Trump’s approach to Greenland has something in common with his (Cutting-)Board of Peace approach to Palestine: not even the slightest pretense of involving the people impacted. The residents of Kalaallit Nunaat were never asked about the existing permissions for the U.S. military to build bases in their land and are not being asked now about a “deal” made between Trump and, not even Denmark but, Trump’s servant, the Secretary General of NATO.

“Oh, what a relief to have a deal,” shout the corporate media, after Trump yet again threatens WWIII and then proposes something else. The something else has yet to ever be anything actually desirable.

The people of neither Greenland nor the Earth as a whole have been asked whether, as fossil fuel consumption and other human activities heat the planet and melt the ice, the U.S. military should seek out newly exposed Arctic areas in which to find more fossil fuels with which to finish the job.

Nobody’s been held accountable for the nuclear waste the U.S. has already left beneath the melting ice in Kalaallit Nunaat.

Nobody’s even talking about the ethnic cleansing the U.S. did to steal the land for its existing base. It’s not a secret. It’s just not mentioned in a single news article. But here’s Wikipedia:

“A cluster of huts known as Pituffik (‘the place the dogs are tied’) stood on the wide plain where the base was built in 1951; a main base street was named Pituffik Boulevard. The population was forcibly relocated to Thule. Later in 1953, the USAF planned to construct an air defense site near that village, and in order to limit contact with soldiers, the Danish government again relocated 130 inhabitants of ‘Old Thule’, settling them 97 km (60 mi) north in a newly constructed village also named Thule (colloquially ‘New Thule’, now Qaanaaq). In a Danish Supreme Court judgment of 28 November 2003, the move was considered an expropriative intervention. During the proceedings, the Danish government recognized that the movement was a serious interference and an unlawful act against the local population. The Thule tribe was awarded damages of 500,000 kroner, and the individual members of the tribe who had been exposed to the transfer were granted compensation of 15,000 or 25,000 kroner each. A Danish radio station continued to operate at Dundas, and the abandoned houses remained. The USAF used that site only for about a decade, and it has since returned to civilian use.”

To steal more land from more people and create more military bases in Greenland, the U.S. government is supposed to “consult” with Greenland and Denmark. For people used to what “consulting” with the U.S. Congress is like, that might sound like a formality. But perhaps Kalaallit Nunaat has been putting up some resistance, because Trump wants something more than what he’s already got. He apparently wants to be able to build bases and to mine resources without checking in with anybody at all. Hence the “deal” with his weapons-dealing, warmongering sidekick in Brussels, elected by nobody to govern nothing.

Let’s be very clear: military bases lead to wars. Hammers lead to hammering. Frying pans lead to frying. Tools tend to be used. To learn the history of military bases, and of successful efforts to prevent and close them, and to apply popular pressure for their elimination, people around the world, on February 21-23, will be taking part in Global Days of Action to #CloseBases. I hope every single person in Greenland will take part and lead the way.