Canada, Greenland and the Gulf of America

Last night, I was happily exploring videos on various subjects versus watching whatever garbage is on TV and came across something that sent me down a rabbit hole. One video was from Nat Geo on plate tectonics. I remembered knowing the North American plate is very large, but suddenly a few things made sense.

Bear in mind, this is just for fun, a break from the screaming, screeching hysteria that is our daily news. I’ve said before, my brain is a strange place and these types of speculations amuse me. Tumbling to correlations that may not be provable -yet- but appear plausible make interesting conversations. In the end, whether true or not, this was fun and I look forward to your thoughts.

Like most people, I’ve assumed Trump talking about buying Greenland, making Canada our 51^st State and renaming our southern water-border the Gulf of America was just Trump being Trumpy. But, as he has not let up, perhaps there is something else at play. In all seriousness, Trump rarely says something however apparently outrageous just for giggles, but I just couldn’t figure it out. Granted, it could be chalked it up to Trump playing with his laser pointer to keep the loonies busy with nonsense while he goes about getting on with the real work for which he was elected. Still, I was not able to shake the feeling there was something else going on, some message being sent or move being telegraphed.

Then, it clicked. Trump is referring to, however obliquely, and acting on international events most Americans are not even aware of, thanks to our pathetic excuse for “news” organizations. In typical Trump fashion, it is part hyperbole, part Art of the Deal, part just hysterically ironic. The best part is, the left will not be able to fight it prima facie without exposing themselves as complete frauds suffering from terminal Trump Derangement Syndrome.

I’m referring to, and presuming Trump is acting on something that happened on June 19, 2023. On that day, after years of protesting, hand wringing, demonstrating, and outrage, the Biodiversity Beyond National Jurisdiction Treaty was signed by NATO as an internationally binding maritime law.

In short, the BBNJ treaty primarily aims to protect against environmentally damaging exploration, mining, dumping of ballast, overfishing, etc., in international waters. This treaty states, among many other things, the contiguous landmass under the waves is a natural part of the sovereign territory of the landmass that is above the water. How are these new boundaries determined? Plate tectonics.

The passage of this law is being touted as a major win for environmental protection worldwide. Every “green” organization supported and pushed for it and have claimed it as a major victory in the fight to save the planet, combat climate change, protect endangered species, as well as protect the cultures and hunting and fishing grounds of indigenous peoples around the world. It’s surprising the greenies have not gotten more air time over this.

As most know, both Russia and China are conducting extensive … exploration … of the Artic. This is in addition to the overfishing and dumping of garbage and toxins beneath those pristine waters which are already, ostensibly, protected by previous international treaties.

Russia and China’s excuse for the activities to which they admit is, it’s international waters and they’re just expanding scientific knowledge. The BBNJ treaty changes that because the North American plate, i.e., the plate on which both the United States and Canada exists also covers the entirety of the Artic Ocean. No surprise Russia and China both reject the BBNJ treaty as it ends the legitimacy of their at-will conduct in the Artic. There is a second reason, specific to Russia’s objection, but we’ll get to that in a moment.

Trump is suggesting Greenland, which was a de facto protectorate of the US during WWII, become so again, permanently. Without this agreement, sale, transfer, whatever, between Denmark and the US, if the US were to establish, expand, or enhance our military presence there or respond to activities in defense of Greenland’s territory, it would be decried as an act of aggression in international waters. Granted, this claim will be made anyway. But, if Greenland is part of the United States, those activities on the part of China or Russia would be the first violation, a trespass on our sovereign territory.

“But but but, Denmark and by extension Greenland are already part of NATO, why isn’t that enough to prevent Russia or China from getting froggy? Why does the US need to own Greenland”? A laughable question, granted, but one that has already been asked.

Simply put, NATO without the US is a paper tiger at best. This truth is in addition to the fact that neither Russia nor China recognizes the BBNJ treaty passed by NATO in 2023. But, like so many other NATO initiatives that lack teeth, once the US gets involved, it matters.

But wait, there’s more!

Let’s look at what else the BBNJ treaty justifies. The same North American plate that includes Canada and Greenland extends all the way south to the Caribbean. This justifies the renaming of the body of water covering that part of the tectonic plate. Because that body of water being almost completely encircled by the North, Central and South America landmasses and the entirety of the Western Hemisphere being “The Americas” is not sufficient.

Now for the real reason Trump keeps calling Canada our 51^st state. Trump is in talks with Putin about ending the war in Ukraine, and all the speculation has been about Trump selling out Zelensky. Because what other carrot could Trump offer?

That answer brings us to the second reason Russia rejects the BBNJ treaty. The same North American plate that includes the Gulf of America also extends across the Artic to include part of Siberia. Yep, part of Russia can technically be claimed as belonging to North America. Just to add insult to injury, the North American and Eurasian plates are divergent. That means the demarcation between the plates is growing, further separating Siberia from the Russian Motherland.

Category: Donald Trump, Foreign Policy, Humor