Voiding International Agreements Can Have Awkward Consequences
US hands Denmark a $25M check at Closing on the purchase of the Virgin Islands
History is so cool.
In 1917, Denmark and the US approved a treaty (or more specifically, a convention), the guts of which are summed up in two simple paragraphs:
His Majesty the King of Denmark by this convention cedes to the United States all territory, dominion and sovereignty, possessed, asserted or claimed by Denmark in the West Indies including the Islands of Saint Thomas, Saint John and Saint Croix together with the adjacent islands and rocks.
[snip]
In full consideration of the cession made by this convention, the United States agrees to pay, within ninety days from the date of the exchange of the ratifications of this convention, in the City of Washington to the diplomatic representative or other agent of His Majesty the King of Denmark duly authorized to receive the money, the sum of twenty-five million dollars in gold coin of the United States.
The bulk of the document spells out the details, like how long Denmark has to vacate the premises, what items go with them and what transfers to the new owners, etc.
So OK, the US bought the Virgin Islands from Denmark? What’s the big deal, you ask.
The big deal is a little clearer when you see the “Declaration” at the end, made by US Secretary of State Robert Lansing:
In proceeding this day to the signature of the Convention respecting the cession of the Danish West-Indian Islands to the United States of America, the undersigned Secretary of State of the United States of America, duly authorized by his Government, has the honor to declare that the Government of the United States of America will not object to the Danish Government extending their political and economic interests to the whole of Greenland.
Ah. So the deal was the US gets the Virgin Islands, and Denmark gets Greenland and $25M in gold coin.
And now, Trump wants to void the deal. He ought to be careful, though, because there are other deals like this that the US made that other leaders might want to void.
In 1803, there was a little real estate deal that took three Conventions to lay out all the details (part cash, part debt-swap; involving 3 different nations), but the basic deal was this:
Whereas by the Article the third of the Treaty concluded at St Ildefonso the 9th Vendé miaire an 9/1st October 1800 between the First Consul of the French Republic and his Catholic Majesty [of Spain] it was agreed as follows.
“His Catholic Majesty promises and engages on his part to cede to the French Republic six months after the full and entire execution of the conditions and Stipulations herein relative to his Royal Highness the Duke of Parma, the Colony or Province of Louisiana with the Same extent that it now has in the hand of Spain, & that it had when France possessed it; and Such as it Should be after the Treaties subsequently entered into between Spain and other States.”
And whereas in pursuance of the Treaty and particularly of the third article the French Republic has an incontestible title to the domain and to the possession of the said Territory–The First Consul of the French Republic desiring to give to the Unit ed States a strong proof of his friendship doth hereby cede to the United States in the name of the French Republic for ever and in full Sovereignty the said territory with all its rights and appurtenances as fully and in the Same manner as they have bee n acquired by the French Republic in virtue of the above mentioned Treaty concluded with his Catholic Majesty.[snip]
The Government of the United States engages to pay to the French government in the manner Specified in the following article the sum of Sixty millions of francs independant of the Sum which Shall be fixed by another Convention for the payment of the debts due by France to citizens of the United States.
For the payment of the Sum of Sixty millions of francs mentioned in the preceeding article the United States shall create a Stock of eleven millions, two hundred and fifty thousand Dollars bearing an interest of Six per cent: per annum payable half y early in London Amsterdam or Paris amounting by the half year to three hundred and thirty Seven thousand five hundred Dollars, according to the proportions which Shall be determined by the french Govenment to be paid at either place: The principal of t he Said Stock to be reimbursed at the treasury of the United States in annual payments of not less than three millions of Dollars each; of which the first payment Shall commence fifteen years after the date of the exchange of ratifications:–this Stock Shall be transferred to the government of France or to Such person or persons as Shall be authorized to receive it in three months at most after the exchange of ratifications of this treaty and after Louisiana Shall be taken possession of the name of the Government of the United States.
It is further agreed that if the french Government Should be desirous of disposing of the Said Stock to receive the capital in Europe at Shorter terms that its measures for that purpose Shall be taken So as to favour in the greatest degree possible the credit of the United States, and to raise to the highest price the Said Stock.
