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Jan 8 2026 08:03am
I’m looking at the U.S. model. It’s a relatively young country - only about 500 years old - but it has waged enough wars that we can extrapolate a pattern. Historically, wars of conquest can yield profits. If the U.S. annexed Greenland, sure, there would be “loot.” But there’s no evidence that this would solve America’s domestic problems. Do you really think it would fix health care, crumbling roads, or crime and punishment? There needs to be a willingness to do this, and in the US, culturally, this does not exist.


I've never thought taking Greenland would magically fix domestic issues, just give opportunity to improve on them through it's resources industry. A long term arc. For example, the acquisition of Hawaii significantly benefited U.S. domestic interests by securing a vital Pacific naval base (Pearl Harbor), providing a strategic coaling station for trade, opening lucrative sugar and pineapple markets with tariff-free access, and expanding American commercial and strategic power in the Pacific.

As for the willingness of the people I think that is growing as we see it when Trump takes these actions and they're accepted now whereas with Trump 1.0 would have been like 10 Congressional hearings and impeachment attempts

This post was edited by RedFromWinter on Jan 8 2026 08:04am
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Jan 8 2026 08:25am
I've never thought taking Greenland would magically fix domestic issues, just give opportunity to improve on them through it's resources industry. A long term arc. For example, the acquisition of Hawaii significantly benefited U.S. domestic interests by securing a vital Pacific naval base (Pearl Harbor), providing a strategic coaling station for trade, opening lucrative sugar and pineapple markets with tariff-free access, and expanding American commercial and strategic power in the Pacific.

As for the willingness of the people I think that is growing as we see it when Trump takes these actions and they're accepted now whereas with Trump 1.0 would have been like 10 Congressional hearings and impeachment attempts


Hawaii is actually a good example. It had a relatively small Indigenous population, was militarily overmatched, and its annexation created a highly effective forward strategic base. No one cared about the indigenous population their either. From a power-politics standpoint, it clearly benefited U.S. strategic and commercial interests.

Where I disagree with you is equating strategic gain or “loot” to solving domestic structural problems. Yes, additional resources or revenue can help at the margins - they always do. But there is no evidence that this kind of external gain translates into fixing systemic issues like decaying infrastructure, healthcare, housing, or criminal justice. Those problems are not caused by a lack of territory or resources; they persist because of political choices, institutional incentives, and governance failures. The US has to want to spend money on these things in order for these things to improve.

In other words, annexing Hawaii increased U.S. power. It did not repair the foundations of American society. I would argue that U.S. society today is more polarized, more dysfunctional, and less capable of collective action than in earlier periods of expansion. Annexing Greenland would increase U.S. power, but power accumulation and domestic renewal are not the same thing.
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Jan 8 2026 09:05am
Hawaii is actually a good example. It had a relatively small Indigenous population, was militarily overmatched, and its annexation created a highly effective forward strategic base. No one cared about the indigenous population their either. From a power-politics standpoint, it clearly benefited U.S. strategic and commercial interests.

Where I disagree with you is equating strategic gain or “loot” to solving domestic structural problems. Yes, additional resources or revenue can help at the margins - they always do. But there is no evidence that this kind of external gain translates into fixing systemic issues like decaying infrastructure, healthcare, housing, or criminal justice. Those problems are not caused by a lack of territory or resources; they persist because of political choices, institutional incentives, and governance failures. The US has to want to spend money on these things in order for these things to improve.

In other words, annexing Hawaii increased U.S. power. It did not repair the foundations of American society. I would argue that U.S. society today is more polarized, more dysfunctional, and less capable of collective action than in earlier periods of expansion. Annexing Greenland would increase U.S. power, but power accumulation and domestic renewal are not the same thing.


One particular opportunity with Greenland is a revitalization of US mineral extraction and refinement around Great Lakes, also Canadian firms, and with Greenland raw resource routes through St Lawrence seaway. There used to be a huge industry up here mining, refining, manufacturing for states Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan, Illinois. If US can control more resources, then it has more leverage over industry and could force onshore again.

With Greenland, would be significantly less redtape to bootstrap it. In contrast my State Minnesota has surveyed probably the highest deposits of copper nickel on the planet a decade ago or more no mine yet.

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Jan 8 2026 02:22pm
So America, when they needed it their allies did, in fact, show up. They put their sons and daugthers, fathers and mothers, on the line, for America. That's an ally. And they did that, and have kept doing that, despite the fact that America lied. They lied about WMDs and America, on behalf of Israel, went completely rouge in the middle east which cost europe countless lives, and if anything, worsened 10th fold the security situation in europe, on behalf of America. Because we are allies.
Now we did all of that, and continues to do that (france and uk just hit targets in syria as example) but that doesn't mean that we cannot call the situation we put ourselves in, for your sake, for what it is. AN ABSOLUTE CLUSTER FUCK of a decision.
So yea America gets shit for the bad decisions they do, and you know what America has made terrible fucking decisions for the last 25 years and actually even more and there's plenty of euopean blood on the ground of alot of those decisions so i think euopeans have earned the right to critique their ally. I'll even go as far as to say it's necessary and prudent to critique your friends and in this case your allies when they make bad decisions so they don't end up repeating them.


