Backdrop of military folk because:
- They have to follow orders, no matter how asinine
- Because of The Implication
- Nobody from Greenland would stand behind this clown
The wide shot is also hilarious:
The soldiers look like children who would rather be in gym class instead of going to the school assembly XD
Why isn’t jd Vance wearing a suit?? Did he even say thanks??
Hi erm…guys…semper fi right?….erm…can you stand behind? Yeah just like behind yeah…whatever makes sense. How long you been here?
Also, he is too cowardly to actually say this in Nuuk and has to say it at Pituffik Space Base 1000+ miles away, like the couch defiler he is.
Backdrop of military folk also because this press conference (to the several embedded press people they dragged along for the event) was held at the US military base on Greenland - because they were not invited to visit any other part of Greenland.
So, they had literally nobody else who could be in the background of the shot except reporters and US base personnel.
Both Denmark and Greenland governments responded by saying they view this as an escalation and that Vance had better watch his tone. I think they should start talking about cancelling the renewal date of the land lease for the US base (doesn’t matter if the date is far in the future, just telling them they’re risking expulsion is enough).
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-03-30/denmark-criticises-vance-tone-in-greenland/105113854
They chose the dorkiest looking dudes too
Denmark indeed didn’t do enough to keep Greenland safe. They let Vance go there.
The country disappearing its own citizens claims another country isn’t protecting its own
How quaint
disappearingKIDNAPPING.
It’s kidnapping. Or abduction.Don’t kidnappers usually try to return the kidnapped in exchange for something? I think disappearing is an apt description.
I’ve never viewed “disappearing” as a euphemism.
Horses for courses, I suppose.
I feel that it’s downplaying the seriousness of what is happening to these people a bit.
To me the statement “US Government Disappears Student” is not as worrying as “US Government Abducts Student”Well, the reason I don’t view it as a euphemism is because it’s typically associated with totalitarian regimes. The government “disappears” people. See here,
to cause (someone or something) to disappear:
a: to abduct and kill or imprison (someone, such as a political dissident) while withholding information about the person’s fate
Her son was disappeared during Argentina’s so-called ‘Dirty War.’— Associated Press
“Disappearing” someone carries more weight than “abducting” someone.
I’d say the people of Greenland are way safer under Denmark than the US for one simple reason, public healthcare.
And other public safety nets to prevent people dying.
Danish kids are also usually not being shot at at school
Maybe two reasons: They don’t have psychotic, chaos-breeding fascists running their country.
Denmark isn’t doing enough to keep Greenland safe?
First of all, is there some conflict there that I’m not aware of?
Second of all, we have a goddamn US military base there. Are the troops behind you not doing enough to keep it safe?
I am so sick of the persistent invention of bad ideas they’re trying to make real. It’s like they think of they can say whatever they want often enough and enough people will hear it, then suddenly it’s a real fact.
Stop trying to make Fetch happen, Vance. It’s never going to happen.
I don’t know if you actually believe that repeating a lie does not increase the number of people who believe it or if you’re saying you don’t think it should work that way. Either way, I think the state of this country proves pretty decisively that it absolutely does work that way.
It’s like they think of they can say whatever they want often enough and enough people will hear it, then suddenly it’s a real fact.
It worked for Trump. Twice!
The “Big Lie.” Even Hitler was “open” about it - in positing that the “Big Lie” was Jews being responsible for Germany’s failure in WW1, he was asking his audience to accept a true “Big Lie.”
Allegiance to outright falsehood is about a marker of being of the right ideology. Political parties have always been like football teams to some of these folks - it’s about having the correct tribal markers and spouting the slogan. Words aren’t really supposed to mean anything - what they are communicating to everyone is “we want to invade Greenland.” They are signaling to their audience and just know that they can say whatever they want, while we scramble to respond to the words and not the meaning.
This. And why did the US abandon more than 10 other bases and operations up here since the end of the Soviet Union.
This is mafioso protection racket language.
“Be a real shame if someone came into your shop and busted up the place… Howz about youz guys let us take ownership? You can still manage the joint and we’ll protect it as a favor to youz. We take all the risk.”