Again, lots of details passed over in these three conventions, but the essence of deal is simple: the US gets the land, and France gets cash and a settlement on the debts they owe to US citizens.
Perhaps if Trump wants to revoke by fiat the Convention with Denmark over the Virgin Islands and Greenland, President Macron might start thinking he should do the same with Trump over Louisiana.
His Majesty the Emperor of all the Russias, agrees to cede to the United States, by this convention, immediately upon the exchange of the ratifications thereof, all the territory and dominion now possessed by his said Majesty on the continent of America and in adjacent islands, the same being contained within the geographical limits herein set forth, to wit: [geographic details omitted]
[snip]
In consideration of the cession aforesaid, the United States agree to pay at the Treasury in Washington, within ten months after the exchange of the ratifications of this convention, to the diplomatic representative or other agent of His Majesty the Emperor of all the Russias, duly authorized to receive the same, seven million two hundred thousand dollars in gold.
Again, lots of details omitted, but these two paragraphs lay out the broad parameters of the deal. Now imagine Putin wanting it back.
See, that’s the thing about international agreements. If you decide they aren’t worth the paper they are written on, other folks might agree with you and act accordingly.
Sarah Palin might want to brush up on her Russian, and I may need to be working on my French.
ADDENDUM
Don’t know how I could have forgotten this one from 1819, but I hit publish before it occurred to me.
His Catholic Majesty [of Spain] cedes to the United States, in full property and sovereignty, all the territories which belong to him, situated to the eastward of the Mississippi, known by the name of East and West Florida. The adjacent islands dependent on said provinces, all public lots and squares, vacant lands, public edifices, fortifications, barracks, and other buildings, which are not private property, archives and documents, which relate directly to the property and sovereignty of said provinces, are included in this article. The said archives and documents shall be left in possession of the commissaries or officers of the United States, duly authorized to receive them.
[snip]
The United States, exonerating Spain from all demands in future, on account of the claims of their citizens to which the renunciations herein contained extend, and considering them entirely cancelled, undertake to make satisfaction for the same, to an amount not exceeding five millions of dollars.
Lots of other details omitted, but you get the idea.
Perhaps Trump can ask one of his minions how to say “Welcome to Mar-a-Lago” in Spanish?
Nice. I believe it likely many more similar situations exist. We in the USA are currently being run by criminals who openly defy the law, largely on the basis that since they are in charge, the law is what they say and do. So much for treaties and common sense.
About the Louisiana Purchase, as it’s known in American textbooks, the French territory of “Louisiana” included what are now all or parts of a dozen states, comprising most of the American Midwest. A bit of history and geography the French are not likely to forget.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louisiana_Purchase
What’s really interesting is that this Convention does not define the territory in question other than to refer to it as “Louisiana,” assuming that both sides understood exactly what that covered. The Convention on the purchase of Alaska, on the other hand, went into considerable detail:
Following up . . .
There is a statement in the Convention as quoted above saying in essence “we’re giving you exactly the same territory as we acquired from Spain in our earlier treaty with them,” so presumably it was defined in more detail there.
It may be specific because the British already had well-established claims in the region starting with Rupert’s Land IIRC. Therefore, the boundary had to be precise.
And then there’s that little Treaty of Guadalupe-Hidalgo: http://www.archives.gov/milestone-documents/treaty-of-guadalupe-hidalgo. “This treaty, signed on February 2, 1848, ended the war between the United States and Mexico. By its terms, Mexico ceded 55 percent of its territory, including the present-day states California, Nevada, Utah, New Mexico, most of Arizona and Colorado, and parts of Oklahoma, Kansas, and Wyoming. Mexico also relinquished all claims to Texas, and recognized the Rio Grande as the southern boundary with the United States.” 525,000 square miles. The Governor of Texas might be a little surprised to become a state of Mexico, over there on the Gulf of.
Guadalupe Hidalgo, Treaty of 1848.
California Gold Rush 1849.
Excellent, Peterr. One good terror-tory deserves another.
