Trump floats claims for Canada, Greenland, and the Panama Canal (Update: Trump wants Gaza too) (3 Viewers)

[superchuck500]

Oh, but he's only joking - well, maybe, so they say. Or sort of joking with Canada, and maybe not joking with Greenland - saying that "ownership and control of Greenland is an absolute necessity" doesn't sound like a joke . . . and um, not sure about what the about Panama Canal thing is?

Trump Jokes Canada Becoming 51st US State 'A Great Idea'

www.barrons.com

Trump threatens to try to take back the Panama Canal. Panama's president balks at the suggestion

Trump didn't explain how such a takeover would be possible, given that the U.S. relinquished control of the canal to Panama in 1999 under a treaty signed by President Jimmy Carter in 1977.

apnews.com

 

[J-DONK]

They're all complete dumbasses if they're surprised at what Trump is doing now. They've been talking about this for years. Now that they control much of the government, they're doing what they want for the most part.

They were all warned. Right before the election President Elon dropped this:

Elon Musk assures voters that Trump’s victory would deliver “temporary hardship”

And he’s half right.

www.vox.com

 

[DJ1BigTymer]

Meanwhile, at the Panama Canal front:

Panama City — Panamanian President José Raúl Mulino on Thursday denied the U.S. State Department's claim that his country had reached a deal to allow U.S. warships to transit the Panama Canal for free.

Mulino said he had told U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth on Wednesday that he could neither set the fees to transit the canal nor exempt anyone from them and that he was surprised by the U.S. State Department's statement suggesting otherwise late Wednesday.

"I completely reject that statement yesterday," Mulino said during his weekly press conference, adding that he had asked Panama's ambassador in Washington to dispute the State Department's statement.

Panama's leader rejects State Department claim of deal for U.S. warships to traverse Panama Canal for free

Panama's president says the State Department's claim of an agreement granting U.S. warships free canal passage was "based on a falsity. And that's intolerable."

www.cbsnews.com

Every press release coming from this current administration should be considered a LIE.

 

[GrandAdmiral]

All can kick rocks...

Hear what voters who didn’t vote for Harris because of Gaza are saying now | CNN

Dearborn, Michigan, is home to the largest concentration of Arab Americans in the US and many of them voted against Kamala Harris over Democrats’ position on Palestinians and Gaza. CNN’s Jason Carroll talks to voters about Trump’s call for Palestinians not to return to Gaza.

www.cnn.com

 

[DaveXA]

All can kick rocks...

Hear what voters who didn’t vote for Harris because of Gaza are saying now | CNN

Dearborn, Michigan, is home to the largest concentration of Arab Americans in the US and many of them voted against Kamala Harris over Democrats’ position on Palestinians and Gaza. CNN’s Jason Carroll talks to voters about Trump’s call for Palestinians not to return to Gaza.

www.cnn.com

Yep, how it was handled by the Biden administration wasn't great, but voting for Trump or not voting for Biden was just plain short-sighted.

 

[cuddlemonkey]

All can kick rocks...

Hear what voters who didn’t vote for Harris because of Gaza are saying now | CNN

Dearborn, Michigan, is home to the largest concentration of Arab Americans in the US and many of them voted against Kamala Harris over Democrats’ position on Palestinians and Gaza. CNN’s Jason Carroll talks to voters about Trump’s call for Palestinians not to return to Gaza.

www.cnn.com

"There's no one to blame"

"We didn't have much of a choice"

What a coward. He can't admit that they were too damn stupid to see the obvious. The blame rests on voters like him for refusing to acknowledge that there was an obvious choice and that he and his community failed to make the right choice.

 

[J-DONK]

"There's no one to blame"

"We didn't have much of a choice"

What a coward. He can't admit that they were too damn stupid to see the obvious. The blame rests on voters like him for refusing to acknowledge that there was an obvious choice and that he and his community failed to make the right choice.

I don't ever blame voters in elections, but Dearborn muslims are a special kind of stupid. You voted for the Muslim ban guy. I won't shed a single tear if they deport them all.

 

[cuddlemonkey]

I don't ever blame voters in elections, but Dearborn muslims are a special kind of stupid. You voted for the Muslim ban guy. I won't shed a single tear if they deport them all.

Same, but I am making an exception this time.

 

[Optimus Prime]

Donald Trump’s recent fixation on absorbing Canada is “a real thing”, Justin Trudeau has told business leaders, warning that the US president wants access to his northern neighbour’s vast supply of critical minerals.

The outgoing prime minister was in Toronto for a hastily called summit of business and labour leaders, seeking to coordinate a response Trump’s looming threat of a 25% tariff on all Canadian imports.

Earlier this week, Trump backed away from tariffs that would have devastated Canada’s economy, granting one of his country’s largest trading partners a 30-day reprieve for further negotiations.

