<
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2026/jan/18/trump-greenland-britain-europe>
"One way or the other, President Trump said, he will have Greenland. Well, at
least now we know it’s the other; not an invasion that would have sent young
men home to their mothers across Europe in coffins, but instead another trade
war, designed to kill off jobs and break Europe’s will. Just our hopes of an
economic recovery, then, getting taken out and shot on a whim by our supposedly
closest ally, months after Britain signed a trade deal supposed to protect us
from such arbitrary punishment beatings. In a sane universe, that would not
feel like a climbdown by the White House, yet by comparison with the rhetoric
that had Denmark scrambling troops to Greenland last week it is.
That said, don’t underestimate the gravity of the moment.
Keir Starmer has tried everything to avoid being forced to choose between
Europe and the US, and for a country that has burned too many international
bridges lately that was the right instinct. He has swallowed any amount of
personal mortification and public disquiet in the process, only to discover
that whatever Britain gives, Trump always demands more. For this president, you
are either all in or all out. Though Britain joined an American military
operation to seize a Russian-flagged tanker suspected of sanctions busting only
days ago, that didn’t protect us from presidential wrath when we also sent a
single officer to Greenland last week, in symbolic solidarity with our (and at
least in theory the US’s) Nato ally Denmark. You can’t ride two horses, it
turns out, when one is a mad bucking bronco."
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
