“Greenland, Empire, and the Taiaha“ - 15 January 2026

My Valued Supporter Sent Me This, and It Made My Blood Boil

A trusted supporter sent me a link from The Hill documenting that Florida Republican Randy Fine has introduced the “Greenland Annexation and Statehood Act”—legislation that would hand Donald Trump a blank cheque to seize Greenland and fold it into the United States as the 51st state.

I’ve read the details. I’m going to be brutally direct: this is not democracy, policy debate, or geopolitics. This is 21st-century conquest dressed in a suit.

And I’m not going to pretend otherwise.

The Hill | Congressman Randy Fine’s office

For Māori, for every Indigenous nation on this planet, what Trump and Fine are doing to Greenland is instantly recognisable. It’s the same imperial playbook that tried to swallow Aotearoa, that colonised Hawaiʻi, Guam, Puerto Rico, and more—except now the target is a living, breathing Indigenous homeland with 57,000 people who have already said “no” with thunderous clarity.

Let me walk you through what’s happening, what it actually means, and why every Indigenous person should be watching this with eyes wide open.

Background: Trump’s Obsession Isn’t New—But It’s Escalating

Trump’s fixation on Greenland didn’t drop out of the sky. During his first presidency, he floated the idea of buying it like a trophy penthouse. Then, in December 2024, he revived it—this time with the language of necessity, not whimsy.

He’s publicly declared that “ownership and control of Greenland is an absolute necessity” for US “national security” and global “freedom”. Let’s be clear what that means in imperial speak: we want it, we’re going to get it, and we’ll decide whether you like it or not.

RNZ – “What you need to know about Trump and Greenland” | RNZ – “Trump considering military options to take Greenland”

And it’s worse. After US forces attacked Venezuela, removed President Nicolás Maduro from power, and moved in to “manage” the country and its oil reserves, Trump’s Greenland rhetoric shifted from property speculation into open annexation talk—explicitly linking the Venezuela operation with Arctic conquest. He’s literally road-testing fascist takeovers on one target, then using them to threaten another.

RNZ – Venezuela/Greenland explainer | RNZ – Venezuela strike fallout

When pressed on military force, Trump and his regime didn’t rule it out. White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt—a loyalist who wouldn’t know a democratic norm if it bit her—told reporters that acquisition is a “national security priority” and that “using the US military is always an option”.

Always an option. Against a NATO ally. For a territorial grab.

RNZ – “Trump considering military options to take Greenland” | RNZ – “That’s enough: Greenland PM urges Trump to drop annex threats”

By the time Randy Fine introduces his bill, we’re not looking at some fringe Republican fantasy. We’re looking at the legislative arm of a coordinated campaign that already includes military aggression elsewhere, open threats of force, and a relentless media operation designed to normalize conquest.

What the Bill Actually Does: Legalizing a Dictatorship’s Land Grab

Fine’s bill is short. It’s also chilling. Here’s what I’m looking at:

It authorises Trump to negotiate, annex, or “otherwise acquire” Greenland as a US territory, instructing him to “take such steps as may be necessary” to that end.

“Such steps as may be necessary.”

Do you understand what that phrase means? It means whatever he decides is necessary—negotiation, coercion, bribery, military action. Congress isn’t restraining the executive here. Congress is pre-authorising whatever a dictator wants to do, provided he frames it as a “security” matter.

The Hill | Fine’s press release

Then the bill frames acquisition as a prelude to statehood, directing Trump to submit a report on whatever federal law changes are “needed” to admit Greenland as a state. This is genius from a propaganda standpoint: it makes conquest sound procedural, constitutional, inevitable.

The Hill | Global News summary of the bill

And the bill presents Greenland as a “vital national security asset” controlling Arctic shipping lanes and the “security architecture” protecting the US. Fine himself uses this language in his statements—the same talking points recycled by every Trump loyalist in Congress.

The Hill | 1News – Arctic security explainer

Here’s the thing that makes my skin crawl: this bill was written after Trump already said he will “do something on Greenland, whether they like it or not. If we don’t do it the easy way, we’ll do it the hard way.”

The legislation doesn’t constrain that threat. It enables it. Congress is explicitly giving Trump a green light to use whatever force he deems necessary.

That’s not democracy. That’s a legislative rubber stamp on authoritarianism.

