into the chief of an financial and navy superpower, posted a social-media recap of the journey and its mission, saying, “Don Jr. and my Reps touchdown in Greenland. The reception has been nice. They, and the Free World, want security, safety, energy, and PEACE! It is a deal that should occur. MAGA. MAKE GREENLAND GREAT AGAIN!”

What was notable in regards to the go to — which prolonged from a dialog that Trump Sr. has been having with himself since his first time period within the White Home — is that Trump Jr. and his parka-clad posse didn’t truly meet with the elected leaders of Greenland.

Why? As a result of these leaders have little interest in being purchased and bought by oligarchs or empire builders.

“Greenland is ours. We aren’t on the market and can by no means be on the market,” says Múte Egede, the elected prime minister of the island, whose democratic socialist Inuit Ataqatigiit celebration gained essentially the most votes within the final election. Erik Jensen, the chief of the second largest celebration, the social democratic Siumut motion, stated. “I can verify that I’ve not deliberate to satisfy with him.”

Echoing the prime minister, Jensen advised Greenland’s Sermitsiaq newspaper: “I say it once more that Greenland will not be on the market and by no means might be.”

Each Inuit Ataqatigiit and Siumut favor independence for the island, which is at the moment an autonomous territory of the Kingdom of Denmark. The truth is 80 p.c pf the votes in Greenland’s 201 election have been solid for pro-independence events. Egede says, “The historical past and present circumstances have proven that our cooperation with the Kingdom of Denmark has not succeeded in creating full equality, It’s now time for our nation to take the following step.”

The aim, explains the prime minister, is to “take away the shackles of colonialism.”

And nothing says “shackles” of colonialism fairly so loudly because the prospect {that a} nation of 57,000 could be purchased on the open market or, worse but, invaded, as Trump prompt in a Tuesday press convention the place he was requested whether or not a navy invasion of Greenland could be a prospect. When a reporter requested whether or not he would rule out utilizing “navy or financial coercion” to seize Greenland and pursue one other territorial ambition — reclaiming the Panama Canal — the president-elect replied, “No, I can’t guarantee you on both of these two, however I can say this: We’d like them for financial safety.” Later within the press convention, Trump spoke about imposing excessive tariffs on Denmark with a purpose to drive the long-time U.S. ally to barter off Greenland — not matter what the independence-minded [people on the island think.

Why is Trump so determined to make Greenland — a left-leaning region with an overwhelmingly Inuit population and a land mass that is largely above the Arctic Circle — a part of the United States?

As in all things imperial, it has nothing to do with the people of the place that has suddenly been imagined as being up for grabs. It is no secret that the island is located in a strategically significant region of the world for the U.S., neihghboring Canada, Russia and China, as well as other countries. And that significance is grow, according to a Harvard International Review assessment from last year, as “the effects of global warming have thawed Arctic glaciers, thereby increasing the island’s habitable surface area and unlocking new natural resources such as oil and minerals.”

“While Greenland remains closely linked to Scandinavia as an autonomous region of Denmark,” notes the Harvard assessment, “global powers such as the United States, China, and Russia are racing to extend military and economic influence in the region as it becomes more habitable.