Grado de dificultad: 3 (Porque hay un poco de geografía y, sobre todo por el idioma).

Columnista: Roberto

Ups!!!! A first version of this article spoke of Iceland instead of Greenland.

It can happen when you know a bit too much of geography. Actually, the news is about Greenland, not about Iceland.

It doesn’t change much (both are related to Denmark). This is the corrected post.

Greenland is for sale and Greenlanders didn’t know it

Would you have typed “Greenland for sale” in Google, last week, the search engine would have shown a list of links to real estate proposals like “Greenland property and real estate for sale”.

Of course, the Google crawler is a machine, fed with algorithms, a growing part of which are AI.

But it is built to emulate the human thinking.

And Google motor isn’t able to catch the idea of POTUS wanting to buy (like in “buying a house”) the isle of Greenland… Neither Google nor almost anyone else.

Maybe because it is a country, with its government … Who knows?

An article, published in the Wall Street Journal (not known for its joking skills), reveals that the acting USA president is thinking of it:

https://www.wsj.com/articles/trump-eyes-a-new-real-estate-purchase-greenland-11565904223

Some take it as a joke:

And some suggest is would be better that it stays that way.

But overall, everyone feels embarrassed:

https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefings-statements/vice-president-mike-pence-travel-iceland-united-kingdom-ireland/

Yep! Sure, Mike. Better change of subject.

As much as we would like this to be a misunderstanding, it may not (after all, the central person in that news is not known to be able to change his mind #TheKingIsNaked)).

Not that unlikely

Well, in the case of Greenland, it seems unlikely. However, there were cases in the past.

Talking of United States alone, Hawaii, Alaska, Puerto Rico, Panama were bought. You could, however, think this is ancient history. Not that much.

Other countries are doing it right now. China is, today, the biggest buyer:

  • In Nicaragua, where they may build a canal, succeeding in stealing a piece of offshore territory from Colombia.
  • In Africa, where they are discretely buying pieces of countries and creating toxic dependencies, like in Madagascar, or in Djibouti.

Note: Djibouti is an interesting case: a very strategical place, known for its harbor, that marks the entry of the Red Sea, toward the Suez Canal.

It’s a place that USA disregarded for a while, for different reasons, then came back too late, when getting aware that others were settling there.

  • The North and South poles are places of constant struggles for influence. Therefore, speaking of Iceland is not casual nor should be taken lightly by Danish and European Union.

Note: Iceland, autonomous territory, is part of the Kingdom of Denmark (like Iceland), one of the oldest members of the EU, just as a reminder of what we are speaking of.

Let us take it with humor

In a lighter way, this reminds us of a Terry Brook novel, Magic Kingdom for Sale – Sold!

KIngdom For Sale-Sold book cover

It’s the story of an almost average American that answer to an advertisement offering a kingdom for sale, thinking it’s some sort of joke. Sounds familiar?

There is a difference, however: Ben Holiday, the hero of the novel, is a clever and wise man…

Nevertheless, let this book be a recommendation of TMN.