Free Republic

At this site, when I have written about countries and states seeking to be among the leaders in eliminating fossil fuels from their electricity supply, I have generally focused on the larger jurisdictions, like Germany and the UK in Europe, and California and New York in the U.S. But there is one much smaller country that puts all of those bigger ones to shame: Denmark. With a population of only about 6 million, Denmark has pushed the “renewable” electricity generation thing well beyond what others have been able to accomplish. According to its official statistics, in 2024 Denmark got some...

France’s civil aviation authority asked airlines to reduce flights by 40% at Paris-Orly airport on Sunday evening after air traffic control systems suffered a breakdown.. The authority, known as DGAC, said in a statement that some “regulation” was needed involving a significant reduction in the number of flights. The statement didn´t provide details on the cause of the breakdown. Paris-Orly airport serves domestic and international flights, including to most European countries and the U.S. Flights to Spain, Denmark, Saudi Arabia, Italy, Germany, Austria, the Netherlands, Ireland and several French cities were canceled on Sunday while many others were delayed. More...

Whilst it has been argued that US President Donald Trump has been turning a deaf ear to Europe with regards to tariffs, in the case of hearing aids, it’s not true. Three of the world’s largest and longest established hearing aid manufacturers are based outside of Danish capital Copenhagen in an area known locally as the “Silicon Valley of Sound.” These companies, Demant, GN Store Nord and WS Audiology (as well as Swiss rival Sonova Holding) must have held their collective breaths as Trump announced the levy of tariffs for products imported into the USA but once again, they were...

The United States has reportedly encouraged intelligence agencies to ramp up spying efforts in Greenland amid President Donald Trump repeatedly floating the idea of taking over the Arctic island.... The Wall Street Journal reported, citing two sources, that high-ranking officials working under Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Habbard sent a "collection of emphasis message" to the heads of various intelligence agencies last week. Intelligence agencies have been directed to learn more about the independence movement on the island and the general attitude of the Greenlanders towards American resource extraction, the Journal added. The agencies have been asked to use tools...

Former National Security Advisor John Bolton said Monday on MSNBC’s “Ana Cabrera Reports” that if President Donald Trump attempted to take control of Greenland with military force, it “would provoke an impeachment crisis almost immediately.” On NBC’s “Meet the Press,” Trump downplayed the likelihood but did not completely rule it out. He said, “I don’t say I’m going to do it, but I don’t rule out anything. No, not there, you need that. We need Greenland very badly. Greenland is a very small amount of people which will take care of and will cherish them and all of that, but...

The American leader has repeatedly said that Greenland, an autonomous region within Denmark, should join the United StatesNEW YORK, May 4. /TASS/. US President Donald Trump did not rule out using military force to establish control over Greenland. "I don’t rule it out. I don’t say I’m going to do it, but I don’t rule out anything. No, not there. We need Greenland very badly. Greenland has a very small amount of people, which we’ll take care of, and we’ll cherish them, and all of that," he told NBC News in an interview. "But we need that for international security....

President Trump railed against CBS on Sunday night, saying the network should lose its broadcast license after “60 Minutes” aired segments on Ukraine and Greenland that the president said cast him in a negative light. “Almost every week, 60 Minutes … mentions the name ‘TRUMP’ in a derogatory and defamatory way, but this Weekend’s ‘BROADCAST’ tops them all,” Trump wrote in a Truth Social post after watching Sunday’s “60 Minutes” broadcast. “They did not one, but TWO, major stories on ‘TRUMP,’ one having to do with Ukraine, which I say is a War that would never have happened if the...

The Pentagon has relieved the commander of a U.S. Space Force base in Greenland just two weeks after she hosted Vice President JD Vance for a visit. In an April 10 statement, Space Force Delta 1 announced Col. Susan Meyers was relieved of her command at the Pituffik Space Base in Greenland earlier that day. The statement indicates that Col. Kenneth Klock, who leads the Space Force Delta 1, ordered Meyers’s removal “for loss of confidence in her ability to lead.” “Commanders are expected to adhere to the highest standards of conduct, especially as it relates to remaining nonpartisan in...

President Trump’s longtime goal of claiming Greenland for America has shifted from rhetoric to official U.S. policy as the White House moves forward on a formal plan to acquire the Arctic island from Denmark. The plan mobilizes several cabinet departments behind Mr. Trump’s years of talk about wanting Greenland, whose economic and strategic value has grown as warming temperatures melt Arctic ice..... ....The Trump administration is also studying financial incentives for Greenlanders, including the possibility of replacing the $600 million in subsidies that Denmark gives the island with an annual payment of about $10,000 per Greenlander. ....Today, Greenland manages its...

The Defense Department announced it had removed the commander of Pituffik Space Base in Greenland after she distanced herself from Vice President J.D. Vance's criticism of Denmark during his recent visit. Vance lambasted Denmark leaders while visiting Greenland late last month, saying the Danish government had underinvested in the autonomous territory and in its security. Just days after Vance visited Pituffik, installation commander Col. Susan Meyers sent out an email to staff saying the base did not agree with Vance's comments, Military.com reported. Space Operations Command announced Thursday night that Meyers had been removed from her command at Pituffik. "Colonel...

