If you support self-determination for the Greenlanders but not for the Chagossians, or vice versa, then you deserve nothing but contempt, as surely as if you opposed the invasion of Venezuela purely to change its President but you supported regime change in Iraq, or vice versa.
In last night's divisions on Chagos, the only Green who turned up voted consistently with the Government, the only Reform UK Peer did not attend, and the votes of the Liberal Democrats defeated the amendment for a referendum of the Chagossians.
There are only about 10,000 Chagossians in the world, so if it would cost America only $57 billion to buy each inhabitant of Greenland for one million dollars, then it would cost China, India, or whoever Mauritius was playing at the time, only $10 billion to pay that to every Chagossian. But would they accept? Should they, in the Greenlanders' case even before they considered how quickly it would be eaten up by the transition from the Danish to the American healthcare system?
After all, would or should the 3,662 people on the Falkland Islands, as of 2021 but it has scarcely changed, take equal shares of $3.662 billion to be bought by Argentina? If you support self-determination for the Falkland Islanders but not for either or both of the Greenlanders and the Chagossians, or vice versa, then you deserve nothing but contempt.
“ as surely as if you opposed the invasion of Venezuela purely to change its President but you supported regime change in Iraq, or vice versa.”
ReplyDeleteOr as surely as if you opposed the invasion of Venezuela but not the illegal invasion of Ukraine…
No British ally has invaded Ukraine, and no Member of Parliament has failed to condemn that invasion.
DeleteThe people of Greenland have very little interest in becoming American, losing their free healthcare, their language, their culture, and their ability to control their environment. There is full employment in Greenland. Any major investment and development would require importing labour and end the current Inuit population majority.
ReplyDeleteVery well said.
Delete“ No British ally has invaded Ukraine, and no Member of Parliament has failed to condemn that invasion.”
ReplyDeleteI was talking about those anti-Western commentators who failed to condemn that invasion and opposed any support for Ukraine’s defence but loudly condemn this.
In fact, Trump’s new administration is merely following the Monroe Doctrine logic of spheres of influence that Russia uses to justify its invasion, so no surprise the same US administration is very soft on Russia and is pushing Ukraine to cede territory to it.
Illiterate.
Delete“ Illiterate.”
ReplyDeleteIt’s in fact what real experts acknowledge is happening. It’s rightwing realism in action. Trump and Putin made a deal to stick to their respective spheres of influence, with Russia ceding the Southern Hemisphere to the US in return for the US standing aside from Russia’s sphere of influence in Ukraine.
Hence Putin’s silence over the removal of his ally Maduro and this rightwing US administration’s soft stance on Russia while pushing Ukraine to give up its NATO ambitions and cede the Donbas to its invader.
We were all young once.
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