But he has continued to mock Canadian sovereignty, repeating his description of the country as the “51st state” on social media and repeatedly calling Trudeau “governor” instead of prime minister.


Friday’s summit included discussions on stemming the movement of fentanyl, security at the border and the challenge of interprovincial trade, but Trudeau later told an audience that the president’s threats of annexation – often viewed as a negotiating tactic – were serious, and should be taken as such.

“I suggest that not only does the Trump administration know how many critical minerals we have but that may be even why they keep talking about absorbing us and making us the 51st state,” Trudeau reportedly told attendees.

“They’re very aware of our resources, of what we have and they very much want to be able to benefit from those,” he said. “But Mr Trump has it in mind that one of the easiest ways of doing that is absorbing our country.”…….

Trudeau says Trump is serious about wanting to annex Canada

Prime minister says US president covets northern neighbour’s vast resources as Canadians rally against threat

www.theguardian.com

 

[DaveXA]

Donald Trump’s recent fixation on absorbing Canada is “a real thing”, Justin Trudeau has told business leaders, warning that the US president wants access to his northern neighbour’s vast supply of critical minerals.

The outgoing prime minister was in Toronto for a hastily called summit of business and labour leaders, seeking to coordinate a response Trump’s looming threat of a 25% tariff on all Canadian imports.

Earlier this week, Trump backed away from tariffs that would have devastated Canada’s economy, granting one of his country’s largest trading partners a 30-day reprieve for further negotiations.

But he has continued to mock Canadian sovereignty, repeating his description of the country as the “51st state” on social media and repeatedly calling Trudeau “governor” instead of prime minister.


Friday’s summit included discussions on stemming the movement of fentanyl, security at the border and the challenge of interprovincial trade, but Trudeau later told an audience that the president’s threats of annexation – often viewed as a negotiating tactic – were serious, and should be taken as such.

“I suggest that not only does the Trump administration know how many critical minerals we have but that may be even why they keep talking about absorbing us and making us the 51st state,” Trudeau reportedly told attendees.

“They’re very aware of our resources, of what we have and they very much want to be able to benefit from those,” he said. “But Mr Trump has it in mind that one of the easiest ways of doing that is absorbing our country.”…….

Trudeau says Trump is serious about wanting to annex Canada

Prime minister says US president covets northern neighbour’s vast resources as Canadians rally against threat

www.theguardian.com

Trump needs to lay off the sauce when it comes to Canada, and any other nation not named Russia and China for that matter. The distractions from the real issues is par for the course for Trump.

 

[Optimus Prime]

Donald Trump’s proposed “land grabs” mean the US is no longer perceived as “an anchor of stability, but rather a risk to be hedged against”, the organisers of the Munich Security Conference have said in their pre-summit report.

The report, which takes as its theme the shift from a US-led, unipolar post-cold war era towards a multipolar world in which no single ideological outlook dominates, will form the backdrop to this year’s conference.

Since his inauguration, the US president has mooted acquiring land for the US in Greenland and Panama, and suggested Canada could be a 51st US state. The signals from Washington increasingly indicate that the US no longer wants to be the guardian of the liberal international order, but it is far from clear which other countries may be willing and able to provide much-needed global public goods.


The report’s authors suggest a US withdrawal from a global leadership role has implications beyond issues of war and peace: “Without global leadership of the kind provided by the United States for the past several decades, it is hard to imagine the international community providing global public goods like freedom of navigation or tackling even some of the many grave threats confronting humanity.”

The authors also say the US president’s effort to assert a new form of US primary will be undermined by the “multipolarisation” trend. Their report includes survey data showing the trend is more likely to be welcomed as a force for good in countries such as Brazil, India, South Africa and China.……

Trump’s proposed ‘land grabs’ mean US now seen as a risk, says Munich security report

Report published before international summit suggests US is moving away from a global leadership role

www.theguardian.com

 

[bird]

What the “America First” simpletons don’t get is that what has allowed theUS to maintain itself as “The Greatest Country in the World” (MAGA trademark pending) is the US military in general and the U.S. Navy in particular. The loose arrangements that have allowed the flow of goods and services worldwide is based upon the security provided by the US navy.

The creation of a so-called multi-polar world would be and will be inherently much more unstable. The PRC is attempting to build a navy that can function in the same way as the US navy. They have both economic issues and demographic issues that will pose a significant problem which will be difficult to overcome.

Literally no other country can provide the security which a worldwide economic system needs to exist on the scale we have.

 

[Dragon]

What the “America First” simpletons don’t get is that what has allowed theUS to maintain itself as “The Greatest Country in the World” (MAGA trademark pending) is the US military in general and the U.S. Navy in particular. The loose arrangements that have allowed the flow of goods and services worldwide is based upon the security provided by the US navy.

The creation of a so-called multi-polar world would be and will be inherently much more unstable. The PRC is attempting to build a navy that can function in the same way as the US navy. They have both economic issues and demographic issues that will pose a significant problem which will be difficult to overcome.

