I love that they opened the article with this quote:
"No one would allow that he could not see these much-admired clothes; because, in doing so, he would have declared himself either a simpleton or unfit of his office.”
– Hans Christian Andersen, The Emperor’s New ClothesWe should gather Trumplon & posse around and read it to them, no?
And further:
The original plan had been that Usha Vance would visit Greenlanders, apparently on the logic that the second lady would be an effective animatrice of colonial subjection; but none of them wanted to see her, and Greenland’s businesses refused to serve as a backdrop to photo ops or even to serve the uninvited Americans. So, instead, the US couples made a very quick visit to Pituffik (Thule) space base. (…)
At the base, in the far north of the island, the US visitors had pictures taken of themselves and ate lunch with servicemen and women. They treated the base as the backdrop to a press conference where they could say things they already thought; nothing was experienced, nothing was learned, nothing sensible was said. Vance, who never left the base, and has never before visited Greenland, was quite sure how Greenlanders should live. (…)
It takes some patience to unwind all of the nonsense here. (…)
Greenland, Denmark and the US have been enmeshed in complex and effective security arrangements, touching on the gravest scenarios, for the better part of a century. Arctic security, an issue discovered by Trump and Vance very recently, was a preoccuption for decades during and after the cold war. There are fewer than 200 Americans at Pituffik now, where once there were 10,000; there is only that one US base on the island where once there were a dozen; but that is American policy, not Denmark’s fault.
We really do have a problem taking responsibility. The US has fallen well behind its allies and its rivals in the Arctic, in part because members of Vance’s political party denied for decades the reality of global warming, which has made it hard for the US navy to persuade Congress of the need to commission icebreaker ships.
Ah, just read the whole article.
But you’re summary was so succinct
Holy f. This piss poor administration is showing just how incompetent they truly are. Everyone will suffer for their actions. I had no idea just how much the US gained in having peaceful relations with traditional allies, and so many Americans have been blissfully unaware just how f’d that all has become in record time. Way to go, a holes.
Reading that Denmark lost just as many soldiers post-9/11 as the US did, I’m in shock as to how idiotic our education system is that it wasn’t highlighted how brave contributions allies have provided over the years has helped us, and of course not just in war time. As an American, I’m truly sorry to the rest of the world for not knowing the great extent of solidarity and kindness allies have shown over the years. Of course, I understand why that’s likely no longer going to be the case.
The article made other interesting points, such as
We are the only ones ever to have invoked article 5, the mutual defence obligation of the Nato treaty, after 9/11; and our European allies did respond.
and
The US has fallen well behind its allies and its rivals in the Arctic, in part because members of Vance’s political party denied for decades the reality of global warming, which has made it hard for the US navy to persuade Congress of the need to commission icebreaker ships.
Ever since I started getting interested in US politics (thanks Trump 1.0) I noticed how bad their foreign policies are, and how unaware gen pop is of what’s going on around the globe. Countless presidents campaigned on a painfully simplified “good guys vs bad guys, and of course we’re the good guys” narrative.
I guess there used to be knowledgeable people in the background, but now they’ve all been “project2025’d” or “schedule effed”, and all the government has left are those dumb narratives, with the dumbest of them all, who never knew any different, at the top.
Yea but we bombed Japan and we’re besties now!
Surely, an unprovoked and unnecessary takeover would result in the same thing!
/s
We are the only ones ever to have invoked article 5, the mutual defence obligation of the Nato treaty, after 9/11; and our European allies did respond. Per capita, almost as many Danish soldiers were killed in the Afghan war as were American soldiers. Do we remember them? Thank them?
Nope.
Democracy Dies in Idiocy
Musk and Trump are creating the bloodily moronic situation in which the US will have to fight wars to get the things that, just a few weeks ago, were there for the asking. And, of course, wars rarely turn out the way one expects.
Master negotiators! (not)
I can’t imagine how it must feel for diplomats and other public servants who worked to maintain those alliances, to see them destroyed by Putin’s useful idiots.