Thanks. Like I said, isn’t history cool?
Isn’t history cool? Mircea Eliade thinks it’s terrifying, and so do a lot of other people. If get the drift.
So, by that reasoning if the Brits were to take on TACO over the Greenland kerfuffle and fail would we need to rebrand him ‘Chicken Catch a Tory’?
I get as giddy as a schoolboy thinking of the reaction to the MAGATs out there if Mexico did indeed pull this tit-for-tat – sent the US Treasury a check for $15M and revoked that Treaty of Guadalupe-Hidalgo. (h/t Naomi Schiff)
525,000 square miles? The Rio Grande and The Colorado inside of Ole Mexico?
Taco trucks on every corner indeed. A good thing.
The 55 percent of its territory Mexico ceded – including the present-day states California, Nevada, Utah, New Mexico, most of Arizona and Colorado, and parts of Oklahoma, Kansas, and Wyoming Estados Unidos Mexicanos? Gracias.
De nada…
Mexico also relinquished all claims to Texas, and recognized the Rio Grande as the southern boundary with the United States?
Pffffttttt….not anymore.
I would personally love to see Rosa Icela Rodríguez Velázquez make Santa Barbara the official Mexican ‘summer National Palace’ – ah yes, she and Claudia playing pickle ball and enjoying horchata while mugging for the camera in their tennis whites and casually flipping off The Felon Guy.
Priceless.
Thanks Peterr.
The Rio Grande would revert to the Rio Bravo
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Could we force Mexico to take back Texas – as is, lock, stock and barrel? Ted Cruz being part of what they’d have to take, Elon too. The Texan ICE thugs now in the streets of Minnesota, they’d go to Mexico. And let Texas then redistrict for Mexican elections.
$25M in 1917 would be about $630B today accounting for inflation (btw, I most would prefer gold coins rather than dollars) for some small islands that only have value as vacation destinations. The price of Greenland must be the tens of Trillions at least given its mineral resources. Where does Trump think this money would come from? Is Denmark going to accept a check?
Where? Tariffs, of course, plus a few more DOGE cuts.
/snark
Check out the video Paul Krugman posted today.
It helps to post a link when you make a comment like that.
https://paulkrugman.substack.com/p/the-stupidest-trump-move-so-far
That said, it’s a great video. I also like this from the text that Krugman posted:
That pretty much says it.
Yes, Peterr, history is cool. Thank you very much for this post.
Since I like reading original legal texts, I found (after a little research) a pdf of the respective Convention in 39 Stat. 1706 (https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/STATUTE-39/pdf/STATUTE-39-Pg1706.pdf). What’s printed on the margin next to the Declaration you’ve quoted in full in your post, summarizes it in only 5 words: “Danish authority in Greenland recognized.”
I’m sure you’ve seen it as well, but I was just struck by the brevity possible to express what had been declared.
I’m kind of surprised that Trump hasn’t scared the folks at govinfo.gov into revising such unAmerican information as what you quoted.
It’s just a scan of the official gazette. Maybe Miller still has to find out how to pull these from the internet.
But this international law, for which Trump has no use. He is guided solely by his moral compass.
Trump would need to have a moral compass in place to be guided by one. Ergo, the problem.
Trump did not sign those treaties therefore they must be invalid.
See how easy that was?
They used an autoquill. Invalid!
Peterr, you are a gift from God.
Also, no one in the Trump 2.0 cabinet has ever said, “cool idea. So, when we do that, what happens next?”
And they never will.
If Trump paid the slightest attention to contracts, at a minimum, he would be offering a justification for breaking them. “Because I have a psychological need to own property.” Is a diagnosis not a justification. Stephen Miller suggests the inability to defend the territory provides grounds for taking over territory. But that is not a justification for nullifying the contract.
A lawless President cares little for treaties.
