Dear KMAG: 20190824 Open Topic

“Denmark’s elites are not indicative of their people’s attitudes toward the US. In fact, we were in Copenhagen in 2015, and the many shops and restaurants were flying the American flag. They are better friends to our nation than the Trump Derangement infected press.”
“Perhaps it is time for good people of Greenland to vote for #Dexit?”
Was Greenland “for sale” when the Chinese were shopping in 2017?
Posted by Leslie Eastman Thursday, August 22, 2019 at 5:00pm
https://legalinsurrection.com/2019/08/was-greenland-for-sale-when-the-chinese-were-shopping-in-2017/

A “stable genius” and his military commanders obviously recognized that a competitor who is failing to negotiate fair trade agreements and who has been expanding its military presence in Asia through island building wants to acquire real estate and airports next to American interests in North America. This is clearly a bad deal for our country.
Fox News analyst Tammy Bruce provides further background on the situation, and demonstrates why it sure looked like Greenland was for sale. [ *https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2019/aug/21/buying-greenland-trump-haters-mock-the-idea-but-ch/ ]

In 2017, Greenland’s prime minister flew to China and asked, as the Journal reported in February of this year, “Chinese state-run banks to finance the new commercial airports, including a big one for one of the smallest capitals on earth, Nuuk, which can now be served only by propeller planes. The bankers were interested, people at the meetings said, so long as a Chinese company constructed the airports.”
Reports indicate this action was triggered by Denmark refusing to help.
Then-Secretary of Defense James N. Mattis was not happy and convinced Danish officials to fund the infrastructure, sidelining China. This was an effort by China starting in 2018 and only ending when they officially withdrew in June of this year. For those who look past their shallow view of the United States and the administration, one would know it’s no coincidence that the president’s remarks on Greenland became public just two months after we successfully fought off China in their latest swing at the North American island.

As Tammy notes, the Danes are keeping Greenland as a giant nature preserve. This substantially limits the wealth-building options of its residents.

Zion Lutheran Church, built in 1779, stands on Disko Bay in Ilulissat, Greenland. (Photo by Sean Gallup/Getty Images)
A short history lesson from Pat Buchanan:
MAGA Idea!
By Patrick J. Buchanan | August 23, 2019 | 4:49 AM EDT
https://www.cnsnews.com/commentary/patrick-j-buchanan/greenland-trumps-maga-idea

To those of us of who learned our U.S. history from texts in the 1940s and ’50s, President Donald Trump’s brainstorm of acquiring Greenland fits into a venerable tradition of American expansionism.
. . . While Trump’s diplomacy in the Greenland matter was not as deft as Seward’s in acquiring Alaska, the attitude exhibited would not be unfamiliar to many of the great men in our history.
And the cancellation of Trump’s state visit to Copenhagen aside, this issue of Greenland’s future has been tabled. It is not going away.
After all, China, the aspiring superpower of the 21st century, has exhibited an interest in this largest island on Earth, strategically located between Europe and America, amid the Arctic and Atlantic oceans.
Methinks the Danes are headed for interesting times.

A closer look at the military implications of China’s presence in Greenland for Denmark and the United States.
Noteable, concerns about Huawei’s presence in Denmark…
How a potential Chinese-built airport in Greenland could be risky for a vital US Air Force base
By: Aaron Mehta
September 7, 2018
https://www.defensenews.com/global/europe/2018/09/07/how-a-potential-chinese-built-airport-in-greenland-could-be-risky-for-a-vital-us-air-force-base/

WASHINGTON — With less than 60,000 people spread across more than 830,000 square miles, Greenland relies heavily on air transport to move supplies and people up and down its coast.
So when the local government issued a solicitation to build three new airports, the move made sense from a business perspective. The project would be expensive, but would improve commerce and make life on the island easier for its residents.
Then a Chinese company — owned by the government in Beijing, and once blacklisted by the World Bank — put forth a bid, and a simple request for proposals transformed into a project with international diplomatic ramifications.
Denmark, which has final say on national security issues involving Greenland, objected. The government in Greenland then insisted China Communications Construction Company (CCCC), which has succesfully worked on large infrastructure projects around the world, would remain one of its finalists for the projects, setting up intense negotiations between two governments.
All this comes as officials across Europe are raising alarm over whether Chinese economic influence on the continent is becoming a national security problem — with Danish officials specifically worried that the partly-government owned company’s interest in Greenland could have a lasting impact on a key American military base located there.

