US Threatens Denmark Over Greenland, Ignoring Its Own Colonial History
The Independent breathlessly covers EU 'emergency meetings' over US tariff threats against Denmark, all because Copenhagen refused to sell Greenland to Donald Trump. Trump, echoing an old American expansionist fantasy, declared it was 'time for Denmark to give back' to the US. This peculiar blend of coercion and entitlement is framed as a peculiar Trumpism, rather than a consistent thread in US
foreign policy. Missing from the coverage? Any mention of how often the US has 'given back' territories forcibly claimed or economically strong-armed. (Spoiler: Not often.) One might wonder at the sudden concern for national sovereignty when it's Western Europe. When the US exerts similar pressure on, say, resource-rich nations in the Global South, or uses economic leverage to reshape their
governments, those aren't 'unacceptable threats' to the mainstream media; they're 'promoting democracy' or 'protecting US interests.' The US doesn't 'buy' territories it wants; it manipulates, invades, or blockades until they effectively concede. Denmark's resistance is admirable, but let's not pretend US bullying is a new phenomenon—just new when directed at someone who can complain about it in
English.