Ok, I generally have a low opinion of lemmings, but I thought even you dumbshits would have figured this out by now. Let me spell it out for you:
CLAIMING THAT A PLACE’S CITIZENS ARE UNDER EXTERNAL THREAT IS A VERY COMMON PRETEXT FOR INVASION. IT IS LITERALLY EXACTLY THE EXCUSE RUSSIA USED IN UKRAINE. WHEN THE INVASION BEGINS, THE US WILL BE CLAIMING IT IS NECESSARY TO PROTECT THE PEOPLE OF GREENLAND.
Vance doesn’t believe this shit. No one believes this shit. He doesn’t expect anyone to believe this shit. He is publicly signaling to the world that the US is actively preparing to seize Greenland by force.
Who said Vance believes this? Most comments on this post are implying or outright stating that Greenland actually needs protection from the USA, not any other boogeyman. You’re arguing against a strawman.
The context of this post is not even about the statements from Vance anyway, it’s about pointing out the constant hypocrisy - Vance was just complaining about Zelensky not wearing a suit and heres Vance, wearing casual clothing at an official international press statement.
But hey, your shouting, insulting and complaining at the whole Lemmy community is really helping get across your point that everyone already understood anyway. iamverysmart energy.
Who said Vance believes this?
To be fair, after reading his Signal messages: that guy really seems to swallow up his own propaganda, he really seems to be that stupid. Doesn’t mean, the overall government strategy isn’t exactly as described, could just be that Shady Vance is not in on the joke or he also needed to pretend for some others in that chat
it’s about pointing out the constant hypocrisy
Which is missing the goddamn point. It’s not regular garden variety standard MAGA hypocrisy, it’s a causus belli.
Nah. The image screenshot is asking ‘where is his suit’ and OP is referring to it also. The fact you wanna go off on everyone about a tangential issue and say they’re missing the point is some cool irony though.
Also, casus belli is an act or event used to justify a war - that’s not happened here, this is rhetoric only. You are probably thinking of jus ad bellum.
Who exactly are you shouting at, as if everything you’re saying isn’t obvious as day?
Well, duh? Who do you think doesn’t know that?
EU countries need to start making plans to remove us bases by force and destroy any US forces if necessary.
Why do Americans always think in violence. The American people put a bunch of nazis into power, now you want Europe to fix it with a full out war. It’s like the US is full of toddlers. Idiocracy was a meant as a comedy, not a manual.
I am not American. I don’t want Europe to try and ‘fix’ the US, my suggestions are merely for the EU to avoid being taken over by the US.
Since the US has put a bunch of nazis into power it’s possible it will come to violence or threats of violence. It’s better to be prepared. It’s also better to act first if you know violence is inevitable.Or you could just acquiesce to any demand when threatened. Tariffs, give your natural resources to US companies, ban gays, ban ‘communism’ etc.
Or you could just acquiesce to any demand when threatened.
But Europe knows that appeasement works against a violent invader. They proved that was a good strategy in the 1930s.
How have fascists typically been successfully handled by the international community in the past?
Look at Germany, education is the answer.
edit: I was wrong, I don’t know the answer also I learned America is not a democracy.
Education can only be used, when there is a side willing to learn. When they disregard history as fiction, there is no point in educating them. You can also see this with the right Shift in rhetoric in German Media and politics with parties Like AfD, BSW and partly CDU, who are straight Up ignoring history or downplaying it.
Germany is your example of a fascist state that didn’t require violence to bring under control?
It was a call that plans may be required, and honestly that’s probably a good idea. The administration has repeatedly declined to rule out violent invasion when explicitly asked about how far they would go for their stated aspirations for Panama, Greenland, and Canada.
If you have a neighbor that keeps talking about how they want your house and they need to give up your house to them, and they have a whole bunch of weapons that they keep waving at your property while saying that they’ll do “whatever it takes” to have your land, then you don’t just wag your finger at them and say that’s bad and ignore the situation.
It’s not saying EU needs to do first strike, but they need to be prepared to defend their interests from violence as seems possible to be started by the US, which is an insane prospect I never would have imagined being a real thing in my life.
I’ve had Americans say to me that the only thing foreigners understand is violence.
