Click here: to donate by Credit Card
Or here: to donate by PayPal
Or by mail to: Free Republic, LLC - PO Box 9771 - Fresno, CA 93794
Thank you very much and God bless you.
Posted on 01/09/2026 8:33:58 PM PST by SeekAndFind
To hear some U.S. officials tell it, Greenland is a treasure trove of crucial minerals ripe for the taking.
Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, for example, has hailed how “Greenland sits atop vast reserves of rare-earth elements,” while U.S. Vice President J.D. Vance has pointed to the territory’s “incredible natural resources.”
“It’s our national security. It’s critical minerals,” then-incoming U.S. National Security Advisor Mike Waltz declared when discussing President Donald Trump’s designs on the island last year.
As Greenland has yet again entered the global spotlight amid Trump’s annexation threats, so too has the island’s mining potential for rare earths, the raw materials that have emerged as a major flash point in the U.S.-China trade war.
While China leverages its rare-earth might in trade talks, Washington has been scrambling to secure new supply chains outside of Beijing’s grip—including by eyeing Greenland. Last year, the Trump administration reportedly mulled taking a stake in a firm that would give the United States a direct interest in a rare-earth project on the island, per Reuters.
But Greenland may not be the rare-earth mother lode that some U.S. officials think.
“It certainly doesn’t make any sense as a rare-earth story,” said Ian Lange, a professor in the mineral economics program at the Colorado School of Mines.
Rare earths are a set of 17 metallic elements that are crucial to powering advanced weapons systems, green energy technologies, and much more. Despite their name, the resources themselves aren’t actually that hard to find—as Trump himself has acknowledged.
What’s more challenging is finding the materials in economically viable concentrations and then mining and processing them. That all requires immense capital and expertise and has environmental costs.
This is where Greenland, which has never seen any rare-earth mining, raises doubts.
(Excerpt) Read more at foreignpolicy.com ...
|
|
Click here: to donate by Credit Card Or here: to donate by PayPal Or by mail to: Free Republic, LLC - PO Box 9771 - Fresno, CA 93794 Thank you very much and God bless you. |
Ah, another anti-US, anti-Trump rag tries to suppress moral and spread propaganda...good times, good times...
Taking it because it pisses off and frightens everyone I cant stand is good enough reason for me.
Authored by a Chi-com
She might bite for some waterfront property in south Flori-duh.
Hey maybe then Denmark should let it go for cheap then since it’s so worthless.
I'm sure the Democrats will appreciate the assist in driving a bunch of voters their way in the midterms.
Weak chicom info.
.
Only small portions of Greenland are ice free. The rest has about a mile of ice on top of it. I would think digging through that would add significantly to the cost.
Don’t care. Still want it.
There are minerals there, but not really the point. The point is to deny China access to the territory. Even though Denmark is an ally, they were disposed to allow the Chinese a mineral concession including a harbor. Trump’s not having it.
At the end we may not actually annex it. But it will be clear that we have veto power over any Russian or Chinese operations there. It may not be “fair” but Trump doesn’t care about that. It’s just “no”.
Rare earths are rare in quantity, not distribution. It’s not like China and Greenland have all the rare earths locked away within their borders. We cripple ourselves with ridiculous environmental restrictions making it impossible to obtain the rare earths we need and then we act like we won’t apply the same ridiculous environmental restrictions to Greenland if we acquire it.
It’s a strategic location.
Everybody knows in the game of Risk, you take Alaska, Venezuela, and Greenland. That way the USA sleeps snug as a bug in a rug. I would imagine Trump was excellent at Risk.
It likely has no more minerals than anywhere else. What it doesn’t have is an environment justifying expensive protections, mitigations, and restoration.
Exactly. Our BMEWS and other missile warning systems are up there to give notifications/warnings if the Russians ever launched ICBM’s at us.
Greenland is import for numerous reasons. First its huge. Second its the gateway to the Atlantic Ocean. Third its one of the best satellite listening locations in the world. Third it probably has a lot of natural resources. And finally it has a huge number of natural wonders.
Now take the fact that there are 30,000 people on Greenland who don’t come close to occupying the island. They exist almost entirely in a very small section on the south west corner. The rest of the island is uninhabited except for the US military. Greenland cannot pay for itself. They cannot defend themselves. Most of the people are not indigenous. Or are less than 50% indigenous. The point that Trump is making is that these people will simply sell their island which is so important to us and Europe for a few million dollars. And if they don’t China will simply put 15,000 Chinese on the island and change the vote just enough to sell out to China. They do that in Taiwan and South Korea now. And Austria is nothing but a big pit where anything valuable used to be but is now in China. Why was this allowed. They simply sold everything valuable and did not get anything for it.
While Denmark actually claimed ownership and administered and defended Greenland that was one thing. But now they let Greenland do its own thing. Which means they have stopped actually defending or maintaining Greenland. So if we don’t take it Russia or China will. Its not between us and The people on Greenland. Its between us and Russia or China.
Correct. That is the reason to establish military presence there.
I've been saying this since February 16, 2025:
Look at this Google Earth image of the north pole.
We're used to the Mercator projection of earth, but a view from 90° latitude shows how dominant Greenland is when opposing Russia and China across the Arctic Ocean.
With Alaska at 150° West longitude and Greenland at 41° West longitude, that gives the United States a wide swath of the Arctic Ocean to patrol, as well as the North Atlantic sea lanes in and out of the Arctic Ocean.
Russia (with China's help) will be making a play for the Artic Ocean's oil resources. We currently have only Prudhoe Bay off of the northern coast of Alaska.
President Trump is also trying to contain Russia's direct access to the Atlantic Ocean. Greenland makes the perfect defensive base to close off the easy way to the Atlantic.
-PJ
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.
