SO, UNITED States President Mr. Donald Trump has no intentions of attacking Greenland and seize the place, but ‘buy’ it, if we are to believe US Secretary of State Mr. Marco Rubio. Mr. Trump is a kind man -- unwilling to hurt anybody, and he is also willing to accommodate everybody -- including Mr. Nicolas Maduro, the Venezuelan President whom the US forces captured and deposited him in an American court on drug charges. The people of Greenland -- and also of Denmark under whose sovereign control the place is an autonomous region -- do not understand Mr. Trump’s kind gesture and they stand out in the streets displaying placards stating that ‘Greenland is not up for sale’. Danish establishment, too, is getting ready to oppose any American move as regards Greenland -- not realising how kind-hearted Mr. Donald Trump is and how accommodative the US is of the needs of its friend-members of North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO).

 

The Danish people -- as also some other NATO member-nations -- fail to understand that what dominates Mr. Trump’s heart is extreme empathy for his NATO allies and he is trying to usurp Greenland only out of that empathy. Jokes apart, factually, the US -- and of course Mr. Trump -- is acting like a bull in China shop, spreading devastation, demolishing the current international order, spewing venom, threatening everybody, brandishing American power ... ! In the process, the US is refusing to pay attention to the words of caution uttered by its friends -- that NATO would be finished if Mr. Trump tries to usurp Greenland. If the US really swoops on Greenland, NATO would be finished and the world would get pushed to the brink of a possible world war. Stakes, thus, are disastrous, to say the least. But the US does not seem even aware of the intrinsic risks and dangers that his moves would entail in the end. It is least worried about NATO’s existence. It is not concerned about the warning issued by Russia; It is least concerned about the new world order after the US really acquires control of Greenland in whatever manner. It wants Greenland, and it will rest only after it is in Washington’s control.

 

It is least bothered if NATO would survive that American move or not. For the present, the US has only one concern -- cornering the world’s best resources and storing the materials in safe places for future use. At this juncture, India did say that safety of nations should have top priority. But it is not the American habit to listen to such words of wisdom. It makes a decision, and then starts moving in the direction of its choice. That is what is going to happen in Greenland, and that is what is going to happen in Cuba -- possibly later in Iran.

 

The bull has moved into a China shop, and is smashing everything down. Though the world has seen many confrontations in the past few decades after the World War II, the current situation has had no parallel. Even though the US was often criticised by the world as a bully, the current posturing of President Mr. Trump has no precedence. The world, therefore, will have to work extra hard to find an appropriate response to the American vandalism. For, when logic fails, the world will require another approach -- which may not be too different from the language of armed conflict. If the world really gets pushed to that point, then nobody would ever be able to predict what would be in store for humanity.

 

Had the Americans known such a possibility, they might not have voted for Mr. Trump for a repeat term. Of course, one would love to trust the world’s collective wisdom to pave a way out of this crisis. If the Big Daddy is acting stupid, others will have to start taking cautious steps so that they together can restrict his hooliganism. There is no doubt, however, that the Russia-Ukraine or the Middle-East crises appear to have paled in significance the moment the Trump-driven crisis of dangerous one-upmanship raised its ugly head -- giving the world a lot of work to do.