Lol, coming from people living in a country where school shootings are normal, who’ve been in wars 222 of the past 239 years, who threaten to invade Greenland, Canada and Panama, who commit crimes against humanity and has slavery in its incarceration system, who has the largest military budget of the world by far, who had the strongest military force out there…
And the only thing foreigners understand is violence?!?
Oh the fucking irony.
Don’t forget their police who don’t have any kind of proper training so precincts have to find training on their own, which often leads to some pretty fucked up stuff. Themes will likely include making cops feel less like community protectors and more like “warriors” who are closer to Batman than real, engaged community support. Also those same cops have one helluva rate of domestic violence.
And then they’ll see people say stuff like that and start calling out corrupt police in some of the worst places on Earth as if the “greatest country” should be proud of clearing the lowest bar. It’s maddening because you can’t even talk to them without them getting hyper-defensive and angry.
It’s like the US is full of toddlers
Because it is. And like toddlers they have shat the bed and expect someone to clean up after them.
Yeah, because open warfare with the US is a great geopolitical move that will end super well for everyone except russia. 100% no russian victory in fomenting that particular brand of chaos. nope.
If they US is not planning on using military force against the EU, they will simply withdraw from EU territory peacefully when asked.
Chaos will be when US troops attack us from withing while Russia attacks from the east.
Are you from the EU?
Originally, I live in the US now. While I’m all for EU countries breaking military ties with the US, no really that is a super important move, open warfare with American forces would be suicide. The US has been the lynchpin of NATO for decades, and is tied in to every layer of the EU military apparatus. There isn’t parity with the american military in any way with respect to this, and it’s the kind of strategic disadvantage that can’t be overcome without legislative reform and many years of buildup. At the moment, especially with trump helming this shithole, any government asking the US to vacate it’s bases will need to do so with the understanding that they only have economic resources to fall back on if the US just says “no”.
You are making an assumption that the US will not attack or threaten to attack to get concessions from the EU unless the EU asks them to withdraw.
I am not saying the EU should take action today, it should prepare as much as it can first, but it needs to have plans to do it even today because it could be forced to.
Open warfare with the US in Europe is not suicide despite the US military being significantly bigger and capable compared to EU armies. Invading across an ocean is hard, you need to be able to move significant forces in or nearby before hostilities start or face no resistance in the initial landing.
Which is why EU armies need to have plans to quickly overwhelm US forces already in the EU, it can be done, they are not significant at present. Of course if you are unwilling to do so they can simply demand to increase their presence making the problem more difficult in the future.
It also needs to make sure the US have as few allies as possible that could help them stage from against it. Thankfully the UK at the moment does not seem to embrace Trump’s foreign policy but that could change in the future.
This is also why adding Canada to the EU at this point, when the main concern is security, is foolish, we cannot protect Canada, we probably cannot prevent an occupation of Greenland or any weird islands ex-imperial powers have god-knows-where.
The EU needs to implement a lot of changes to guarantee it’s safety and independence, some will be hard (unpopular, expensive).
It needs to increase military spending, massively It need to de-tangle EU military equipment from US dependencies, including US parts required for EU manufactured equipment. This could trigger a US reaction. It needs to replace NATO structures for interoperability of EU armies with EU ones, replicating as much as possible(personnel, procedures, equipment) It needs to make sure there are no outside loyalties in it’s armed forces which is going to be difficult after decades of NATO. Those are more dangerous than the existing US forces. It should implement some kind of conscription/reservist training force to have a bigger trained overall force. This is in addition to increasing regular professional forces. It needs to reduce US dependency in non-military sectors as well. Could also trigger a US reaction.
(It is late and I am tired, so I apologize if this comes accross as rude or similar. I’m really not trying to be.)
Invading across an ocean is hard, you need to be able to move significant forces in or nearby before hostilities start or face no resistance in the initial landing.
This isn’t WWII though, opposed landings aren’t something anyone still does. Besides that, in this hypothetical scenario everyone has nukes. It’s really just an exercise in how much aggression each side will tolerate before someone escalates to that point.