Literally no other country can provide the security which a worldwide economic system needs to exist on the scale we have.

Several countries have actively participated in protecting commercial shipping from piracy and are investing in more advanced, high-tech naval capabilities. For example, Danish forces have played a significant role in anti-piracy efforts—most notably around the Horn of Africa during Operation Ocean Shield (2009–2016) in the Gulf of Aden and the Indian Ocean—working alongside units from the UK, the Netherlands, Italy, Germany, and Spain.

Current Operations
Baltic and Arctic Maritime Patrols
Norway, Denmark, Germany, the UK, and Canada regularly conduct operations to secure commercial shipping routes in northern waters.

Counter-Piracy Operations in the Gulf of Guinea
European nations such as Denmark, France, Spain, and Portugal have deployed warships both independently and within EU frameworks (for example, through Operation ATALANTA).
Moreover, the European Union has been steadily upgrading its military capabilities since 2018 by increasing its defense budget annually. An interesting fact is that Denmark now spends more on defense per capita than the United States does—a notable point in discussions about defense spending priorities.

On another note, the rise of drone warfare and artificial intelligence is expected to increase the vulnerability of large surface combatants in the future. This shift marks the brink of a new era in military technology—a development that may not be entirely positive but appears to be a necessary evolution given today’s geopolitical landscape.

 

[bird]

Several countries have actively participated in protecting commercial shipping from piracy and are investing in more advanced, high-tech naval capabilities. For example, Danish forces have played a significant role in anti-piracy efforts—most notably around the Horn of Africa during Operation Ocean Shield (2009–2016) in the Gulf of Aden and the Indian Ocean—working alongside units from the UK, the Netherlands, Italy, Germany, and Spain.

Current Operations
Baltic and Arctic Maritime Patrols
Norway, Denmark, Germany, the UK, and Canada regularly conduct operations to secure commercial shipping routes in northern waters.

Counter-Piracy Operations in the Gulf of Guinea
European nations such as Denmark, France, Spain, and Portugal have deployed warships both independently and within EU frameworks (for example, through Operation ATALANTA).
Moreover, the European Union has been steadily upgrading its military capabilities since 2018 by increasing its defense budget annually. An interesting fact is that Denmark now spends more on defense per capita than the United States does—a notable point in discussions about defense spending priorities.

On another note, the rise of drone warfare and artificial intelligence is expected to increase the vulnerability of large surface combatants in the future. This shift marks the brink of a new era in military technology—a development that may not be entirely positive but appears to be a necessary evolution given today’s geopolitical landscape.

I do not disagree. Currently, only the US navy has the global reach. Others may eventually achieve it but, imo, the intervening time required will contribute further to instability should the MAGA continue their stupidity. A cooperative effort between the EU, the U.S. and the countries of Southeast Asia and Australia/New Zealand would be beneficial.

The insanity of Trump and MAGA make that unlikely.

 

[superchuck500]

 

[Optimus Prime]

Was just coming to post this

Ridiculous

 

[DJ1BigTymer]

Of course they wouldn't, there's no room for Reservations!

 

[coldseat]

"I would own this." People seem to be missing that in the reaction. His blatant corruption, objective and land grab couldn't be any more clear.

But let me guess what he supports will say "He didn't mean that" or "You can't take him seriously" Uh hu, sure.

 

[Optimus Prime]

Until just a few weeks ago, it was an exhilarating time to be a Conservative in Canada

After nearly 10 years of Liberal rule, a deepening cost of living crisis had soured public support for Justin Trudeau and his shop-worn government. The Tory leader, Pierre Poilievre, had seized on a controversial carbon levy, and pledged to make the next federal vote an “axe the tax” election.

Pollsters predicted his party would seize a convincing majority of seats. The country was on the cusp of a new Conservative era.

And then Donald Trump suggested the US might take over Canada.

The US president’s threats – ranging from “economic coercion” to outright annexation – have upended Canadian politics in a way few could have predicted. Speaking to reporters aboard Air Force One on Sunday as he travelled to the Super Bowl game, Trump further escalated his rhetoric, claiming that Canada is “not viable as a country” without US trade, and warning that it can no longer depend on the US for military protection.

For the last two years, any consideration of the future of Canada’s Liberal party had focused on the scale of its impending electoral loss. But in recent weeks, a series of polls have suggested that the Liberals have reversed their freefall.

And a key factor in the party’s apparent resurrection has been Trump.

Since Trump’s comments, Canada has seen a groundswell of visceral patriotism. Maga-style hats emblazoned “Canada Is Not For Sale” went viral. Canadians jeered visiting American sports teams, even during a children’s ice hockey tournament in Quebec City……….

Canada’s Liberal party was left for dead, but Trump might have just given it a second chance

Experts say the US president’s takeover threat will shift election priorities to who seems best suited to face Trump

www.theguardian.com