Why Greenland's natural resources are nearly impossible to mine
64 points
21 hours ago
| 5 comments
| theweek.com
| HN
Havoc
8 hours ago
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Today I heard some US official going on about how it's ideal for datacenters.

Presumably the B200s will be brought in via dogsled.

US has absolutely lost the plot

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moogly
4 hours ago
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Not to mention the energy needed. Greenland does not even have a national grid. Lots of untapped hydro but that's not something you build in a fortnight.
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wolvoleo
3 hours ago
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It probably is pretty good for datacenters. You would save a ton on cooling cost. And CO2 footprint as a result. Not that current US cares about that but the rest of the world does.

And you don't have to own a country to put datacenters there. Simply investing there will bring jobs and money for the inhabitants, will make profit for the investor, it's a win win.

Forcibly taking it over will make a lot of enemies and disruption to trade. It will make less profit overall, especially once the population starts destroying your company assets, connection lines etc. Not to mention all the second tier effects in global lost trust from trading partners.

But Trump just looks at that big map and goes "This will be MINE". Is it really about more than that?

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inkysigma
2 hours ago
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I don't think the environment being cool is a factor in current data center designs is it? Otherwise, the northern US or Alaska would be candidates. Instead, a lot of the data center boom is in states like Texas or the south.

I think some interviewer with Trump did actually ask him the question you posed and he said something to the effect of "ownership is important" for him _personally_ not necessarily for the _US_ which is the a ridiculous thing to hear from a leader of a country.

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MrDresden
1 hour ago
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Iceland based data centers are able to cut their energy usage for cooling by 24-31% compared to US/UK equivalent due to the climate [0].

[0]: https://eandt.theiet.org/2022/12/12/iceland-coolest-location...

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wolvoleo
1 hour ago
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> I don't think the environment being cool is a factor in current data center designs is it? Otherwise, the northern US or Alaska would be candidates. Instead, a lot of the data center boom is in states like Texas or the south.

It is increasingly becoming so. And some designs work well. I only read a post about the internet archive's smart use of the server heat a couple days ago, I can't find it back now. And indeed, good point. Alaska would be great for that too.

And the US is kinda an exception, the rest of the world is watching emissions but the US is trying to screw the world up for everyone else. Including themselves but Trump followers seem to view all the disasters as an 'act of god'. I remember those poor school kids in the flooding in texas last year and there being more 'thoughts and prayers' than actual help or prevention.

I know Ireland is popular for datacenters in part because of the climate there (in another big part all the tax breaks but ok).

And yes you can cool them with renewable energy. Most datacenters are. But it also means that renewable energy can't be used for something else.

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deepsun
7 hours ago
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"Politics is an art of distraction" (c)

All the fuss and constant bombardment of tweets is to distract from the Epstein files. And it works very well!

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david-gpu
19 hours ago
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I hope we can at least avoid the sanewashing.

> President Donald Trump has renewed his efforts to take over Greenland, and tapping into the Danish territory’s natural resources is a key part of the strategy.

It is not "taking over" or "annexing". It is invading. A military ally, at that.

And it is not "tapping into [...] natural resources". It is plundering their natural resources.

None of these hypotheticals are consensual. There is no plan for a freely agreed-upon bilateral agreement. This is about invading and pillaging a foreign land. Whether it is Greenland, Canada, or any other country.

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troyvit
17 hours ago
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While we're at it I also fail to see any strategy.
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lostlogin
8 hours ago
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> I also fail to see any strategy.

Also see Venezuela. Oil seems to have been a key part of the aim. However oil companies seem surprised and not entirely keen.

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c205dx61x76o

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Zigurd
17 hours ago
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They are button mashing the policy controller
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goatlover
17 hours ago
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Nobody is talking about how less than 1% of the Epstein files have been released weeks past the deadline after Venezuela, ICE in Minneapolis and Greenland.
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krapp
16 hours ago
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Plenty of people are still talking about that.

There are a lot of people and they talk about lots of different things.

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lostlogin
8 hours ago
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If the talking gets too loud, the US will liberate and free another country.