RNZ – “Completely bonkers: Trump’s Greenland mining dreams collide with reality” | RNZ – “What you need to know about Trump and Greenland”

The “Security” Justification is Propaganda, and I’ll Prove It

Trump and his regime deploy three main arguments for why Greenland is “essential”: Arctic shipping, rare earth minerals, and defence. Let me dismantle each one.

Arctic shipping—they already have what they need

Yes, Greenland sits astride the GIUK Gap (Greenland–Iceland–UK), a key maritime chokepoint where NATO tracks Russian submarines. Yes, the Arctic has been strategically important since World War II. And yes, climate change is thinning Arctic ice and opening new shipping routes.

The data is real: ships operating in Arctic waters have increased from 1,298 in 2013 to 1,782 in 2023—a 37% jump.

NOAA Arctic Report Card / ASTD | PAME Arctic Shipping Status Report

Growth in unique ships operating in the Arctic Polar Code area, 2013 vs 2023

But here’s the inconvenient truth that Trump’s regime never mentions: the US already operates Pituffik Space Base in northwest Greenland under the 1951 Defence of Greenland Treaty. This base provides missile warning and space surveillance for NATO. The US has the access it needs. Full stop.

1News – Pituffik and treaty | RNZ – overview of US base

Danish defence experts—people who actually understand the Arctic—have pointed out that Washington will gain absolutely no strategic advantage if the US flag is flying in Nuuk instead of the Greenlandic flag, because the US already enjoys the access it needs as a trusted ally.

But Trump doesn’t care about strategic advantage. He cares about ownership. Control. Domination. Having his name on the deed.

1News – analysis by Thomas Crosbie | Danish Defence Ministry – Arctic agreements

Rare earth minerals—a fantasy that requires massive taxpayer subsidies

Trump officials openly fantasize about Greenland as a way to break China’s grip on rare earth minerals—elements critical for missiles, EVs, and advanced weapons systems. It sounds strategic. It’s actually delusion.

Mining experts quoted by CNN and carried by RNZ describe the idea of turning Greenland into America’s “rare-earth factory” as “science fiction” and “completely bonkers”. Why? Because Arctic extraction is five to ten times more expensive than mining in more temperate regions, and constrained by harsh conditions, extreme isolation, and strict environmental rules that even the Trump regime can’t completely ignore.

RNZ – mining realities | RNZ – security and climate context

If there were truly a pot of gold in Greenlandic minerals, private capital—ruthless, profit-hungry capital—would already be there. It’s not. That should tell you everything.

The only way most of these mega-projects work is if American taxpayers underwrite the risk, guaranteeing profits to corporations while Indigenous communities in Greenland carry the environmental and cultural damage.

RNZ – mining analysis | ProPublica – Arctic resource scramble & icebreakers

This is the same pattern over and over: wealthy empires extract resources from Indigenous lands, privatise the profits, socialise the environmental costs, and leave the people to deal with the wreckage.

And I’ve watched this happen to Māori for five centuries.

Denmark is already doing the heavy lifting on Arctic defence

Trump’s propaganda machine wants you to believe that Denmark is too weak to defend Greenland’s Arctic, so America has to swoop in like a saviour. It’s a lie.

Copenhagen has announced multiple, massive defence packages focused on Greenland and the North Atlantic. I’m talking about:

• Roughly 14.6 billion Danish kroner (about US$2–2.1 billion) to boost Arctic surveillance, naval vessels, and long-range drones.
• A Second Agreement on the Arctic and North Atlantic totalling 27.4 billion kroner in new military acquisitions—new Arctic vessels, maritime patrol aircraft, a new Joint Arctic Command headquarters in Nuuk, drones, and radar installations in East Greenland.

CNN / Denmark Arctic defence | Breaking Defense – $2b Arctic package

Danish MoD – Second Agreement | Le Monde – 90b kroner Arctic budget context

Denmark’s major Arctic and North Atlantic defence investment packages in 2025

Denmark is pouring tens of billions into Arctic security specifically to reassure NATO while keeping Greenland sovereign. The “Denmark is weak” narrative isn’t based on evidence. It’s propaganda designed to justify a land-grab.

But that’s how empires work: they create the narrative first, then manufacture the “need” to fix it.

Greenlanders Have Already Said No—Trump Doesn’t Care

This is what absolutely enrages me: Greenland has a population. They have voices. They have said, with overwhelming clarity, that they do not want any part of the United States.

