CHARBONNEAU – What to do if Trump’s America invades Greenland

IF AMERICA INVADES Greenland, hockey will resolve the dispute.

Canadian soldiers could join our NATO allies in defending Greenland from an  American invasion — but that won’t be necessary.

If an invasion seems far-fetched, so did the destruction of world order. Now President Trump is threatening a global recession not seen since the Dirty Thirties.

NATO members are obliged to defend each other.

According to Article 5 of the NATO charter, if any member is attacked the others will consider it an attack on themselves and take action they deem necessary to restore and maintain security — including the use of armed force.

Canada and Norway are members of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. While Greenland has aspirations of independence, it is still within the Kingdom of Denmark.

President Trump is Commander-in-Chief of America’s armed forces and he has made it clear that he will do anything to take Greenland.

When asked about the use that military force could play in gaining control of Greenland, he said: “I don’t take anything off the table.”

In his quest for naked self-glorification, Trump wants to go down in history as the U.S. president who secured the largest territorial expansion in American history. Greenland would represent even more land than was gained in the Louisiana Purchase of 1803.

Earlier this year, the “Make Greenland Great Again Act” was introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives to authorize the acquisition of Greenland. And the “Red, White, and Blueland Act” proposes renaming Greenland and allowing the U.S. to purchase or acquire it.

Of course, America is also a member of NATO. Not only that, but a founding member.

American leaders, especially President Harry Truman, understood that the defence of Europe was necessary for world order.

NATO was a major shift from America’s traditional isolationism.

Trump could care less about history as he draws America into isolationism again.

Unfortunately, there is no automatic mechanism in NATO for handling internal conflicts.

If America invades another NATO country, it depends on diplomacy to resolve the conflict.

Tensions between NATO members in the past have been resolved diplomatically. Turkey and Greece, both NATO members, had tensions over Cyprus and the Aegean Sea that were resolved without an armed conflict.

Given Trump’s distain for diplomacy, a diplomatic resolution is unlikely.

The United Nations could intervene and call for an emergency session to assess the threat to international peace. They could pass a resolution demanding a ceasefire or de-escalation and authorize peacekeeping missions.

But as one of the five permanent members of the UN, America could veto any resolutions.

The only way to settle the matter is on the hockey rink.

A rink would be set up in the capital of Greenland, Nuuk. Trump would get his buddy, Wayne Gretzky. to assemble a team of his NHL cronies. NATO will assemble a team from member countries, including some from Canada’s winning team of the 4 Nations Cup.

May the best team win!

David Charbonneau is a retired TRU electronics instructor who hosts a blog at http://www.eyeviewkamloops.wordpress.com.