Dear Reader,
President Trump has trained his sights upon the Danish territory of Greenland.
He believes the United States should own its icy wastes. And if not own them, then rent them.
Yet why?
Reason one: Greenland harbors vast natural resources. President Trump wants to get American hands on them.
Reason two: Greenland occupies prime geopolitical property.
The War Zone:
- This territory is… at the center of an increasingly strategic race to expand control and military influence across the Arctic region…
- In some respects, Trump’s preoccupation with Greenland reflects the degree to which the United States has, in recent years, lagged far behind Russia when it comes to establishing a more permanent footprint above the Arctic Circle…
- If anything, the strategic importance of the Arctic region as a whole has the potential to be a good deal greater than it was during the decades of superpower standoff, driven by… providing access to natural resources that were previously inaccessible, or at least much harder to exploit.
What is more, concludes The War Zone:
- Whoever is able to control new lanes for commercial shipping and maritime traffic between Asian markets and Europe and North America will be able to dictate the terms of international trade in the Arctic.
Geography Still Rules the World
We inhabit a world of technological razzle-dazzle. This world sets little store by geography.
It considers geography yesterday’s concern, a bygone fashion, a relic.
Yet the present Greenland rumpus reveals it is not.
Even in the digital era, geography retains its crown.
If you seek understanding of a nation’s foreign policy — and its political orientation — please consult a map.
That is because the map, nine times of 10, will yield you your answer.
The map makes a mockery of theory. See the map and the scales go falling from your eyes.
The map clarifies.
Consider the foregoing analysis by The War Zone.
Does this map not explain the president’s Greenland fixation?
Let us now consider geography’s vast influence on history.
Why did Germany pick two mighty fights last century? Why is neighboring Switzerland so docile?
Why is Russia so given to paranoia? Why did liberty sink root in the political soil of Great Britain and its New World castoffs?
The map supplies the answers. Let us first consider the abovesaid Germany…
Naked Upon the North European Plain
Germany inhabits the North European Plain.
This is a defenseless and nearly infinite expanse stretching from the English Channel in the West clear through to Russia’s Ural Mountains in the East.
This massively extended flapjack leaves Germany exposed and naked.
To Germany’s southwest lies formidable France. To her east snarls the menacing Russian bear.
Hence she is squeezed between the French and Russian vise.
A conundrum!
Germany’s 1871 unification — with its vast military and industrial potential — alarmed both France and Russia.
Sandwiched between them both, French and Russian alarm in turn alarmed Germany.
What if they leagued together, feared Germany… and besieged her from two sides?
Its answer was to preempt them, to pounce first.
The Great War of 1914 and its 1939 sequel represented German efforts to escape the French/Russian vise grip.
Historians decry the Kaiser and the moustached Austrian corporal for initiating both conflagrations.
They might first blame the German geography.
The Geography of Liberty
What about neighboring Switzerland? Why does she lack the bloodlusting aggression of her Teutonic neighbor?
Again, geography holds the answer.
Switzerland is famously alpine. These Alps form very high walls, behind which the Swiss can shelter.
Is it any wonder then that liberty flourished so beautifully in Switzerland?
Unlike doubly exposed Germany… vulnerable upon the North European Plain… Switzerland’s alpine defenses largely relieve it of invasion fears.
In that fortunate geography liberty can plant itself.
Liberty is unlikely to plant itself in a land perpetually subject to invasion.
Its residents must be forever on watch. And they must adopt a more collective orientation.
They cannot afford the luxury of liberty.
Shall we consider the Russian example?
The Mongols, the French, the Germans, Oh My
Like Germany, Russia squats upon the North European Plain. This of course exposes her to western invasion.
Messieurs Bonaparte and Hitler exploited fully this vulnerability — the former in 1812 — the latter in 1941.
And to the east?
Russia’s nearly infinite steppes stretch clear through to Mongolia. For what is Mongolia best known?
Genghis Khan and the Golden Horde of marauding horsemen who terrorized Eurasia.
Crossing these grassy seas, Mongol invaders besieged and conquered Russia.
Thus Russia stands vulnerable to invasion from both east and west alike.
Is it any wonder then why Russia appears so paranoid of territorial transgression?
Is it any wonder why Ukrainian absorption into the North Atlantic Treaty Organization freezes Russia’s blood?
It is no wonder whatsoever.
In fact, portions of eastern Ukraine stretch eastward of Moscow.
And Mr. Putin will not tolerate partial encirclement by a hostile military alliance.
In conclusion: Russian paranoia springs from Russian history. And Russian history has been authored largely by geography.
Let us now take up a geographical consideration of the United States…
God Smiles Upon the United States
God filled two oceans — Atlantic to the right, Pacific to the left — to moat it off from marauders.
Russia may have its “General Winter,” it is true. The abovesaid Bonaparte and Hitler can attest to his superior generalship.
Yet Russia’s General Winter is nothing against Admirals Atlantic and Pacific of the United States Navy.
They keep any invader at length.
Meantime, God emplaced two geopolitical blanks against American land borders, two punchless bantams.
One squats to the north, Canada. One to the south, Mexico.
Imagine a cat bordered north and south by mice.
That is the American position — a cat bordered north and south by mice.
Much like Switzerland, the insulated American geography spawns human beings free to pursue liberty.
Of course these human beings are free to make jackasses of themselves. They often do. But let it go for now.
America’s liberty-leaning she shares with her mother, Great Britain. And again, here geography offers us insight.
English Liberty Because of the English Channel
The English Channel has proven an excellent moat. When was England last invaded? 1066?
It is no surprise then that Great Britain gave us the Magna Carta. Its geography affords a freedom against invasion — and like Switzerland, an orientation toward political liberality.
Geography likewise blesses the Commonwealth it hatched. New Zealand is an island nation and Australia is a continent nation.
Neither faces foreign harassment. And so they too may pursue liberty in peace.
Would Great Britain or any of its offshoots pursue liberty if their geographies were different?
I hazard they would not. Imagine any of them sharing the German geography or the Russian geography.
Their orientations would be more German or Russian than English, American, New Zealander or Australian.
We must conclude that a map will teach you far more about this world than a groaning bookcase of encyclopedias will teach you about this world.
Is demographics destiny? Well then, geography is destiny.
If you seek a truer understanding of this world…
Close the book, I say — and open a map.
Regards,
Brian Maher
for Freedom Financial News