Denmark's PM said yesterday....'you cannot spy against an ally.' This came up after some reports of the US starting to spy on Greenland.
So I dug into the story.
Apparently, the comment got people bothered....so Denmark summoned the top American diplomat in for a talk...after reading a Wall Street Journal piece about several high-ranking officials under the U.S. director of national intelligence (Tulsi Gabbard) giving directions to the intelligence folks to collect information on Greenland’s independence movement. Key chatter? Just how the independence movements sees things.
So I went to polls of Greenland folks.
2016? A survey found that 64-percent of Greenlanders supported full independence (Denmark out).
2017? This poll asked a carefully phrased question....if independence meant a lower standard of living. In this case....78-percent said 'NO WAY'.
2019? This poll showed 68-percent of Greenlanders supported independence from Denmark.
2025? A general poll revealed that 84-perent of Greenland folks....supported independence from Denmark.....however once you put the lesser standard into play....roughly half the folks polled were totally against the independence. They added a question here....about US statehood....to which only 6-percent were agreeable to that idea.
So to save Tulsi time, and wasting 15,000 man-hours on conducting intelligence collection....I'll do the assessment for you.
Three observations:
1. Probably around three-quarters of Greenland folks just don't get a happy feeling from years of Danish 'management'. You could say it was incompetence....probably a bit of intellectual stupidity...or simply too many rules.
2. This Greenland idea of 'freedom'? They simply want a country....run only by Greenlanders, and some 'deal' on the table where better economic conditions would be guaranteed in some way. If you asked about limiting 'entry', and keeping the population near the current 55,000....I would imagine the vast majority would readily agree....they don't want 2,000 refugees arriving yearly and seeing a 'boom' to occur.
3. Finally, you can absolutely forget about statehood. Maybe you could get a independent nation status, with a 100-year economic treaty with the US.....where every single resident (the 55,000) would get a yearly check of $5,000....for 100 years....for mineral rights. But this would have to stipulate limits.
As for the spy efforts? I would imagine some James Bond-like character coming in as a tourist....asking sixty people stupid questions, and then some 400-page study gets produced.
Maybe Denmark ought to do counter-spy work....sending their spies into the US....to ask stupid questions.
Final note? No one yet says why Greenland is that important....which is just odd to be this far into a chaotic mess.
