The EU thread

[Legbiter]

Yeah Europe needs more of everything. We have 2 meth lab in our neighborhood to the West and East.

[Syt]

Yeah Europe needs more of everything. We have 2 meth lab in our neighborhood to the West and East.

Right, we should get an RV.

[crazy canuck]

I don't think Trump understands the concept of collaborating, nor on the implications of a long term collaboration (or the ending of same).

He only understands snapping fingers and having minions scurry to obey, and asserting something to be true with sufficient vehemence for his social spheres (online and physical) to agree that's how it is.

The practicalities and logistics of exerting power in the arctic - and the advantages of collaborating - is so far from that mindset that honestly, I don't think this registers as having much significance to Trump.

I hadn't thought about it that way, and you are absolutely correct.

[Jacob]

Back in the Precambrian era of six weeks ago during the Greenland standoff, a neat little summary by Shashank Joshi the Economist defense journalist.
...
https://x.com/shashj/status/2034586309499523166

Yeah I read that last night. Here's the original article in Danish (online translation works just fine on it): https://www.dr.dk/nyheder/indland/groenland/danmark-forberedte-sig-paa-muligt-angreb-fra-usa-floej-poser-med-blod-til-groenland-og-gjorde-klar

Additional details: French Alpine troops were also deployed, and Denmark's F-35s were deployed with armed and combat ready. The Danish troops had orders to fight if attacked (though it sounds like there was a provision to avoid escalation.

After the article was released, the Danish PM has said that unfortunately Trump has not given up on his desire to take over Greenland.

[Jacob]

In a slightly surreal moment for me...

I was scrolling reddit the other day and came across an argument about something - I think it was the US and Israel vs Iran or something. And the person - a European - was talking about how their point of view was influenced by the fact that they were living only 50 or 100 miles from Denmark. They saw Denmark as a possible target of military attack by the US, and therefore they were seeing US actions and statements in a whole different and more personal light.

The Greenland thing, I think, was very much a "through the looking glass" thing for a lot of Europeans, in a way that I don't think has registered for a lot of Americans (mostly because it doesn't matter to them) who see it either as a "just another Trump absurdity" or yet another "something about far awy places that don't really matter except as a media narrative"