Aside from the what appears to be the “minor” consideration of what people in Greenland would like (less than 20% want to join U.S. according to a recent poll), all of trump’s talk of taking over that land raises a very eerie aura of deja vu from a period of time nearly a century ago. With the military option open according to trump, to what extent might we refer to a proposed takeover as “Greenland-schluss” an evocation of Nazi Germany's annexation of Austria a year and a half before the start of World War II. History buffs are aware that the German occupation of Austria, a key beginning step in Hitler’s attempted path to world domination, took place on March 12 1938, and was referred to as "Anschluss", or annexation. Hitler’s success in Austria led to Germany next launching attacks on the independent state of Czechoslovakia, from which Hitler demanded the “Sudetenland,” the area on Czechoslovakia's perimeter which was primarily a German speaking region of the country (anyone see parallels with the Ukraine situation?) The Sudetenland was where Czechoslovakia had natural defenses (it was a mountainous area) and a series of strong defensive fortifications. With Hitler demanding the cessation of the German speaking areas to Germany, and Czechoslovakia resisting, negotiations were arranged in Munich, Germany in September 1939, with the leaders of Britain, France, Germany and Italy present, but notably not the leader of Czechoslovakia. These negotiations led to the infamous Munich Pact, in which British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain and French Premier Daladier agreed to Hitler’s demand for annexation of the Sudetenland, while Hitler agreed not to seek any more territories from Czechoslovakia or any other countries. Without British and French (or American) support, Czechoslavakia was ill-prepared to resist the demands for it’s territory. Upon returning to Britain Neville Chamberlain became well-known for his statement that this pact had achieved “Peace for Our Time”.
As the saying goes the rest is history. On March 16, 1939, less than half a year after the Munich Pact, Hitler took easily took over Czechoslovakia which had lost it’s natural defenses and it’s fortifications. Taking it over gave Hitler control over the Czechoslovakian armaments industry, one of the most powerful in Europe. And barely half a year after taking over Czechoslovakia, on September 1, 1939, Germany invaded Poland, and Britain and France subsequently declared war on Germany, and thus began World War II.
While Americans tend not to be the most historically aware people in the world, the eerie historical parallels implied by the calls for what might be referred to as Greenlandschluss, and the possibility of a Munich Pact type sellout of the Ukraine ought at least to be stated and emphasized as preemptive actions in attempting to reduce the probability of such actions actually being taken. It remains to be seen how such such policies might go over with the American people, but here’s hoping that pointing out these parallels may at least be a consideration.