Donald Trump has floated the idea that the United States should buy Greenland from Denmark. Apparently the Danes are finding the subsidies required to be a bit high so why shouldn’t the richest nation on Earth take over the burden? Or, perhaps, there’s a change of being able to piss off the Canadians.
It’s not actually all that stupid an idea. The US has in fact bought about one third – near a half even – of its land area over history. Lots more was stolen from Mexico as well as that original $24 spent on buying Manhattan.
[perfectpullquote align=”full” bordertop=”false” cite=”” link=”” color=”” class=”” size=””]Donald Trump ‘has discussed buying Greenland from Denmark'[/perfectpullquote]It’s perhaps worth noting that he’s not in fact asked Denmark about it as yet:
[perfectpullquote align=”full” bordertop=”false” cite=”” link=”” color=”” class=”” size=””] Donald Trump has discussed trying to buy Greenland from Denmark as a way to expand US territory, according to US reports. The US president’s proposal, which was first reported in the Wall Street Journal, has come with “varying degrees of seriousness”, though he has apparently gone as far as seeking the view of the White House counsel. last year at which he said he had heard Denmark found the financial support to the territory burdensome, the Journal reported. Suggesting the US purchase the island, he reportedly asked the other guests: “What do you guys think about that?” [/perfectpullquote]There will be those who fall about laughing at this. And then there will be those who know some history. The US is about 4 million square miles – a little less perhaps. They bought the 830,000 square miles of the middle of the country from France for $15 million. It’s the South West they stole from Mexico. And they also bought the 600,000 sq m of Alaska off the Russians for, what was it, $7 million?
Somewhere inbetween a third and a half of the place was in fact purchased – bought legally. Why not buy the next bit too?
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They also bought the US Virgin Islands from, guess who, Denmark!
Entirely so and I'd forgotten that.....
So tired of people using "stolen" for "won in a war".
The two are different things - otherwise there is not a square inch of the Earth that has not been "stolen" if you look back far enough.
Qu'est-ce que la propriété ? La propriété, c’est le vol !
Pierre-Joseph Proudhon (1809-65)
‘Lots more was stolen...’ Yes the original part, stolen from the UK.
Perhaps they could buy/steal the rest of the UK which is about to become available.
Mexico lost a couple ill-planned wars with various entities of the US and its states resulting in some land and residents ending up in the US rather than Mexico. Happens all the time in warfare.
One does wonder what the Danes, and the Greenlanders, think of it all. Still it's a better idea than buying the Western Sahara.
There really weren't a lot of Mexicans in the territories lost to the US. Some in California and New Mexico. There were probably 5 to 6 times as many Americans in Texas at the time of the Alamo as there were Mexicans. Some historians suggest the aggressive and far ranging Comanche pretty much put a stop to Mexico's northward migration causing Mexico to invite American settlers into Texas. Some can argue all they want about the loss of what has since become Arizona, Colorado, Nevada, etc., but the native populations were pretty much unaware that they were living in Mexico and might even have scoffed at the notion.