Yesterday, Cheryl Rofer RePosted this THREAD by
Max Bergman, Director of the Europe, Russia, Eurasia Program at CSIS:
https://bsky.app/profile/maxbergmann.bsky.social/post/3mco5ejyba22t
10:04 PM · Jan 17, 2026 [THREAD]
25 minutes ago, Max Bergman posted:
https://bsky.app/profile/maxbergmann.bsky.social/post/3mcpekvp7k22j
9:45 AM · Jan 18, 2026
Links to Finbarr Bermingham, Senior Correspondent for Europe at the South China Morning Post:
Links to:
EU trade ‘bazooka’ back on the table, as Greenland tariff threat blows up US deal
French President Emmanuel Macron will ask the EU to activate its Anti-Coercion Instrument
if new US tariffs materialise [Euroactiv dot com]
I say this without yet fully reading the thread here: There is what I believe will come to be known historically as “The Israeli Solution.” That being we want it we take it. If not all immediately, ultimately. An alternative to treaty and rule of law.
I will follow the thread here, but regarding Greenland there is another thread I am unwinding: Praxis (https://www.praxisnation.com/), with a wiki ( Google = Praxis(proposed city) ) and recent coverage in Gizmodo (https://gizmodo.com/peter-thiel-backed-startup-that-wanted-to-buy-greenland-is-thrilled-that-trump-wants-to-buy-greenland-2000548415). The Gizmodo item is recent and has links. It is hard to know what’s real or a joke with Silicon Valley Libertarians, but the intent seems to be turning Greenland into a Utopia, so own it first. That thread suggests why “already there” might not be enough for Peter Thiel, et al., and Trump likes his donors to remain happy, indeed, to the extent he took on JD.
“…the intent seems to be turning Greenland into a Utopia…”
Um, have they *met* Greenland?
The MAGA designs on the country necessarily overlook the vast (and in their hands planet-destroying) energy inputs required to exploit it for the purposes they desire. Of course Trump & Co. deny climate change; their nihilistic/apocalyptic worldview allows total negligence of environmental consequences. But Greenlanders and Europeans don’t see it that way. They take these things seriously, and see the US’s slippage on the environment with appropriate alarm.
They haven’t met Mars, either, and yet somehow the techbro oligarchy thinks it’s a Utopia just waiting for their benign *cough* benevolence *cough-cough* in order to blossom and attain its destiny as white men’s future.
It’s colonialism — yet another facet of white supremacist patriarchy. It’s denial of consent at scale.
It also seems to deny reality – they think that wanting something hard enough will make it real.
Like many perps and rapists, rape and then claim ownership…owning means total access to violate again and again and again.
Reply to -mamake-
January 18, 2026 at 12:48 pm
Makes me sick thinking how many layers there are to the loss of consent across society, and how it has taken so damned long to get through to some people that their own ability to consent or deny consent has been damaged when they don’t protect the rights of others.
I wrote about it in 2016 when I could see the threat Trump posed, and again in 2022 with regard to Putin’s attack on Ukraine’s sovereignty. The same abusers still believe of course they can do whatever they want, they can’t be denied. They must be stopped.
Thank you. Never thought of it that way. You are correct. Puts a whole new spin on things.
“Might makes right” = Stephen Miller.
Trump denies climate change but wants Greenland due to the impact of climate change.
Quote from the main colonization proponent, from Gizmodo article:
“Praxis would like to support Greenland’s development by coordinating talent, companies, and capital to help secure the Arctic, extract critical resources, terraform the land with advanced technology to make it more habitable, and build a mythical city in the North.”
Given Peter Thiel’s apparent interest, rather than “Praxis,” maybe a better name for the mythical city would be Utumno.
Excellent point.
After the moon landing and things started to quiet down a bit, I thought that must have cost a lot of money. the people who think its great to go into space and try to acquire planets might want to have a look at Earth and spend some money on it and its inhabitants. Would be a better investment. If some countries want to get to mars to weaponize it or an out post for the billionaire class, let them pay for it themselves
Mind you it does remind me of the bread and circuses routine, of course these days without the bread
This is useful to know but it’s not connected to what the Trumpers are doing because they assume Denmark just took the land and all land was taken by conquest because that’s just how it’s done. That’s why they never objected to Putin invading Ukraine because they see it as a war between two dictators fighting over the same land; not a dictator invading a democracy.