Lol yes, you helped in Afghanistan. Again, I think that's great.

This is not an equal alliance though. It's nice that you helped. It's a drop in the fucking bucket of what you owe in gratitude.

America liberated your continent from fascism and protected it from communism, then rebuilt your continent out of the ashes from the fire you refused to fight.

We've continued to insulate you from every threat(including from yourselves) for the 80 years since then.

The last time I saw this argument used, it wasn’t in geopolitics - it was in the Diablo II PvP community. A user was single handed propping up a ladder community via sharing his account. Someone said: “Your gear is good, you let me use it, but you’re not using it properly, so I’m going to take it and use it.” He then scammed the account. He gave some of the items to his friends, who defended themselves by saying: “I didn’t do the scam - I’m just using the gear. There’s nothing you can do about it.”

The response was unanimous. Across multiple communities - including American ones - this logic was rejected outright. It was recognized for what it was: a scam. And it didn’t just harm one player - it fractured trust across the entire community. When moderators reviewed the case, they didn’t debate intent or efficiency. They ruled it theft and banned both the scammer and those knowingly benefiting from it.

The reason was simple: if access can be retroactively turned into ownership because someone decides you’re “wasting” what you have, cooperation becomes impossible. Sharing becomes risk. Friendships collapse. That argument didn’t become acceptable just because it was framed as competence or better use. It was still stealing.

That’s why this matters. Saying “they aren’t using it properly, so someone else should take it” isn’t a policy disagreement - it’s a worldview. And everywhere that worldview is applied - in games, markets, or states - it produces the same result: a massive fracture in the community, the collapse of trust, and ultimately the death of the system itself.


Denmark isn't misusing Greenland's resources, it isn't using them at all because it can't guarantee a worthwhile return on investment.

Again, I don't care about Greenland. A fully developed Greenland is worth less than Home Depot. It would take decades for the sort of investment they need to pay off. Still, someone should get on that.

I don't understand why you guys are so passionate that Denmark maintain control over a welfare state they refuse to develop.

This post was edited by Shadowoffury on Jan 8 2026 02:23pm
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Jan 8 2026 02:43pm
this doesnt go anywhere
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Jan 9 2026 01:06am
Lol yes, you helped in Afghanistan. Again, I think that's great.

This is not an equal alliance though. It's nice that you helped. It's a drop in the fucking bucket of what you owe in gratitude.

America liberated your continent from fascism and protected it from communism, then rebuilt your continent out of the ashes from the fire you refused to fight.

We've continued to insulate you from every threat(including from yourselves) for the 80 years since then.



Denmark isn't misusing Greenland's resources, it isn't using them at all because it can't guarantee a worthwhile return on investment.

Again, I don't care about Greenland. A fully developed Greenland is worth less than Home Depot. It would take decades for the sort of investment they need to pay off. Still, someone should get on that.

I don't understand why you guys are so passionate that Denmark maintain control over a welfare state they refuse to develop.



I don't necessary disagree with the equal alliance part. Nato has been funded primarily by the united states and it's only recently that member countries started to commit to their agreed GDP percentage into defence spending. This is in large, or fully, Trumps doing and credit to that.
That being said america helped liberate europe, only after it got attacked and only after italy and germany declared war on them (after the attack).
Saying that europeans refused to fight and that you protected us against communism is a giant misread of history in my opinon.

Greenland is a self governing country and a member state in NATO that falls under the Danish crown and is being supported economically. Greenland and it's terrority in full was also promised to remain under danish control BY THE US GOVERNMENT. That being said, the fate, self determination and freedom of a people should not be decided by the US, especially not over such a BS argument as national security when they already have bases there and the freedom to put more. So what we care about i guess is that the international law is being upheld and that the US honors their word.


Quote
DECLARATION.
In proceeding this day to the signature of the Convention respecting the cession of the Danish West-Indian Islands to the United States of America, the undersigned Secretary of State of the United States of America, duly authorized by his Government, has the honor to declare that the Government of the United States of America will not object to the Danish Government extending their political and economic interests to the whole of Greenland.

Robert Lansing.

New York, August 4, 1916


This post was edited by DocPhil on Jan 9 2026 01:26am
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Jan 9 2026 02:44am
I don't necessary disagree with the equal alliance part. Nato has been funded primarily by the united states and it's only recently that member countries started to commit to their agreed GDP percentage into defence spending. This is in large, or fully, Trumps doing and credit to that.
That being said america helped liberate europe, only after it got attacked and only after italy and germany declared war on them (after the attack).
Saying that europeans refused to fight and that you protected us against communism is a giant misread of history in my opinon.

Greenland is a self governing country and a member state in NATO that falls under the Danish crown and is being supported economically. Greenland and it's terrority in full was also promised to remain under danish control BY THE US GOVERNMENT. That being said, the fate, self determination and freedom of a people should not be decided by the US, especially not over such a BS argument as national security when they already have bases there and the freedom to put more. So what we care about i guess is that the international law is being upheld and that the US honors their word.