Space Force Col. Susan Meyers, commander of Pituffik Space Base in Greenland, sent out a base-wide email after a visit by Vice President J.D. Vance last month that undermined President Donald Trump’s position on the territory of Greenland as a vital national security interest being mismanaged by Denmark that would do better under the United States, according to a scoop by Military.com reporter Thomas Novelly published Thursday afternoon. The visit by the vice president on March 28 was originally planned as a trip by Second Lady Usha Vance and a few Trump cabinet officials to attend a dogsled race but...

Space Force Col. Susan Meyers, commander of Pituffik Space Base in Greenland, sent out a base-wide email after a visit by Vice President J.D. Vance last month that undermined President Donald Trump’s position on the territory of Greenland as a vital national security interest being mismanaged by Denmark that would do better under the United States, according to a scoop by Military.com reporter Thomas Novelly published Thursday afternoon. “I do not presume to understand current politics, but what I do know is the concerns of the U.S. administration discussed by Vice President Vance on Friday are not reflective of Pituffik...

U.S. intelligence chiefs ordered agencies to tighten surveillance on Greenland, the first tangible step toward President Donald Trump’s oft-stated goal of bringing the Arctic island under American control, sources leaked to The Wall Street Journal. The directive instructed the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA), National Security Administration (NSA) and the CIA to identify Greenlandic and Danish figures who might back U.S. objectives and to gauge public sentiment toward American resource extraction, the outlet reported Tuesday. Its emergence triggered immediate pushback from Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, who accused unnamed officials of leaking in order to thwart the administration. “The Wall...

Denmark's foreign minister says he will summon the US ambassador to address a report that Washington's spy agencies have been told to focus on Greenland amid Donald Trump's threats to take over the island. "It worries me greatly because we do not spy on friends," Lars Løkke Rasmussen said, responding to the report in The Wall Street Journal. According to the newspaper, US spy agencies were told to focus efforts on the semi-autonomous country's independence movement, and American goals to extract mineral resources there. Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard accused the Journal of attempts to "undermine" President Trump "by...

The National Museum of Denmark has confirmed that two 18th-century shipwrecks in Cahuita National Park, long thought to be pirate ships, are the Danish slave ships Fridericus Quartus and Christianus Quintus, which sank in 1710. The identification was announced on Sunday, resolving decades of speculation about the wrecks off Costa Rica’s Caribbean coast. The ships were identified through underwater excavations in 2023, which analyzed ship timbers, cargo blocks, clay pipes, and other artifacts. In 2015, U.S. archaeologists from East Carolina University discovered yellow bricks, specific to Danish manufacturing in Flensburg, among the wreckage, prompting renewed investigation. The wrecks, located on...

It’s the most concrete effort yet to turn President Donald Trump’s desire to acquire the Danish territory into actionable policy, despite widespread international outrage.The White House is preparing an estimate of what it would cost the federal government to control Greenland as a territory, according to three people with knowledge of the matter, the most concrete effort yet to turn President Donald Trump’s desire to acquire the Danish island into actionable policy. While Trump’s demands elicited international outrage and a rebuke from Denmark, White House officials have in recent weeks taken steps to determine the financial ramifications of Greenland becoming...

Democrat Delaware Sen. Chris Coons told CNN Monday that the “average middle American” is too dumb to identify Greenland on a world map. Coons criticized President Donald Trump’s plan to purchase Greenland from Denmark and make it U.S. territory for resource and national security purposes, arguing that the plan will not resonate with the average American because they do not even know where the island is. Trump said no options for acquiring Greenland are off the table, emphasizing that a takeover of the island is a necessity to protect the U.S. against the threat of Russia and China’s increasing influence...

Secession movements have dotted the American landscape for a long time. While the Confederacy was the only secession movement that had any traction, most of these movements were quixotic at best and laughable at worst. There’s a new secession effort on the horizon, and just like the Confederates of the mid-19th century, Democrats are behind it. Newsweek reports that California’s secretary of state has given the green light to a secession movement to gather signatures for a petition to put California’s secession from the U.S. on the ballot in 2028.The reason for this movement is exactly what you would expect.“Calexit,...

The California secessionist movement is fast becoming a political reality, even though it stands no realistic chance of ever succeeding. In a crucial first step towards their long term goal, secessionists have successfully filed a ballot initiative proposing that the state become its own country and secede from the United States. The initiative has now been cleared for signature gathering and will require 546,651 valid signatures by July 22nd in order to become a formal ballot initiative. If successful, voters would be asked in 2028 the following question: “Should California leave the United States and become a free and independent...

A California ballot initiative proposing that the state become its own country and secede from the United States has been filed and cleared for signature gathering. If the measure makes it onto the November 2028 ballot, it would ask voters: “Should California leave the United States and become a free and independent country?” local news outlet KCRA3 reported on Friday. The guidelines would require 50 percent of registered voters to participate and a “yes” vote from 55 percent of voters, which would indicate “a vote of no confidence in the United States of America,” according to the report. The measure...