Our climate change friends think there will be no polar ice three decades – but if it were true it would have some fascinating shipping implications…
The Arctic Shipping Route No One’s Talking About
By mid-century, a Transpolar Passage will open across the Arctic Ocean via the North Pole. Few countries are preparing for this reality except China.
BY MIA BENNETT 2019-05-08 15:39:44
https://www.maritime-executive.com/editorials/the-arctic-shipping-route-no-one-s-talking-about

Due to Chatham House rules, I can’t quote anyone who spoke in the workshop. I can say, however, that during the session, it quickly became clear that talk of the Northern Sea Route’s potential was starting to seem passé in the face of rapid climate change in the Arctic. The shrinking and thinning of sea ice is happening faster than scientists thought possible – so fast that now, it’s not just the Northern Sea Route or even the Northwest Passage that people are talking about. They’re talking about a trans-Arctic passage cutting straight across the North Pole.
As climate change accelerates and the Arctic Ocean reluctantly exchanges its year-round ice cap for merely seasonal cover, a transpolar passage is likely to open up by mid-century, if not sooner. If Arctic sea ice disappears even for just one summer, as the comprehensive 2009 Arctic Marine Shipping Assessment notes (p. 34), this would spell “the disappearance of multi-year sea ice in the central Arctic Ocean. Such an occurrence would have significant implications for design, construction and operational standards of all future Arctic marine activities.” In the absence of thick multi-year ice, which can be up to five meters deep, any water that refreezes would take the form of much thinner, more navigable seasonable ice.
In other words, forget needing nuclear icebreakers. Within the next few decades, in summer, it may be possible (even if insurance companies and the Polar Code still mandate polar-class, ice-resistant ships) to sail in a regular vessel across the top of the Earth.

And a collection of various links…
Trump on Denmark’s Response to Greenland Idea: ‘All They Had to Do is Say No …’
By Patrick Goodenough | August 22, 2019 | 4:27 AM EDT
*https://www.cnsnews.com/news/article/patrick-goodenough/trump-denmarks-response-greenland-idea-all-they-had-do-say-no-0
President Trump’s Greenland New Deal vs. Democrats’ Green New Deal socialistic scheme
By Pamela Geller – on August 20, 2019
*https://gellerreport.com/2019/08/trumps-greenland.html/
Trump Hammers “Nasty” Greenland PM; Knocks NATO Spending
Profile picture for user Tyler Durden
by Tyler Durden
Wed, 08/21/2019 – 16:45
*https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2019-08-21/trump-hammers-nasty-greenland-pm-knocks-nato-spending
Trump Notes Denmark Isn’t Meeting NATO Commitment as Spat Over Greenland Intensifies
BY ZACHARY STIEBER
August 21, 2019 Updated: August 21, 2019
*https://www.theepochtimes.com/trump-notes-denmark-isnt-meeting-nato-commitment-as-spat-over-greenland-intensifies_3051050.html
Greenland seeks to break silence around child sexual abuse
*https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2019/06/26/world/social-issues-world/greenland-seeks-break-silence-around-child-sexual-abuse/#.XV7D6i-ZNXg
The Coast Guard and the Greenland Patrol
*https://www.navcen.uscg.gov/pdf/iip/history/The_Coast_Guard_and_the_Greenland_Patrol.pdf

So is a lot of modern architecture, with a few exceptions. Not much of it is inspiring at all. Even the religious efforts. It’s like the group decided Dali was the pinnacle and they decided to deconstruct him.
And in music, Philip Glass??????? John Adams??????? The St. Louis Jesuits?????? Gag me.