US President Donald Trump’s abduction of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro on January 3 has emboldened him to proceed with the annexation of Greenland, a Danish-owned, self-governed territory, spelling the effective end of NATO and furthering Russia’s war aims in Ukraine, experts tell Al Jazeera.

“The move on Venezuela illustrates the Trump administration’s determination to dominate the Western Hemisphere – of which Greenland geographically is a part,” said Anna Wieslander, Northern Europe director for the Atlantic Council, a think tank.

“If the United States decides to attack another NATO country, then everything would stop – that includes NATO and therefore post-World War II security,” Frederiksen said.

“The pandering to Trump has been an element of our strategy over the last year, leaving observers hoping, but not entirely trusting, that another element of the strategy is preparing urgently for the final rupture with the United States,” Giles said.

Giles told Al Jazeera that Europe’s best option was to place a military deterrent on Greenland now, believing that putting allied troops in the Baltic States and Poland after 2017 deterred a Russian attack there.

  • Aqarius@lemmy.world
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    18 hours ago

    He’s not trading anything. You know that joke:

    • People: We need healthcare!
    • GOP: Fuck off!
    • DNC: Fuck off! #BLM #woke #believewomen #imwithher

    They could’ve taken over Venezuela and said it’s about democracy. The media was poised to make that the story. Europe slid in with “well, he is a dictator…”. They even had a Nobel peace prize recipient ready to jump in and take over. Hell, half the people on here were willing to go along with it. But for MAGA, doing evil isn’t enough anymore, you have to rub it in, you have to gloat about it, you have to be mean. Giving Israel weapons isn’t enough, you have to publicly tell them to kill everyone. It’s not enough to twist other nations’ arms in trade deals, you have to literally extort them. It’s not enough to round up and deport brown people, you need to have camps and cages and then film it and put it on TV, and laugh at them. It’s not enough to ignore protesters, or have them suicided, you have to murder them, and do so openly and proudly.

    Dumping NATO, to Stephen Miller, is not a sacrifice but an unshackling. Now they don’t even need to pretend anything they do is for some greater good, even if they weren’t too crass and stupid to pull it off. They believe they’re in the endgame, and they’re just taking what they want.

    • SpaceCowboy@lemmy.ca
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      6 hours ago

      Heard this one?

      People: We need healthcare!
      GOP: Fuck off!
      Democrats: Don't vote GOP, you'll be paying more for healthcare, they'll take away people's rights, and we may even lose our democracy
      Leftists: Both sides! #uncommitted
      

      After the election:

      People: We're now paying double for healthcare and there are masked men in the streets disappearing people
      GOP: Fuck off! We're invading countries now!
      Leftist: Both sides! WHY ISN'T CHUCK SCHUMER PREVENTING THIS!!!!
      Democrats: FFS we don't have any power because you didn't vote for us
      

      You’ve already killed the the Democratic party, now you’re just beating on dead corpse becuase you’ll do anything other than oppose the people actually doing the bad things.

      Tell your bullshit about how accelerationism is working to the families of the ~100 people Trump’s special military operation killed in Venezuela. That’s modern leftism for you… killing people in the developing world is somehow good because it helps leftism somehow and it hurts the Democrats (the real enemy!). How are you any different from MAGA at this point?

      • Aqarius@lemmy.world
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        2 hours ago

        I’m sorry, you seem to have confused a joke meant to illustrate a point for an invitation to have imaginary conversations with the gaggle of strawmen you have living in your head.

        I’ll leave you to it.

        • SpaceCowboy@lemmy.ca
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          1 hour ago

          Yeah MAGAs also do the “I was just joking!” thing when I explain how stupid the things they post are.

          You have more in common with MAGAs than you think.