alt Hacker NewsThe mineral riches hiding under Greenland's ice
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There are a few things that confuse me about this potential acquisition:
1. You won't govern it. Greenland has it's own Self-Government Act. [0]
2. You won't own the land. Almost all land is owned by the State. [1]
3. The Danes have no special land ownership rights. [2]
4. Land use rights, however, are granted for different activities (fishing, mining) subject to approval. [3]
I'd imagine none of this changes under a new owner. Why the can't the US just sign up for mining rights already? It seems like that's exactly what it would have to do post acquisition--unless of course the US also plans to bulldoze Greenland's sovereignty.
I'm genuinely interested if anyone can provide color.
[0]: https://english.stm.dk/the-prime-ministers-office/the-unity-...
[1]: https://www.city-journal.org/article/learning-from-greenland
[2]: https://www.thelocal.dk/20251114/greenland-limits-foreigners...
[3]: https://govmin.gl/exploration-prospecting/get-an-exploration...
Mining in Arctic is a technical nightmare. Typical alloys become brittle in these temperatures, darkness severely limits operations and/or workplace accidents, transport requires ice-breakers, permafrost is fundamentally unstable (heat from buildings melts it, causing sinking), and you need to pay people a lot to work there.
By the time those resources are accessible, we'll be in a major flood disaster on all our coasts. Why don't we just leave this bit of resource alone for the sake of land that actually supports life.
Hold on. In a few days we are going to find some narco-terrorists there as well.
As a Swede I must confess I don't know much about Greenland. But if Denmark goes all-in on Greenland, you can bet the other Nordic countries will be involved too.
Not sure how this will play out. Really strange situation and as I said I don't even know how much Denmark cares about Greenland. Any Danes here that can tell us more?
Absolutely worth invading allies over. I have no possible idea how this could backfire for the whole world.
An investment broker comes to an old German still keeping money in a bank.
- Look, Americans announced plans to get Greenland and extract all the resources! It's time to invest in the stock market!
- But what if Denmark disagrees?
- Don't worry! America will just take it anyway!
- And if Denmark resists?
- Then America will invade!
- But what if NATO collapses when America attacks a member state?
- Well... then America won't survive alone in a hostile world.
- And if America collapses?
- Mein Herr... then surely it's worth losing a few thousand euros just to watch that spectacle, no?This is Crimea 2.0. The ideological basis behind the annexation is identical in both instances.
Can't wait for the CNN headlines: "DANES CHEER AS TYRAN PRIME MINISTER CAPTURED", "DANES WELCOME FOREIGN LIBERATORS", "DANISH ECONOMY TO BOOM WITH FREE MARKETS REFORMS"
Greenland is set to be the greatest show on earth.
Interesting times.
.. and fentanyl for sure right? surely its the largest producer of fentanyl.. or is it cocaine? hold on whats that drug ICE? ah thats it..
Can we please wait till at least Q2 with another historic event? I'm getting tired.
I guess we should be praying for Jens-Frederik Nielsen's family now
What could become an economic boom will become a century of humiliation for Europe
Well done Europeans, catering to Trump
Per Greenlandic laws, they own the mineral rights. They can license rights to others, and Denmark will also receive a portion of the profits.
Unfortunately, this is the model that American conservatives and billionaires hate. The idea that a country is entitled to their own resources is repulsive to them. This is also one of the things fundamental things where American vs Nordic mindsets are worlds apart.
It is arguably also the real reason why US attacked Venezuela.
The events of the past 12 months, culminating in Venezuela and now Greenland, has made me reevaluate a lot of my beliefs about unimpeded competition between free agents (i.e. a free market) leading to the best and most peaceful outcomes. Clearly, a few participants becoming disproportionately powerful is a failure mode.
The way I've tried to reconcile my beliefs with what are clearly contradictory observations in the real world is: markets/competition are dependent on a substrate of social contract, and that substrate must precede market dynamics and must not be subject to them. When market dynamics leak into the foundation on which the market is built (the social contract, culture, law, norms), then the system starts moving toward raw competition, which is the same as war. Which is what I think what's happening now.