How to Buy a Country
President Trump has shown interest in buying Greenland – and while the Greenland Foreign Office said via Twitter that they are “open for business, not for sale,” it’s worth asking: How do you buy a country anyway?
First, let’s see why our president is interested in acquiring Greenland, which is currently an autonomous Danish territory. As reported by The Wall Street Journal :
US officials view Greenland as important to US national security interests. A decades-old defense treaty between Denmark and the United States gives the American military virtually unlimited rights in Greenland at America’s northernmost base, Thule Air Force Base. Located 750 miles north of the Arctic Circle, it includes a radar station that is part of the US ballistic missile early warning system. The base is also used by the United States Air Force Space Command and the North American Aerospace Command.
So, okay, the acquisition of Greenland could have some national security implications – not to mention that it would prevent other countries like China from building up an economic or military presence on the island. However, the real underlying motivation may have more to do with inheritance creation:
[Source] believes the president is interested in the idea because of the island’s natural resources and because it will give him a legacy similar to how President Dwight D. Eisenhower took Alaska into the United States as a state.
Alaska, of course, was bought from Russia in 1867 for $ 7.2 million , so this land transfer is precedent. The US acquired the Virgin Islands from Denmark in 1917 for $ 25 million – after hinting that if Denmark is unwilling to sell, they might have to occupy the islands “to prevent their capture by Germany” – so you can see why Trump may wonder if the Danes will be interested in another deal.
But Greenland is different. As The Atlantic explains:
[…] the decision is not even for Denmark. Legally and morally, the 56,000 inhabitants of the island, most of whom are ethnic Greenlandic Inuit, can decide to create any international union that their state joins.
Plus Greenland is a very, very socialist country; its citizens practice common ownership of both land and the state, and provide free health care to all. To quote The Atlantic again:
President Trump will have to support all of these programs if he hopes to add Greenland to the alliance. Thus, the United States will get a state that is completely different from what it was before: a state in which land ownership is illegal, where private health care is prohibited, and where most of the main industries are owned by the state.
If our president really made Greenland a state, I wonder how many of us would be tempted to move there.
But back to the question of how to buy a country. Traditionally, this kind of thing requires intense discussion between the two governments involved, a huge pile of money, and an occasional veiled threat – that is, if the host government is not interested in the sale, the territory can go into new ownership. the old fashioned way.
I’m pretty sure we’re not going to invade Greenland. To be honest, I don’t even think we will make a proposal for Greenland. And if our president really wants to solidify his legacy by creating a new state, I’ve heard that Puerto Rico and / or DC might be interested.