If they learn there was a treaty they won’t care because they think treaties are empty pleasantries and not binding in any way. I mean, Trump notoriously uses business contracts as the starting point after contractors provide goods & services and he refuses to pay. And Stephen Miller and Vance think treaties are clever tricks that only suckers take seriously.
But countries aren’t foundational and there’s no reset point at which treaties undo or we’d need to give America back to whichever Native American tribes got here first and I’d need to head back to Europe to find the cave my first ancestor claimed after leaving Africa. The rules started over after World War II and now wars of conquest are strictly verboten and self-governance is encouraged as much as possible. Every war America was in since then was intended to promote democracy, not conquest or imperialism. They didn’t achieve that but self-governance and democracy was the goal.
It’s arguable about the reasons for wars since 1945. Some of them were about which ideology would get to run the local government.
I pretty much agreed with you until this:
“Every war America was in since then was intended to promote democracy, not conquest or imperialism. They didn’t achieve that but self-governance and democracy was the goal.”
My view is that you have drunk a lot of Kool Aid. And, let’s not limit it to US wars. What about Chile, Guatemala, and god knows how many other actions which have not been “wars?”
Give me a break. All those wars or events with guns the Americans were involved in had nothing to do with democracy. It was simply wanting land, resources, or trying to prevent other major powers from acquiring what they U.S.A. and some others wanted. As i do recall the U.S.A. wasn’t even a democracy. As a kid I read newspapers, magazines, later there was t.v. and what I became aware of is that in the U.S.A. people who were classified as “black/Negro” were not permitted to vote all over their country. So please don’t ever try to tell this former kid it was about democracy. I also knew that in Canada people who were Indigenous did not have the right to vote in Federal elections until 1960 unless they gave up their “Indian Status”.
If the leaders of countries want to go to war I suggest we revert to the really old system where the leader of the groups led their soldiers into battle themselves. Oh how that has entertained me over the decades of my life. Have a look at some world leaders and how they’d do. Can just imagine Trump waddling along to go face whom ever. Of course if he had gotten into the ring with Trudeau it would have been the end of Trump and his carrying on about 51st state, etc. Prior to becoming P.M. Trudeau and a Conservative Senator got in the ring for a charity event. I about the only one in my social circle who thought Trudeau would win, His opponent had a bit of a rep. as a brawler. Trudeau, boxing in a ring for exercise. Trudeau won, just as I expected.
Wow. Your last paragraph is a doozy. Henry Kissinger would be pleased that someone believed his propaganda. Either that, or you grew up reading Texas textbooks.
Trump: “If Kissinger could win the Nobel Peace Prize, why not me?”
More like…
Trump: “If Obama could win the Nobel Peace Prize, why not me?”
======
Trump loves sharing other people’s accolades – none which he earned himself.
• Someone else’s Purple Heart
• Someone else’s Super Bowl ring
• Dozens of golf trophies
• Someone else’s World Cup trophy
• Someone else’s Championship Player medal
• Someone else’s Nobel Prize
#StolenValor
Message from THE BOSS, last night:
Promised Land – for Renee Good, Bruce Springsteen, Light of Day,
1/17/26, Count Basie Theater [VIDEO]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kozx1KGI3sg
From history.com:
“A continuous Viking presence on Greenland first dates to around A.D. 985, when, according to the medieval Icelandic sagas, Erik the Red landed there at the head of a large fleet (after being temporarily banished from Iceland for killing two men in a neighborly feud).”
While the Vikings mysteriously vanished in the 15th century it appears that Donald the Orange contemplates a return.
Trump likes to pretend that his (German) family came from “Sweden.”
They did not. Trump is no Viking.
Sorry for the o/t…but it IS…
A Message from THE BOSS, last night:
Promised Land – for Renee Good, Bruce Springsteen, Light of Day,
1/17/26, Count Basie Theater [VIDEO]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kozx1KGI3sg
[There’s a complete transcript of what Springsteen says in a comment that’s in the pokey.]