Look I’m not disagreeing with the broad sentiment that the EU needs to get it’s shit together and divest from the US militarily – the US has been practically begging for that since clinton, hell obama, biden and trump all warned against this exact fascist-takeover america-unreliable scenario. I also for sure am not assuming the US will not be the aggressor. I mean, we’re even threatening the EU with annexation right now. I seriously doubt it’ll get to that point, but it’s by no means ruled out.
Things like adding canada to the EU are excellent strategic moves, since it not only gives the EU an ally with many friendly airbases across the ocean but, waaaaay more importantly, it gives them economic strength with which to batter the US and bolster their own economies. This is an economic war, and the US probably won’t win it. Hoorayyy?
This isn’t WWII though, opposed landings aren’t something anyone still does. Besides that, in this hypothetical scenario everyone has nukes. It’s really just an exercise in how much aggression each side will tolerate before someone escalates to that point.
I am confused though, if you understand that the US cannot invade despite their superior military why do you think it’s suicide for the EU to take military action against the limited US forces in the EU’s own territory?
Look I’m not disagreeing with the broad sentiment that the EU needs to get it’s shit together and divest from the US militarily – the US has been practically begging for that since clinton, hell obama, biden and trump all warned against this exact fascist-takeover america-unreliable scenario. I also for sure am not assuming the US will not be the aggressor. I mean, we’re even threatening the EU with annexation right now. I seriously doubt it’ll get to that point, but it’s by no means ruled out.
The US has never before pushed for EU divestment from the US. Quite the opposite it has repeatedly pushed for more EU investment in military defense, a part of which would go to US industry. It has reduced it’s presence when the SU fell but it still maintained bases in Europe and while military action would not be in the table other forms of coercion would come into play if the EU demanded a complete US withdrawal from EU territory.
I am also confused about who you think Trump warned the EU against? His own America? He just wanted the EU to pay more to US industry.
Things like adding canada to the EU are excellent strategic moves, since it not only gives the EU an ally with many friendly airbases across the ocean but, waaaaay more importantly, it gives them economic strength with which to batter the US and bolster their own economies. This is an economic war, and the US probably won’t win it. Hoorayyy?
Adding Canada to the EU is not adding an ally to the EU it’s adding a member. It creates a security obligation which the EU cannot fulfill towards Canada. At the same time it could provoke the US to attack Canada. Of course if the US attacks Canada the EU should try and provide as much help as possible but at the moment or the near future that won’t really be much.
I do believe CETA is being provisionally applied reducing tariffs even if the arbitration stuff is not (nor should it really). There is no ‘economic’ war to be won, the US is putting arbitrary tariffs on anyone but Russia, they will obviously be hurt more than any of the individual economies they target.
Ah man… Point by point breakdowns are usually the death knell of a discussion. It just spirals into longer and longer posts with less and less substance. For example:
if you understand that the US cannot invade despite their superior military
Where did I say that the US can’t invade? Ukraine has shown that nuclear deterrence is an extremely complicated subject. Would France actually be willing to end the world to save the Dutch? Nobody knows!
I am also confused about who you think Trump warned the EU against? His own America? He just wanted the EU to pay more to US industry.
Yes exactly. Trump isn’t good at this. His arguments are too small to get his fat little body off the ground. Trump, of course, says them anyways. Trump doesn’t care what humans think.
It creates a security obligation which the EU cannot fulfill towards Canada.
What’s the problem? Canada is aware of this going into it, so is the EU. It’s clearly a move that bolsters economies and not the respective militaries, at least in the near term, which is what is currently under threat. Long term, economic and military partnership between the EU and canada is blah blah blah longwinded nobody cares blah
Quite the opposite it has repeatedly pushed for more EU investment in military defense, a part of which would go to US industry.
But but but… That’s divestment. That’s doing divestment.
Etc.
Isn’t that just… miserable? All I’m doing is picking your nits, and that doesn’t really further anything because at no point does it address your thesis. I’m just batting at your arguments like a fat cat who wants you to stop bonking into it with the mouse but is too lazy to actually move off the mousepad. It doesn’t add anything, except incentive for this to turn into another boring internet slap fight. Honestly this feels like either we’re agreeing but not realizing it, or you have no experience with the military at all but don’t want to admit that (and I really do not think it’s the second option!).
