The Hill Discovers Manifest Destiny, Renames it 'Realism'
When pundits at 'The Hill' argue the US 'must take Greenland, whatever the cost', they're echoing a historical playbook typically reserved for empires, not democracies. This isn't realism; it's a throwback to 19th-century colonial ambition, repackaged for a 21st-century audience. Critics might recall the US previously, and unsuccessfully, tried to buy Greenland in 1867 and again in 1946. Even a
$600 million annual aid package from the US to Denmark for Greenland was proposed in 2019, which, predictably, went nowhere. One might wonder if 'realism' now means ignoring international law and consent while simultaneously fretting about 'authoritarian threats.' The essay argues for taking Greenland to counter Russian and Chinese influence, effectively employing the same coercive tactics it
purports to be against. The 'cost' they discuss, ostensibly financial or strategic, cleverly sidesteps the small detail of, say, the 56,000 people who actually live there and might have thoughts on the matter.