An independent Greenland?
It's been a part of Denmark since the 18th century.
I'm rather amused by this piece of the report, though:
The road to independence will be a long one and no one is writing the national anthem just yet, but one thing is already clear: when Greenland makes the final break it will rank as one of the most politically incorrect states in the international community.Hm, I'm inclined to like the Greenlanders already.Whalemeat figures large in its traditional cooking and its hunters enthusiastically track down some of the cuddliest animals on the planet, including polar bears, seals and walruses. Even the seats of the lounge at Nuuk airport are covered in seal skin.
As for global warming, Greenlanders cannot get enough of it. The melting of the icebergs may, as some climate scientists predict, ultimately end up by flooding American cities, but it has given political bargaining muscle to the 57,000 inhabitants of the world’s largest island.
“Climate change will be very beneficial to society there,” Jesper Madsen, of the DMU environmental research institute in Roskilde, in mainland Denmark, said. “It will improve fishing and above all make it easier to drill for oil and gas. The US geological survey calculates that the greatest unused oil reserves on Earth are in the Greenland waters – and they are in the east, where the ice is melting fastest."
(Uh-oh, 1980s movie moment: Now all I can hear in my head is Vizzini from "The Princess Bride," yelling, "Do you want me to send you back to where you were, unemployed in Greenland?")
A final thought: So Greenland will be "one of the most politically incorrect states in the international community," eh? Maybe. But how about comparing it to the REAL villains of that community? Is hunting whales even remotely comparable to the shocking human oppression in places like North Korea? Pfffffft. Give me a break. Where would you rather spend time?
UPDATE: I found the official website for tourism to Greenland!
1 comment:
This might explain where all those spray cans using CFCs went. All these years the Greenlanders have been going outside and spraying to the heavens and yelling, "Hurry up!" Plus I am waiting anxiously for when beachfront property goes on the market because I can't afford to buy any in Orange County, CA.
Post a Comment