Trump is doing a good job driving the UK back towards the EU wi,th even Reform (who come out of the Brexit campaign) tell Donnie he has got it wrong. Apparently Starmer told him so by phone as well today which means he has given up on the “be as nice as you can to Donald” policy he has applied to date.
Of course what has changed since all the treaties /conventions Peterr to ably quotes is that we now take the concept of self-determination seriously. You will not how carefully the Danes and all the European supporters say the decision is for the Greenlanders. The Greenlanders being mainly Inuit their closest relatives are of course in Canada not the USA.
And by the way no self-respecting European would wish to become subject to the US healthcare system.
Trump is slapping tariffs on the E.U. for their position on Greenland. In doing so, Trump pushed the E.U. and South America (minus Venezuela and Bolivia) into a free trade agreement.
https://apnews.com/article/mercosur-european-union-trade-agreement-south-america-b779460da4b7ecb6aa15d322976fa70d
OT In this video, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IuJ-Vdt3cXM, the claim is that billionaires are leaving CA because of a wealth tax being imposed.
Is CA implementing the tax, are billionaires scurrying out of the state and are the claimed effects of the billionaires departure realistic?
It’s a proposed tax, which, I believe, has to be voted upon.
They’re so greedy that they can’t even stand to give up 5% of their billions. (Which would be $50 million on $1 billion.)
One has been proposed, but not enacted. Gov Newsom has been publicly opposed to it, as this would need to be done nationally to have any meaningful effect.
Newsom’s BFFs are billionaires.
True, but that does not negate the national vs state argument he makes.
Also, this is apparently supposed to be one-time-only.
This looks highly suspicious. Dana Sterling purports to be part of “Maddow News” which does not exist. YouTube also notes “Sound or visuals were significantly edited or digitally generated.” The account is only four days old, with only six videos, all of which are hair-on-fire clickbait.
Also, the name is more famous from a fictional sci-fi saga called Robotech.
My sense is to disregard this.
This YT account was created in October 2025 and sports a grand total of (now) 7 uploaded videos, the oldest of which is from 4 days ago, and all of them are about California and Newsom, with alarming clickbait lettering, and unflattering photos of Newsom on the left side and this Dana lady looking equally alarmed on the right side. This account already has 22,000+ subscribers, which not small.
As far as “Maddow News”, what the heck is that? They just coined that phrase, undoubtedly without Rachel Maddow’s knowledge or permission and throw it into the video description as if it’s actually “something”.
A lot of independent media pundits have been grappling with AI co-optation of their voices and words, taken out of context, in the last few months. Rick Wilson even went so far as to implore his followers to report fake Rick Wilson videos (which are quite numerous) to YT so that they might feel pressured to take them down. Same has happened with Heather Cox Richardson, who has warned people to beware of fake Heather videos, David Pakman, who did a critique of the quality of various fakes of him, and even a far-right dude named Victor Hanson Davis, who has fake videos circulating around, so this is an equal-opportunity scam.
I don’t know if this video qualifies as AI slop (haven’t watched it, but I get the idea) or not, but folks: AI fakery is here now, it’s all over the place, caveat emptor.
The assets that are being taxed are supposedly Class B shares which are strictly voting shares that are held by “the owners/founders” to keep control of the companies and their ownership value if that was monetized.
In some cases supposedly more than the cash the owners may have.
That’s the reason the billionaires have left CA.
“…. Putin represents the crushing of the hopes for a different Russia. Trump represents a betrayal of the abstract ideals on which this country was founded.” M Gessen
Gessen says when an autocrat tells you what he is going to do, believe him.
there is not much time left —
To my knowledge, Russia has always been an autocracy, whether it’s a tsar, a khan (Mongol period), or an oligarch.
OT maybe, 1:55-2:15 of https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=3WYP2Lsh_Kc oil exec tells Trump his company lost $12 billion in assets in Venezuela and Trump makes him repeat it and then says you got a (from the king of write offs) nice write off, huh-huh.
The rest of the video is about Trump grabbing these guys’ and everyone else‘s genitalia, because when…they let you grab…
Especially now with Michael Cohen falling in line.
