Physical Address
304 North Cardinal St.
Dorchester Center, MA 02124
Open the White House Watch newspaper for free
Your guide to what the 2024 US election means for Washington and the world
“I think the president-elect is having a little fun,” was how Canada’s ambassador to Washington, Donald Trump, responded to the first proposal to make his country the 51st US state.
The dangerous “joke” is one of Trump’s preferred communication methods. But now that the incoming president has expressed his desire to join Canada with the United States, Canadian politicians are likely to take his wish seriously and publicly reject it.
Canadians take little solace in the fact that Trump has stopped short of invading their country and instead is threatening them with “economic force.” But he refused to take military action to achieve his ambition to “take back” the Panama Canal and control the self-governing Danish territory of Greenland.
More light hearted banter? Germany’s chancellor and France’s foreign minister took Trump’s threat seriously. Be warned That Greenland is covered by the EU’s Common Defense Clause. In other words – at least in theory – the EU and the US could go to war over Greenland.
Trump’s defenders and sycophants are seeing it as a big joke. The New York Post announced a new “Donro Doctrine” – a 19th-century European ban on intervention in the Western Hemisphere – that named Greenland “our land”. Republican Congressman Brandon Gill said with a smile that it should be Canadians, Panamanians and Greenlanders. “respectable” On the idea of ​​being American.
But the rights of small nations are no joke. The takeover of a country by force or coercion is the biggest wake-up call in world politics. It is a sign that a criminal government is on the march. That is why the Western Union has found it crucial to support Ukraine’s resistance to Russia. That is why in the early 90’s the US organized an international coalition to drive Iraq out of Kuwait.
Attacks on small nations sparked World Wars I and II. In 1914, when the British Cabinet was worried about war with Germany, David Lloyd George, who later became Prime Minister, wrote to his wife: “I have fought hard for peace . . . But I am led to the conclusion that if my little Belgian nationality is attacked by Germany, all my customs. . . They take sides in battle.
Britain and France refused to protect Czechoslovakia from Nazi Germany in 1938. Within a year, however, they realized their mistake and offered a security guarantee to Poland – Germany’s next little neighbor on the popular list. The invasion of Poland sparked the beginning of the conflict.
Trump supporters resented any comparisons between his speech and past and present attacks. His claim, they argue, is aimed at strengthening the free world, fighting China and possibly Russia. Trump has confirmed his desire to expand to Canada, Greenland and Panama on national security grounds.
Another argument is that Trump’s bluster is simply a bargaining chip. His supporters sometimes say he is pressuring the United Nations to do what is necessary for the greater good of the Western alliance. And also, aren’t many of Greenland’s 55,000 inhabitants seeking independence from Denmark? Aren’t Canadians tired of incompetent “enlightened” elites running their country?
But these are weak arguments. It is legitimate for Trump to try to convince Greenlanders that they can be better off as Americans. But threatening to use military or economic coercion is deeply offensive. The claim that many Canadians want to join the US is also misleading. That was the idea. It was not accepted. In a recent poll, 82 percent of Canadians.
For grand strategy – the reality is that Trump’s threat to Greenland, Panama and Canada is a perfect gift to Russia and China. If Trump can say it’s a strategic necessity for the US to control Greenland or the Panama Canal, why is it illegal for Putin to say it’s a strategic necessity for Russia to control the Ukraine? If Jill can say that it is America’s “manifest destiny” to expand its borders, who can argue with Xi Jinping saying that it is China’s manifest destiny to control Taiwan?
Both Russia and China have long sought to tear apart the Western alliance. Trump is doing his job for them. A few weeks ago, it would have been beyond the Kremlin’s wish to see him make the cover of a major Canadian news magazine. History On “Why America Can’t Beat Canada.” The idea of ​​European leaders invoking the EU’s collective defense clause against the US — not Russia — also seems fanciful. But these are new facts.
Although Trump has not made good on his threats, he has already done significant damage to America’s international standing and its alliance system. And he is not in the office yet.
Trump is unlikely to order an invasion of Greenland. (Although it seems unlikely that he ever tried to rig an election.) He might even threaten to give up Canada’s independence. But it is a shame that the incoming president is tearing up international norms. Any flirtation with Trump’s “jokes” is misplaced. What we are seeing is a tragedy – not a comedy.