Okay, here, how about I say: “Current US forces in the EU are not and never have been an occupying force - they could be casually sidelined by parking a big truck in front of the gates and stopping the beer delivery” and you please try to believe me. Not even joking, like, you’re right and it’s 100% true, I promise, and I have not argued anything else at any point. The forces the US stations in Europe (with the possible exception of some of the air assets at German-hosted bases like Ramstein) have no significant conventional defensive ability, they’re all sigint, liaison and a guard for the nukes. They could be rolled over by a determined enough girlscout troop (probably not by the boyscouts, though…).
Everyone knows that.
If you cross cancel the nukes from both sides in this hypothetical scenario (because it’s no fun to speculate when the end state is “absolutely everyone dies forever”) you’re left with a coalition of economically and culturally extremely powerful countries that just utterly lack a response to realities like “seven carrier strike groups” or “more than a thousand F35s”. Any hypothetical US occupation of the EU would obviously devolve into the exact kind of guerilla/insurgent warfare the US absolutely sucks at, but that doesn’t matter if this lunatic admin decides to have ROEs that are really relaxed about things like ‘civilians’. You just cannot win a war of attrition with the US right now, it’s pretty doubtful even the other superpowers could (that’s why they’re going the election interference route…) and provoking one by attacking US tripwire bases would be suicidal.
I feel like I should point out here that I do not like this. I’m not proud about this shit, honestly I’m too busy worrying about the “my country is burning down around me and I haven’t even got a bucket with which to staunch the flames” thing. But, the good news is (not for me I admit) that any significant mobilization to invade the EU will trigger a civil war in the US. To say that the idea ‘is as popular as giving children syphilis’ is to do a disservice to hyperbole. So I guess take heart that they’d have to roll over a great many americans (including me) before they ever get off the mainland.
…
Well, okay, these fuckers would happily do that (honestly they’d probably consider it a bonus), but the tree of moral victory is watered with the blood of martyrs. And fertilized with the paste their corpses have been ground into. And probably guided on a trellis made from what few bones weren’t ground into powder.
…
Or something, idk. This is getting dumb. I just really hope there’ll never be a chance for me to be proven right.
“Denmark isn’t doing enough to keep Greenland safe… from America.”
FTFY (Finished This For You)
WTF is going on anymore?! I feel like we are living in a fever dream.
Honestly, I don’t even think the Trump regime knows whats going on. They’re kinda just doing whatever as fast as possible since they know midterms likely won’t go their way.
Agreed. I can fully see martial law being implemented or an actual civil violence happening just as midterms are about to begin.
According to the EO he signed on Jan 20th it might be sooner. They have 90 days to determine if we should declare a national emergency over the border. April 20th marks 90 days. It’s also Hitlers birthday and a pagan holiday.
4/20 blaze it!
That too so elon can pretend to be “le epic meme lord”
Hell I wouldn’t be the least but surprised if the US is otherwise dissolved by then, actually that’d be kinda funny all fifty states, Puerto Rico, and American Samoa independent with the US only existing in Guam while everyone hashes how who gets what.
I don’t think they care about elections very much anymore. They just openly buy them now (combined with all the voter suppression of course). These guys are what the US is stuck with from now on unless forcibly ejected.
I think they don’t really know what is going on because they are evil morons, they want everything done right now, without knowing exactly what “everything” is except more grifting and pleasing Putin.
He is trying to look like Zelensky. How pathetic is that??
At the same time he looks like he forgot to remove the eyeliner from last night.
Weird to think he puts it on every morning thinking it looks good on him, just like Trump does with his terrible tan. Republicans have a thing for gaudy and tacky like no other.
Did this fuckwit steal Zelenskis look?
LOL - And the US is doing such a great job of keeping US citizens safe? Yeah FUCKING RIGHT!
Couch Fucker: Denmark isn’t doing enough to keep Greenland safe!
Reporter: Safe from who?
Couch Fucker: From us of course!
Don’t call him that it’s disrespectful.
Disrespectful to his victims that is, he’s a “Couch Rapist”
