the Voice of
The Communist League of Revolutionary Workers–Internationalist
“The emancipation of the working class will only be achieved by the working class itself.”
— Karl Marx
the Voice of
The Communist League of Revolutionary Workers–Internationalist
“The emancipation of the working class will only be achieved by the working class itself.”
— Karl Marx
January 19, 2026
After kidnapping the president of Venezuela, and announcing plans to take Venezuela’s oil, Trump announced that the U.S. government wants Greenland and was going to take it over, by military force or by other means.
What do Trump’s threats toward Greenland really mean? It’s not clear yet. Is this just Trump being Trump with his usual bluster and his maniacal ego saying that he can run the whole world? Is this some negotiating tactic from the self-proclaimed great businessman (who declared bankruptcy six times)? Or does Trump really intend to use military force in Greenland, like he did in Venezuela?
Trump said that the U.S. government needs Greenland for “national security” reasons. But the U.S. government already has a military base in Greenland, and a 1951 treaty gives the U.S. government some broad rights to expand and have a much bigger military presence there.
But what the U.S. ruling class does not have yet is direct control over the abundance of natural resources in Greenland. Greenland is known to have oil, uranium and many rare earth minerals needed for AI, advanced weapons and modern technology. Most of Greenland is covered by glaciers and a thick sheet of ice. But with climate change overheating the earth, this ice is melting and making the natural resources allegedly more accessible.
Certainly, Trump’s rich friends are interested in Greenland’s natural resources. In Trump’s first term, billionaire Ron Lauder told Trump that the U.S. should buy Greenland and Trump has been fixated on Greenland ever since.
Lauder proceeded to buy business interests in Greenland. Lauder then gave over five million dollars to Trump’s election campaign and recently paid a million dollars to attend a special fundraising dinner at Mar-a-Lago.
Lauder is not the only billionaire interested in exploiting Greenland’s resources. Bill Gates, Jeff Bezos, Michael Bloomberg, Sam Altman and other capitalists have invested in KoBold Metals, which looks for critical minerals around the world and has its eye on Greenland.
There are other capitalists who are interested in Greenland because, as the Arctic ice melts, it opens up the possibility of year-round shipping through the “Northwest Passage” between Asia and Europe.
Greenland is currently within the Kingdom of Denmark and the Danish government and other NATO countries have objected to Trump’s threats to take Greenland. Trump responded by threatening tariffs against any country standing in his way.
The only people left out of the discussion about Greenland’s future are the people of Greenland themselves. Many of them have indicated they want independence from Denmark. And almost all of them have said that they don’t want to be ruled by Trump and the United States.