Oh he's definitely looked at a globe. It's what made him realise how close Greenland is to Russia and what new trade routes will be opened when the ice has gone.
I don't think he's been fooled by Mercator exaggeration.
Thanks for making the point about the problem of common map projections. (I had just checked a couple of sizes to put in a post about the distortions here...)
Coincidentally, the US is so limited in their icebreaker capacity that they are reliant on Canada and, well, Finland for support: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/ICE_Pact
If the US would actually instigate a conflict in the Arctic, Canadians and Nordics may (hopefully) not be of much help any longer...
God knows I'm no expert but I imagine invading an Afghanistan (40+ million inhabitants, only 15% of them in Kabul) is considerably more challenging than invading a Greenland (60,000 inhabitants, with over a third of them in Nuuk).
Let's hope we never have to consider this seriously
Nuuk: Population 20.000
Kabul: Population 7+ million
Non-US forces in Greenland: More or less zero.
No, really, If the US decides to take Greenland they will.
Any natural resource locations will then be taken over by similarly small forces.
Of course this presupposes a surprise attack. If Denmark has put forces on the ground everywhere, there'll be a proper war.
But if the US wants to win it will. There is no space in Greenland for a guerrilla war.
I do half wonder whether he thinks Greenland is much bigger than it actually is. Also, notably, whereas he keeps angling for Canada to be the 51st state, there’s been none of that with Greenland. He wants to ‘own’ it, but not for the people to have much say in anything.
I mean, there are only 57,000 Greenlanders. The way this administration is, you could half imagine them wondering if they can just deport them all to Denmark.
“The Curse of Gerardus Mercator” When I did my geography degree I read an article suggesting how Cold War Paranoia may have been exacerbated by how tiny the then prevalent Mercator maps made the US look in comparison to the USSR. When you compare their actual sizes there isn’t much difference!
I think so but the Mercator projection exaggerated it so it looked much more lopsided. It also didn’t show that most of the USSR was, and Russia still is, uninhabited forest and tundra.
I do still find myself wondering if Trump wants Canada and Greenland so he can form some kind of Russian - North America alliance around the North Pole.
It sounds crazy but then he is.
I'm sure that's part of it but I'm also wondering if it's the gateway to the Arctic he wants. He seems to be very in to mineral rights and mates with big oil right now.
(NB I do realise that a major reason for the Trump lust for Greenland is the abundance of rare earth minerals and the prospect of cheaper batteries & rocket components for President Musk.)
And if you haven't seen it, the xkcd map projections cartoon is always good fun (for slightly geeky versions of "fun"). My fave of this set is the Goode H, though the Waterman butterfly is quite cute. https://xkcd.com/977/
Thanks David & Jane for some informative reading to start my day.
The only people who should decide the future of Greenland are the people of Greenland.
I do wonder though, if they were to change their current arrangements, if becoming a province or territory of Canada could be an appealing option?
I don't think so. The people of Greenland have recently mostly voted in favour of parties who seek to develop a gradual independence from Denmark.
They seem unlikely to want to swap that for being part of Canada.
Comments
Also:
I can see why ....lovely stuff😁
I don't think he's been fooled by Mercator exaggeration.
If the US would actually instigate a conflict in the Arctic, Canadians and Nordics may (hopefully) not be of much help any longer...
Of course if that happens, we're in a world I don't particularly want to live in.
Oh.
Let's hope we never have to consider this seriously
Kabul: Population 7+ million
Non-US forces in Greenland: More or less zero.
No, really, If the US decides to take Greenland they will.
Of course!
Of course this presupposes a surprise attack. If Denmark has put forces on the ground everywhere, there'll be a proper war.
But if the US wants to win it will. There is no space in Greenland for a guerrilla war.
...it would be far cheaper than a military operation.
Everything else being equal, I think most people would not.
https://youtu.be/H3Xyz9MgDWA?si=drxS6qMlNduK-MTA
https://geospatialworld.net/blogs/maps-that-show-why-some-countries-are-not-as-big-as-they-look/
Mercator and mercator-like projections are so inherently false - all because of wanting to draw a map on a piece of paper.
It sounds crazy but then he is.
https://bsky.app/profile/localnotail.bsky.social/post/3llgipbpkis2g
https://www.innovationnewsnetwork.com/why-world-turning-to-greenlands-rare-earth-metals/32694/
https://thetruesize.com/
https://xkcd.com/977/
https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/977:_Map_Projections
The only people who should decide the future of Greenland are the people of Greenland.
I do wonder though, if they were to change their current arrangements, if becoming a province or territory of Canada could be an appealing option?
They seem unlikely to want to swap that for being part of Canada.
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/greenland-election-results-2025-demokraatit-party-nielsen-trump-b2713432.html