Does Mr Trump have a right to help himself to Greenland? Of course he does not. Yes, he is right to say that Denmark’s only claim to Greenland is that some of its ships disembarked centuries ago there and took that land. But, how exactly did the Europeans take North America, Australia, New Zealand? Legally? It is never advisable for the pot to call the kettle black.
And now onto a delicious twist to the Greenland story:
Europeans claim that it is unprecedented and a violation of NATO's charter for the leader of a member-state of a defensive alliance to be threatening another NATO member-state. That NATO is about solidarity, about defending its members’ territory. Not so!
Since 1952, when Greece and Turkey entered NATO in tandem, successive Greek governments have been desperately struggling to get NATO to commit to coming to Greece’s defence if Turkey invades.
NATO has STEADFASTLY refused to make such a commitment. Why? The official answer has been that NATO is committed to defending member states from belligerent non-member states – but not from each other, not from other member states, like Turkey or, now, the... United States!
Want to know why Greece is perhaps the only member-state that consistently spent a lot more on weaponry than the bare minimum? That’s why! Because NATO has unwaveringly refused to defend its borders in case of a skirmish or war with Turkey.
So, Denmark welcome to the club – and remember your governments also argued that it is not NATO’s job to defend any member-state from another NATO member-state.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/live/2026/jan/19/donald-trump-greenland-denmark-nobel-nato-europe-live-latest-news-updates?CMP=share_btn_url&page=with%3Ablock-696e536c8f08426017dd0167#block-696e536c8f08426017dd0167
Yanis Varoufakis
npub1ds…la5p8
2026-01-19 19:57:47 UTC
Author Public Key
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wss://relay.momostr.pinkPublished at
2026-01-19 19:57:47 UTCEvent JSON
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"content": "Does Mr Trump have a right to help himself to Greenland? Of course he does not. Yes, he is right to say that Denmark’s only claim to Greenland is that some of its ships disembarked centuries ago there and took that land. But, how exactly did the Europeans take North America, Australia, New Zealand? Legally? It is never advisable for the pot to call the kettle black.\n\nAnd now onto a delicious twist to the Greenland story: \n\nEuropeans claim that it is unprecedented and a violation of NATO's charter for the leader of a member-state of a defensive alliance to be threatening another NATO member-state. That NATO is about solidarity, about defending its members’ territory. Not so!\n\nSince 1952, when Greece and Turkey entered NATO in tandem, successive Greek governments have been desperately struggling to get NATO to commit to coming to Greece’s defence if Turkey invades.\n\nNATO has STEADFASTLY refused to make such a commitment. Why? The official answer has been that NATO is committed to defending member states from belligerent non-member states – but not from each other, not from other member states, like Turkey or, now, the... United States!\n\nWant to know why Greece is perhaps the only member-state that consistently spent a lot more on weaponry than the bare minimum? That’s why! Because NATO has unwaveringly refused to defend its borders in case of a skirmish or war with Turkey.\n\nSo, Denmark welcome to the club – and remember your governments also argued that it is not NATO’s job to defend any member-state from another NATO member-state.\nhttps://www.theguardian.com/world/live/2026/jan/19/donald-trump-greenland-denmark-nobel-nato-europe-live-latest-news-updates?CMP=share_btn_url\u0026page=with%3Ablock-696e536c8f08426017dd0167#block-696e536c8f08426017dd0167",
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