• grue@lemmy.world
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      1 day ago

      Somebody’s feeding him grandiose ideas about global warming and northern sea routes. Probably some flattering lies about splitting said routes between them and dominating world trade too, once Canada and the EU are out of the way.

      • ECB@feddit.org
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        16 hours ago

        True, same reason he’s hung up on the Panama canal (and why they always get brought up together)

      • federal reverse@feddit.orgM
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        22 hours ago

        To be fair, China has been investing in thawing sea routes for a while, though largely to free themselves from having to pass through the US-controlled South China Sea.

            • Nay@feddit.nl
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              19 hours ago

              But not a sea! I’m guessing it works like email addresses… As long as someone else doesn’t have it, you can make it your own

            • Nay@feddit.nl
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              19 hours ago

              Trump loves the south. It’s where he gets all his rubes.

        • gnutrino@programming.dev
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          20 hours ago

          I don’t see how thawing seas help China unless they’re planning on retaking Outer Manchuria from Russia?

          • federal reverse@feddit.orgM
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            20 hours ago

            Not sure what Manchuria has to do with it … the Chinese are looking for a sea route to deliver goods to Europe.

            • grue@lemmy.world
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              16 hours ago

              So they would go north to avoid US control, passing through [checks notes] the US/Japan-controlled East China Sea and the US-controlled Bering Strait?

                • grue@lemmy.world
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                  16 hours ago

                  If it’s just to avoid navigation hazards and save time, what was your point in mentioning that the South China Sea is “US-controlled?”

                  • federal reverse@feddit.orgM
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                    15 hours ago

                    Because the South China Sea is a US-controlled tight spot and such spots are obviously easier to control than the proposed Bering Sea passage.

    • RowRowRowYourBot
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      1 day ago

      It has room to move people into as climate change makes living in the equatorial regions difficult.

      It has a bunch of minerals the USA could use.

      It houses a NATO base that if it were in Russia’s hands would make it easier for Russia to eventually project force westward.

      There are reasons for America to want Greenland. They all happen to be evil which Im fairly positive is a side benefit for the current administration.

    • misk@sopuli.xyz
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      1 day ago

      Or, he recognises that arctic and subarctic territories are going to be worth much more in the future because of global warming. Trump is a major scatterbrain but in general it looks like he’s acting impulsively based on pieces of trivia, some of them being correct. Not that I agree with proposed solution to the issue but not everything he does is entirely dumb and those are very rarely inconsistent with his own interests.

        • misk@sopuli.xyz
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          13 hours ago

          He’s filthy rich now that he’s running a crypto scam for taking in bribes, so I wouldn’t say those are handlers rather than revenue streams. Other people are not in control of Trump, he’s a human wrecking ball that confuses theatre for politics, similar to general population that elected him.

      • doodledup@lemmy.world
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        24 hours ago

        Perfect plan: support fossile fuels, eliminate renuables, buy Greenland, gain the profits from global warming and melting ice.

    • Lazycog@sopuli.xyz
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      1 day ago

      Damn you web mercator projection! If only Robinson projection was the default on google/apple/whatever trump uses -map.

      • bdonvr@thelemmy.club
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        20 hours ago

        To be fair even on a globe Greenland is still massive. Just not quite as bad on Mercator.

        • 8fingerlouie@lemmy.world
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          20 hours ago

          It is also mostly ice. The entirety of the central Greenland is covered by 1.6km to 3.7km thick ice.

          Settlements are around the coast, as Greenland has about 100km roads in total, no railroads and no inland water.

          • wer2@lemm.ee
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            16 hours ago

            Republicans hate railroads, so that’s actually a plus for them.

        • Lazycog@sopuli.xyz
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          19 hours ago

          Yeah but on mercator it looks bigger than Africa. Africa is actually really huge

          Edit: wording.