The Russians Are Coming, Again!

 

By now, most of the world knows that US president, Donald Trump, wants to annex Greenland for the United States. Furthermore, he has said that he's ready to use military force if needed. Naturally, Europe, especially Denmark, the country who actually governs Greenland, is worried that this might happen. After all, Denmark is a NATO ally and this would be considered a direct attack on Europe. 

Trump's reason for wanting to annex Greenland is to keep America safe from the Russians and Chinese. To me, that doesn't make sense because either attacked Greenland, then they would have the full force of NATO to deal with. The affair has me thinking back to the 1980s and Ronald Reagan's contra war on Nicaragua. Reagan's assertion was that if the Nicaraguan government wasn't overthrown, then the Russians were going to use it as a jump off point for the invasion of the US. So, is this a case of history repeating itself with the same old argument? 

Since the 1980s, the Sandinistas are no longer the government in Nicaragua and the Russians haven't tried to invade the US. Of course, if they wanted to do, they only need to cross 53 miles of water and they're in the continental United States and before you ask, "What would they want with Alaska?" they would get one-fifth of the US domestic oil supply and have a springboard for invading the mainland. That makes more sense than transporting troops across the ocean near to the US to stage a land invasion from the southern border. 

The same holds true for Greenland. They would have to sail past our NATO ally, Norway, who would alert the rest of NATO of what was coming and NATO could react accordingly. Any such move by Russia would result in heavy losses, even if they managed to take Greenland. It would be even more senseless for China to attempt such a move. This leads me to believe the more popular thought behind Trump's motives. While Reagan simply did not want a left wing state at America's back door, Trump wants Greenland for its resources. He is threatening to use military might for economic gain and I can't go along with that and neither does Europe. 

Reagan's Forgotten War

As a result of his 100th birthday, there has been much speculation, both positive and negative, about the presidency of Ronald Reagan. Much has been said about his economic policies and how he won the Cold War, but there has been one glaring omission of a major aspect of his presidency. Reagan had an obsession with overthrowing the government of Nicaragua.

In 1979, the Sandanistas came to power in Nicaragua after a revolution which ousted the dictator Samosa who had been in power for over 40 years. The Sandanista regime went about the tasks of land reform, health care and education and on account of that, they were branded Communists by the American media and especially the Reagan Administration. Furthermore, the administration claimed that Nicaragua was going to be used by Cuba nad the Soviet Union as a jump off point for an invasion of the US. Therefore, the Reagan administration set about the task of overthrowing the Sandanista government.

To do this, US Government used a group called the Contras, most of who were part of the guard used by the Samosa dictatorship. The Contras waged a guerilla campaign that included butchering doctors and nurses and shooting teachers and many innocent civilians in cold blood. When asking Congress to vote for funds to aid the Contras, Reagan referred to himself as a Contra. The Contras were nothing more than terrorists who killed and murdered and even with US aid, were unable to hold a single inch of territory.

What Reagan's blood money achieved in his zeal to overthrow the Sandanistas was the needless deaths of thousands of Nicaraguans who wanted nothing more than to be left alone. Unfortunately, Reagan couldn't tolerate a "Communist" country at America's back door, even though they held free democratic elections in 1984. The Nicaragua travesty seems to have become a forgotten point of the Reagan years, so I feel I must bring it back into the light.