Europe finally figuring out that they are about to be fighting a two front war against a fascist invasion.
Churchill once said of the Old World being endangered and hoping for the New World to step into the rescue.
But now, makes me wonder if the Old World could possibly do the same, but feels like a long shot.
Germany, the Netherlands, Sweden and Canada are sending troops to Greenland
Putin couldn’t be happier by this chaos and distraction from Ukraine. Investment paying off.
I wish people would quit saying this. If Trump was a Russian asset, why would he be seizing Russia’s shadow fleet and destroying Russia’s influence in Venezuela? Why would the CIA continue to give the Ukrainians targeting information and why are American weapons still flowing to Ukraine via European allies?
Trump is not a Russian agent. He is simply America manifest. He is selfish, narcissistic, and always looking to blame other people for his own failings. Putin may have given Trump a little boost because Putin figured the outcome would be beneficial to him overall, and Trump has a weird submissive man-crush on Putin like he does on any other authoritarian who Trump secretly wishes he could be, but in the end he’s not helped Putin and now Putin is irrelevant. This has nothing to do with Putin any more. Russia is a fading regional power on its last dying gasps before China takes it over as a client state.
America is doing this of its own volition. They can’t blame everything on Putin.
Trump is not a Russian agent.
But agent of all the world’s reactionary oligarchy. Oil sheiks, pharma tycoons, techbros, and of course Russian mobster oligarchy in both business and politics. What flag they fly doesn’t matter, it’s all about the money. And power. And the ability to control the rest of humanity as chattel.
All having the desire to create their dystopia, end progressivism and diversity as we know it, and wanting to have their money roam anywhere and spend how much they want while the rest of the impoverished suffer further.
Despite some losses in Ukraine, despite embargoes and boycotts, Putin is still feeling like he’s winning in the propaganda war that was very long in the making since Khrushchev, as he used all the skillsets he had as a master spy, and years or even months away from excitedly watching the US collapse in the mire of its own hubris.
edit: Can you stop talking about Trump doing this on his fucking own? Bastard got slotted as a candidate to become Iblis of the world by Roy Cohn, and just happened to dovetail with Russian interests.
Trump is nobody’s agent. He is a demented narcissistic psychopath who craves attention and adulation. Since he has no understanding of love or friendship, the only tools he has at his disposal to get it is power and dominance. He wants to be a “winner”, which to him means he needs to make everyone else around him “losers.” By hurting them, by degrading them, by taking away their trappings of wealth.
There are other people who try to use Trump, because he’s very easy to manipulate when you understand him. He has no principles or standards other than those I described, so there’s lots of obvious buttons to press. The problem is that none of those buttons stay pressed. Even if Trump had the mental capacity to remember things from day to day it wouldn’t matter to him because no deal or position he holds lasts longer than the moment he thinks of some way to get something “better.” Trump can be manipulated in the same manner that a handful of mud can be manipulated. It won’t stay in the shape you put it in and it’s constantly slipping through your fingers.
Putin may think that he’s responsible for Trump’s actions, but only by coincidence and never in any sort of long-term strategic sense. And the reason Trump is in charge of America is because the Americans wanted him to be.
Destroying the shadow fleet is something the US military is doing, and I’m sure trump is doing everything he can to drag his feet.
Maduro had outlived his usefulness, he was a liability; by having the US seize control it doesn’t substantially reduce Russian influence, since Russia now has a much stronger hold over American politicians than back when Venezuela was a vital proxy.
Destroying the shadow fleet is something the US military is doing, and I’m sure trump is doing everything he can to drag his feet.
Trump has been bragging about seizing those ships. He’s not dragging his feet. You really think Trump wouldn’t be raging his head off and firing generals left and right if the US military was doing that stuff against his wishes?
by having the US seize control it doesn’t substantially reduce Russian influence, since Russia now has a much stronger hold over American politicians than back when Venezuela was a vital proxy.
You’re delusional. And I say that as a Canadian who has absolutely no love of America. Venezuela was dependent on Russia for its own defense, America isn’t.
While it’s sad that things have even come to this at all, it’s good to hear someone is at least doing the bare minimum to stand up to Trump.
A government spokesperson for Germany also confirmed to Reuters that soldiers would be sent to Greenland on Thursday. The country is expected to deploy over a dozen reconnaissance troops, according to the report.
:-/
This feels like the time Poland sent eight soldiers in with the US invasion of Iraq.
These are advance troops that will figure out logistics, where it makes sense to deploy a bigger force. What they need, and infrastructure.
They are also a deterrent, if german soldiers are killed shit will hit the fan.
Often called “tripwire forces” when they were NATO troops stationed in Eastern Europe. Their purpose is to force the adversary to kill some people before it can take any territory, ensuring that they can’t simply make it a fait accompli and hope there will be no further repercussions.