Great post, Peterr, and very interesting! You see, Trump needs to own land to feel “psychologically” whole, or so he said something similar to the NYTimes. I was watching BBC News yesterday and someone mentioned the deal where the U.S. acquired the Virgin Islands and we gave Denmark gold and Greenland. Trump has no historical orientation, since he reads nothing, so I’m sure he isn’t even aware of this treaty. Sadly, we have an incompetent, ahistorical dementia patient threatening a NATO ally with violence over land we willingly gave up in a legal contractual agreement over a century ago. Pathetic.
re-aware, he’s not aware of any of the crimes those that he pardoned had committed, when he ripped up the Iran deal and the climate accord, the illegality of rape, defamation and all the crimes he and his family committed. And his sister, a judge, like he, weren’t aware of the crimes their father committed…
He, his family and the administration are just simple ignorant persons, lol.
Let us not forget that Little and Great Saint James Islands – the Epstein islands – were included in that very same Danish West Indies acquisition!
Coincidence? I think not!
Interesting! The 1917 treaty (convention) contains many provisions regarding the owners’ property rights, that they mostly won’t be touched.
According to his infantile tantrum letter to Norway, he is completely unaware of, or doesn’t give a monkey’s about, that treaty:
“There are no written documents, it’s only that a boat landed there hundreds of years ago, but we had boats landing there, also.”
It’s also pretty obvious that, inasmuch as he is aware of that thing called history, he doesn’t care unless it fulfils his ‘psychological need’.
See also his attacks on the Smithsonian.
In a letter to Norwegian PM, Trump said his failure to win the Nobel Peace Prize has shifted his focus, as he ramps up bid to take over huge Arctic island.
https://www.politico.eu/article/norway-pm-store-says-us-trump-peace-prize-snub-for-greenland-ambitions/
You don’t want to call me the Peace awardee? So now you’ll have to consider me the War Maker Prize winner.
79-year old spoiled brat.
“I didn’t get the Nobel Peace prize, so I am stealing Greenland to punish Norway.”
That is some emotionally stable guy we have as POTUS
Not only that, but he can’t tell Norway from Denmark.
One Day in International Relations: 1/18/26
[All times ET] [Please check my time zone calculations! Thanks.]
8:34 AM Statement by Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden and the United Kingdom [This is the time Steve Herman posted the statement]
9:48 AM Text message from Prime Minister Stoere to President Trump
January 18 at 3:48 p.m. Oslo time (1448 GMT)
10:15 AM Text message from President Trump to Prime Minister Stoere
January 18 at 4:15 p.m. Oslo time (1515 GMT):
9:33 PM [Time the following is published]:
Kremlin agrees that Trump will go down in history if he annexes Greenland
According to Dmitry Peskov, by resolving the issue of Greenland’s accession,
the US leader will go down not only in US history, but in world history as well
https[:]//tass[.]com/politics/2073135 Greenland issue
19 Jan, 05:33 [> Moscow? > 8hrs? >> 1/18/26 9:33 PM]
11:10 PM TRUMP [on sm]:
1] https[:]//bsky.app/profile/newsguy.bsky.social/post/3mcpakvh2bq2a
8:34 AM · Jan 18, 2026
2] Full text from Norway’s PM that triggered Trump’s Greenland-Nobel prize meltdown Trump wrote, ‘I no longer feel an obligation to think purely of peace’
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/trump-letter-norway-greenland-text-messages-b2903326.html
Nora Buli Monday 19 January 2026 15:54 GMT [10:54 AM ET]
3] https://bsky.app/profile/ericmgarcia.bsky.social/post/3mcqtjls6ps2d
11:46 PM · Jan 18, 2026
How convenient of a would be war criminal and convicted felon to so overtly admit that starting an illegal war to annex a neighboring state’s territory is about salving his fragile ego.
“The War of Trump’s Ego” is the sequel to “The War of Jenkins’ Ear”?
I think the “Pig War of 1859”
He is such an insecure little man-bully.
He is such a 79-year old narcissistic, immature, spoiled child.