The news media was making much last night of the fact that Trump was suggesting that Article 5 of the NATO Treaty - which says that an attack on one NATO member is an attack on all - is being abandoned by Trump with regard to issues surrounding Ukraine.
This action does not surprise me at all.
He is threatening Canada, which is a NATO member.
He is threatening Greenland, which is covered by Denmark's membership of NATO.
Of course, he wants to abandon Article 5. He wants no one to come to the defence of Canada or Greenland. Isn't that obvious? For once, I am crediting him with having a plan.
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Given the links between Canada and the UK I am very disappointed that the UK Government has not made a more ‘robust’ response to Trump.
I wonder why
The words ‘Starmer’, ‘rabbit’ and ‘headlights’ come to mind.
Maybe because they know they’re next on the list? Sew up the North Atlantic.
Some Canadians are pretty cross about that too.
There is a suggestion that Trump wants access to “rare earth” elements from Ukraine. The word “rare” seems to get the press excited.
I think people need to understand that so called “rare earth” elements are not called that due to their scarcity, any more than rare beef. One, cerium, is the 25th most abundant element in the earth’s crust, more abundant than copper. Usable concentrations are not common, but then neither are copper mines, and we use a lot more copper than scandium or terbium or dysprosium.
Ignoring radioactively unstable promethium, even the scarcest, thulium, is 100 times less scarce than gold or platinum, more common indeed than iodine or mercury or silver.
I think Trump should be concerned about industrially important metals such as tungsten which is more “rare” than most rare earths, and almost all the world primary production (mining and smelting) is in China.
Noted, and useful.
UK has its own tungsten mine in Cornwall. Just found this link (below) as although I knew it was there, I didn’t know it had recently asked our government for more money. Can’t find anything to say it’s given more funding I’m sorry to say. Given our current governments record of biting off its nose to spite its face it probably won’t.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cx2n2rj2p0do
‘The Art of the Deal’ is in fact that there is no art at all, no subtlety, no guile, no compromise, no mutual benefit – just brute force and bravado – in truth just typical North American style capitalist market making.
I don’t know if it’s deliberate, but Trump’s geopolitical ravings are proving an effective distraction from Muskrat’s wrecking-ball demolition of the entire USA government machinery, which is actually much more serious and dangerous. Other countries, and the UN, can block attempts to grab other countries, but can do nothing about Musk.
He is reported to have said his aim is to eliminate ALL government regulations. He’s not a free marketeer, he’s a deluded anarchist.
I think this is deliberate
Grabbing land to grab the natural resources sounds a bit …..Victorian or even earlier. These days,surely, weaker nations,run by weak or corrupt governments , just make their resources whether oil,or rare earths or metal ores available for exploitation to the keenest bidder. Portraying the puny money they get for their resources as much-needed foreign investment. Why should Trump invade Canada or Greenland when their resources are already available to US firms. It’s not as if Canada etc is led by a Latin American Leftist government that wants the people to benefit from exploitation of their nations wealth, or a Middle- Eastern dictator like Saddam Hussein who wanted the wealth for his own immediate family circle. If he is serious about military invasion or annexation isn’t Trump admitting that the great modern theory of globalisation,of world free trade, of neo- colonialism isn’t working any more?