Poland and Greece fought. The rest of mainland Europe(including Denmark) rolled over pretty much as hard and fast as they possibly could.

I don't know how you could justify saying that America did not protect you from communism, if you have an argument I'm open to it. The USSR wanted to expand into Western Europe. They were prevented from doing so entirely by America.

But yeah. America didn't want any part of another European war, because of the first world war you pulled us into, which was completely pointless. There were no good guys, you were all just motherfuckers grabbing everything you could. And then in standard European fashion all the advice that would have both prevented a second world war and created a more peaceful middle east was totally ignored. Which is why you weren't given an option the second time. Peace in Europe was ensured in spite of you.

That's a great little declaration by Robert Lansing, but it does not say for all of time. You were given a pass on the Monroe doctrine, the USA did not object to the Danish government extending their political and economic interests to the whole of Greenland. 110 years ago. You extended your interests and were not wiped off the face of the earth for it, the agreement was honored.

Again though, I really don't care about Greenland. Can you explain why you are pretending that you do? It's nothing but a money sink for you.

This post was edited by Shadowoffury on Jan 9 2026 02:45am
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Jan 9 2026 06:39am
Poland and Greece fought. The rest of mainland Europe(including Denmark) rolled over pretty much as hard and fast as they possibly could.

I don't know how you could justify saying that America did not protect you from communism, if you have an argument I'm open to it. The USSR wanted to expand into Western Europe. They were prevented from doing so entirely by America.

But yeah. America didn't want any part of another European war, because of the first world war you pulled us into, which was completely pointless. There were no good guys, you were all just motherfuckers grabbing everything you could. And then in standard European fashion all the advice that would have both prevented a second world war and created a more peaceful middle east was totally ignored. Which is why you weren't given an option the second time. Peace in Europe was ensured in spite of you.

That's a great little declaration by Robert Lansing, but it does not say for all of time. You were given a pass on the Monroe doctrine, the USA did not object to the Danish government extending their political and economic interests to the whole of Greenland. 110 years ago. You extended your interests and were not wiped off the face of the earth for it, the agreement was honored.

Again though, I really don't care about Greenland. Can you explain why you are pretending that you do? It's nothing but a money sink for you.


Denmark caved pretty quickly yes. France & UK fought ... alot...

Uhmm.. America didn't get "pulled" into the first world war they made it partly possible to begin with. They were supplying weapons en masse and assisted in a blockade of all of western europe leading to mass starvation in germany as they were also cut off from the east. It went so far in WWI that germany tried to convince mexico to attack the US to pull their focus there.

Robert Lansing didn't have to write "for all time" because that's now how borders are supposed to work. We also didn't extend our interest 110 years ago, we maintained it.

Why do you care about Israel? It's nothing but a money sink for you? oh yea Netanyahu has president by the balls with all the Epstein files.
I care about greenland, because it's a nice people, and they have rights just like the palestinians do and every other soul on the planet. That's why i care. America used to care too, it used to stand for something. I guess not anymore.
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Jan 9 2026 03:48pm
Denmark caved pretty quickly yes. France & UK fought ... alot...

Uhmm.. America didn't get "pulled" into the first world war they made it partly possible to begin with. They were supplying weapons en masse and assisted in a blockade of all of western europe leading to mass starvation in germany as they were also cut off from the east. It went so far in WWI that germany tried to convince mexico to attack the US to pull their focus there.

Robert Lansing didn't have to write "for all time" because that's now how borders are supposed to work. We also didn't extend our interest 110 years ago, we maintained it.

Why do you care about Israel? It's nothing but a money sink for you? oh yea Netanyahu has president by the balls with all the Epstein files.
I care about greenland, because it's a nice people, and they have rights just like the palestinians do and every other soul on the planet. That's why i care. America used to care too, it used to stand for something. I guess not anymore.


This is all wrong. America maintained neutrality for three years and was only pulled into ww1 after the sinking of the Lucitania, German submarine attacks on other American vessels and interception of the German attempt to ally with Mexico(a violation of the Monroe doctrine). This happened before America entered the war, not as a result of their participation in it.

Lol how does Netanyahu have anyone by the balls with the Epstein files? The Epstein files were created by the FBI and DOJ, not by Israel.

If America takes control of Greenland there will be no bloodshed. The people living there will be fine.
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Jan 9 2026 10:10pm
This is all wrong. America maintained neutrality for three years and was only pulled into ww1 after the sinking of the Lucitania, German submarine attacks on other American vessels and interception of the German attempt to ally with Mexico(a violation of the Monroe doctrine). This happened before America entered the war, not as a result of their participation in it.

Lol how does Netanyahu have anyone by the balls with the Epstein files? The Epstein files were created by the FBI and DOJ, not by Israel.

If America takes control of Greenland there will be no bloodshed. The people living there will be fine.


If you supply arms to one side you can hardly call yourself "neutral".

It's what's in the files and not being released that's interesting. The republican party is basically splitting in two over the israel subject and they still receive unwavering support from the us gov. Somethings not right.

Yea America is great at toppling governments without bloodshed it's their entire expertise right hahahahha.

This post was edited by DocPhil on Jan 9 2026 10:11pm
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