Iran is all lined up.

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thatguy0900
15 hours ago
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I don't even have hope it will accomplish anything. Everyone who still supports him either doesn't care or will say it's Ai generated.
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BanAntiVaxxers
16 hours ago
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It is Putin’s strategy
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fasbiner
15 hours ago
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Europe going forward is going to be treated the way the US treats and has always treated Latin American and African and Middle Eastern countries. That you see a conspiracy in further coercion of a non-consensual empire indicates how sheltered and "white identity" oriented you are.
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lostlogin
8 hours ago
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> Middle Eastern countries.

Are we including the way arms are poured into various countries, for dubious reasons? Or are we excluding Israel, Saudi and Turkey?

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throw310822
4 minutes ago
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Israel isn't a middle eastern country. It's a western colony in the middle east.
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locknitpicker
16 hours ago
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> While we're at it I also fail to see any strategy.

The word on the street is that it's yet another step to try to keep the Epstein files out of the news.

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dyauspitr
16 hours ago
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Apparently the Lauder billionaire mentioned it because he has a mineral water bottling plant and some other insignificant business there. But Trump liked the idea so it’s basically all this is for some spring water.

More consequentially it’s an attempt to destroy NATO so Putin can have his way with Europe.

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thatguy0900
15 hours ago
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Considering how quickly he moved past taking Canada I almost feel like he didn't want it that badly but now he's blustered about it so much it would be embarrassing so not get it.
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lazide
18 hours ago
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We’ve always been at war with east Asia.
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lifestyleguru
6 hours ago
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The meeting with Zelensky in Oval Office wasn't some kind of convoluted strategy, a tease, or a bluff. It was fully serious and a preludium to something very nasty. That nasty thing hasn't happened yet.
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prepend
18 hours ago
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It’s not invading, yet. Just buying or psyopping is more likely than fighting NATO.
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thatguy0900
15 hours ago
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If I threatened someone until they sold me something that they made very clear they did not want to sell noone would call it "Buying" and we shouldn't either. It would be extorting. Under no circumstances are we buying Greenland at this point, anything that happens is something else.
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fasbiner
15 hours ago
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Extortion is the right word here.

The problem is that virtually the entire new world and much of the old world was acquired by force and threats of force that has been legitimized over time. So yes, I think this is clearly extortion and any sale that takes would be coerced.

But ever was it thus.

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throw310822
1 minute ago
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You are also, for sure, the product of some rape down the line of your ancestors, as we are all. This doesn't make rape justifiable.
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thatguy0900
10 hours ago
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For sure in the future I'm sure the US will teach that it was a fair deal and nato was corrupt anyway but I hate to see the whitewashing of it going on already like it's a casual land purchase offer
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prepend
8 hours ago
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Extorting is more accurate. But definitely not invading.
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georgemcbay
16 hours ago
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> It’s not invading, yet. Just buying or psyopping is more likely than fighting NATO.

Threatening to invade (which the Trump administration has been explicitly doing) is about as damaging as invading in the long run, either way we have sent the message loud and clear that the US is no longer a reliable ally and everyone has to shift away from the post-WW2 world order.

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1970-01-01
19 hours ago
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I find it funny that they could simply exit the Antarctic treaty and take over Antarctica and gain more value. There's plenty of good stuff under that ice too. It's very likely that it's got his favorite mineral of all: gold.
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prepend
18 hours ago
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I think that’s harder than just buying/hypnotizing/invading/whatever.

If we exit the Antarctic treaty, then so will everyone else and there’s multiple competing claims.

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Zigurd
18 hours ago
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The US is on the verge of becoming a pariah within NATO. The Antarctica treaty ain't nothing compared to that.
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mc32
17 hours ago
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Don’t give governments bad ideas —surely the treaty will collapse one day and the big powers will divvy it up and push out the has been powers from the playground… but let’s keep things as they are as long as possible.
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androiddrew
6 hours ago
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Doesn’t matter, must have for trophy
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clickety_clack
20 hours ago
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So you’re telling me there’s a chance?…
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