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Greenland is a beautiful nightmare

(matduggan.com)
625 points zdw | 6 comments | 27 Sep 25 15:46 UTC | HN request time: 1.104s | source | bottom
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ck2 ◴[27 Sep 25 16:44 UTC] No.45397371[source]▶
fun-fact: CIA is currently mucking around in Greenland trying to get rid of people against annexation

this is not going to end well

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c0j9l08902eo

https://www.the-independent.com/news/world/americas/us-polit...

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danielscrubs ◴[27 Sep 25 17:17 UTC] No.45397624[source]▶
Exactly my thoughts.

I think US ownership (not necessarily of land) is inevitable, but it is going to take a couple of decades of these kind of polarising pieces.

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threemux ◴[27 Sep 25 17:54 UTC] No.45397967[source]▶
I think it even makes sense if it were pursued in a different way. Greenland is looking for full independence but can't really hack it financially without aid. I think the COFA (Compact of Free Association) model that we have with Palau and Marshall Islands would work well.

We get expanded military rights and potentially some mineral/drilling rights, while Greenland gets protection, lots of money, access to USPS domestic rates, and probably increased tourism in addition to the independence they desire. Their citizens could also live and work in the US indefinitely.

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1. epolanski ◴[27 Sep 25 18:51 UTC] No.45398429[source]▶
> Their citizens could also live and work in the US indefinitely.

Not sure why Greenlanders would care at all.

They can already do the same in Denmark, which is a country with far better standards of living.

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2. threemux ◴[27 Sep 25 18:58 UTC] No.45398482[source]▶
Oh gimme a break. That's one of the largest benefits to COFA and is heavily used by the Marshallese. Greenland on its own is not a first world country - there simply isn't enough population/work and it's a hard existence as detailed in TFA.

You may not want to come here and that's fine, but it's a huge draw and will continue to be. Administrations are fleeting, but the allure of opportunity remains. You're posting on a forum that is somewhat of a monument to exactly that.

EDIT: some of this made a bit more sense prior to your hasty edit

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3. jacquesm ◴[27 Sep 25 21:11 UTC] No.45399333[source]▶
Florida on its own is also not a first world country. This goes for many places and it isn't the flex you make it out to be, the fact that Greenland is part of Denmark which in turn in part of the EU and which the USA through NATO is bound by treaty to defend rather than that threaten to invade is a detail that may have escaped your attention but it matters rather a lot to the rest of the 'first world'.
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4. epolanski ◴[27 Sep 25 21:29 UTC] No.45399468[source]▶
Denmark is one of the countries with the highest standards of living by any metric possible, consistently ranking among the best countries to live in the world.

The US is not.

Sure, there's allure in going to US if you're from a poor country, or if you have an ambition your country cannot satisfy (some scientists and entrepreneurs will find America only in America, that's true).

Greenlanders are neither of those two categories.

If they don't care moving to Denmark or rest of Europe you can be sure they don't care coming to US either.

5. threemux ◴[28 Sep 25 00:34 UTC] No.45400681{3}[source]▶
Florida on its own would absolutely be a first world country with a GDP comparable to Spain or South Korea. Pick a less prosperous state haha it has multiple cities with a greater population than the entire island of Greenland
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6. jacquesm ◴[28 Sep 25 00:40 UTC] No.45400708{4}[source]▶
There is a lot more to being a first world country than you make it out to be. Florida only works because it is part of the USA, if it were not it would not manage.