It just says that they will be participating in some exercises. Nothing about permanent force.
Yo Mr. Mertz brief this guy on the real plan and what orders you gave those soldiers!
Should this article also state what they will be having for breakfast?
I mean, we’ll see. But if the US really is serious about taking Greenland by force, you’ve got a US military base already on the island that’s been running these defense calculations for decades. It’s going to be an uphill climb just to reach parity with the Americans on securing the territory. I hope this isn’t perfunctory, and someone is asking the question “How do we deal with one or more US aircraft carriers?” seriously.
You mean like that time when a Swedish diesel sub bypassed all the defenses and “sunk” the US carrier?
Or that time when Netherlands sub “sunk” one?
Or that time when Australia “sunk” one?
Or that time when Canada “sunk” one?
Those carriers are far from invincible.
The USA is historically bad at wars - Afghanistan, Vietnam, Korea - all lost despite their massive military spending.
The only wars they won in modern times are the ones where they received help from their EU NATO allies.
They’re only good at “strike and run away” operations, like the one in Venezuela.
If they can’t take Greenland overnight, it will cost them very dearly to go to war with NATO, with no certainty of winning.
To date, no US aircraft carrier has been lost in a military operation. You’re using “sunk” to describe military exercises that informed the US of all the strategies potentially deployed by these countries.
Those carriers are far from invincible.
If the Europeans want to put a US carrier at the bottom of the ocean, I’m not going to shed a tear. But you’re pointing to scrimmage runs and exhibition matches, while you’ve been letting Americans see your playbooks (hell, write your playbooks) for the last 60 years.
Put up or shut up.
America lost a bunch in World War II. Since then they’ve been exceedingly careful not to risk losing them, always putting them up against foes that couldn’t hit back. Both because they’re expensive, of course, but also to cultivate the very myth that you’re falling for - that American naval power is “invincible.”
It’s not.
Are they going to kill German & French troops to do that? If there are UK troops there then goodbye to hundreds of billions in AUKUS $ too.
Any US carrier strike group can probably sink the entire navy of most countries. This calls for a full NATO response because if it doesn’t then I don’t know what does
Wasn’t it one of the Nordics that ‘sunk’ an American carried in drills a while back?
It did, and the US considered the outcome so concerning that they requested to lease the submarine (but not install a crew - Swedish sailors would operate it in the US navy). Since those were different times, with only mild insanity among US presidents, Sweden granted the request.
Wikipedia tells us:
Secondment to United States Navy
In 2004, the Swedish government received a request from the United States to lease HSwMS Gotland – Swedish-flagged, commanded and crewed, for one year for use in antisubmarine warfare exercises. The Swedish government granted this request in October 2004, with both navies signing a memorandum of understanding on 21 March 2005.[5][6] The lease was extended for another 12 months in 2006.[7][8][9] In July 2007, HSwMS Gotland departed San Diego for Sweden.[10]
One of? I thought it was several…
It’s not about realistically fighting of the US if they decide to really go for it, but they will have to kill European soldiers if they decide to do so. This would effectively end NATO and the transantlantic partnership.
NATO isn’t a partnership between democratic member states, its a partnership between regional militaries.
The end state of the conflict over Greenland will be - if anything - a series of US-backed coups in European countries that preserve NATO by realigning the civilian leadership with the foreign policy of the US.
We’re already seeing this with the AfD in Germany, the Reform UK in England, and National Rally in France. These countries are functionally aligning with Trump as white-nationalist governments working towards the same end goals. And they’ve all heavily infiltrated their domestic militaries.
What? That didn’t happen. Poland sent thousands of troops to support the war.
200, in the year of the invasion. It swelled to 2,500 over the next five years, then trickled away into a final withdrawal a month before the Republicans lost the White House in 2008.
There were smaller deployments - Iceland sent 2 soldiers, for instance. But it all paled behind the the US at 150k and UK at 46k. Which goes back to the whole problem with a NATO internal conflict. The US is the backbone of European defense. Again, what do any of these countries plan to do against an aircraft carrier group? Nobody seems to have a serious answer.
Serious question: how will a carrier group fare in arctic ice during winter? Will it be what is needed to hold an Arctic island after showing up all bristly in the summer months?
While the USA’s relatively slim arctic-ready forces are deployed on the Atlantic side of the ice, what will be happening on the pacific side?
An answer: they can take it, but when winter comes, holding it will be difficult. The northern NATO members have notable infantry that can use the ice to advantage, and there are only five or six harbours of interest in Greenland.
Distract it from Putin. Who do you think is running this clown show?
Still better than the orange juice America got from Israel for its wars.
Patrolling the Greenland wastes almost makes you wish for a Mojave winter