Multiple polls show the picture:

• A poll published in January 2025 found 85% of Greenlanders opposed joining the US, with only 6% in favour. These numbers come from CNN reporting carried by RNZ and the NZ Herald.
• Al Jazeera cites similar figures from polling for the Danish newspaper Berlingske—85% opposed, 6% supportive.

RNZ – “Completely bonkers…” | NZ Herald – Greenland security explainer

Al Jazeera – senators’ bill to stop annexation | RNZ – overview of polling

Greenland public opinion on joining the United States (2025 poll)

Greenland’s Prime Minister, Jens-Frederik Nielsen, has been explicit—which is the understatement of the year:

• “Greenland has repeatedly said that it does not want to be part of the United States,” and Trump’s rhetoric is “disrespectful” and “completely unacceptable”.
• “No more fantasies of annexation. Greenland is our home and our territory. And it will remain so.”

RNZ – “What you need to know about Trump and Greenland” | RNZ – “That’s enough: Greenland PM urges Trump to drop annex threats”

And what does the Trump regime do when faced with this democratic will?

They try to bribe Greenlanders.

US officials—operating out of the White House—have discussed paying each Greenlander between US$10,000 and US$100,000—totalling up to US$6 billion—to convince them to secede from Denmark and potentially join the US.

Let me be abundantly clear: this is not an offer. This is inducement disguised as generosity. It’s the modern equivalent of the colonial-era “willing seller” myth that Māori know intimately from land confiscations. It’s exactly what happened in Aotearoa when the Crown showed up with trinkets and promises, took the land, then disappeared when the promises evaporated.

RNZ – “Trump administration mulls payments to sway Greenlanders to join US” | YouGov – polling of Americans on paying Greenlanders

From a tikanga perspective, that’s not democracy. That’s financial coercion layered on top of historic domination—exactly the dynamic Māori experienced with raupatu (”confiscation”), “willing seller” schemes, and Crown purchases under duress.

Five Hidden Connections That Expose Trump’s Imperial Project

This is a live test of whether conquest is back on the table

European leaders have said it plainly: if the US used military force against Denmark’s territory, NATO would fracture, because the alliance is built on the principle of mutual defence, not internal predation by the most powerful member.

Danish PM Mette Frederiksen has warned that a US military move on Greenland could spell the functional end of NATO as we know it.

RNZ – NATO consequences | Le Monde – NATO’s “crucial test”

RNZ – NATO warnings | RNZ – annex threats

Fine’s bill is therefore not symbolic. It’s a test case—a probe to see whether Congress is willing to normalise territorial conquest by a nuclear-armed state against an ally.

If Trump gets away with this in Greenland, who’s next? Eastern NATO members like Poland or the Baltic states? Taiwan? Any territory Trump decides is “strategically necessary”?

Venezuela and Greenland are part of the same imperial doctrine

The sequence is deliberate and chilling:

Step 1: Venezuela – US forces remove a government, occupy territory, seize resources, and claim it’s “liberation” and “freedom”.

Step 2: Greenland – use that successful military operation as proof that the “hard way” works, and threaten it against a NATO ally if the “easy way” doesn’t get traction.

RNZ – Venezuela strike and occupation | ProPublica – resource grabs and militarisation

In both cases, the Trump regime uses the same rhetorical playbook: claim “security” and “freedom”, target resource-rich territories with Indigenous populations, dismiss local democracy and self-determination as obstacles to be overcome.

This is neocolonialism with military muscle, and it’s happening in real time.

The Arctic is being securitised the same way the Pacific was

Arctic shipping and military activity are rising. Real data shows approximately 37% growth in the number of ships in Arctic waters between 2013 and 2023, with shipping days increasing about 7% annually across multiple Arctic passages.

This is exactly how empires have always expanded: first shipping and trade, then “great power competition”, then permanent military bases, then new legal theories for why Indigenous land must be subordinated to “strategic chokepoints”.

NOAA Arctic Report Card | CBC – Canadian Arctic shipping trend

Growth in unique ships operating in the Arctic Polar Code area, 2013 vs 2023

Greenland isn’t the first Arctic territory to be militarised under this logic. It won’t be the last. And the playbook is the same one used in the Pacific—where the US maintains colonial or neo-colonial control over Hawaiʻi, Guam, and other Indigenous territories through military necessity claims.

1News – China “near-Arctic state” framing | ProPublica – US icebreaker and Arctic presence

Denmark’s “defence” response risks repeating colonialism in a new guise

I want to be fair to Denmark, because they’re genuinely trying to deter Trump. They’ve pledged roughly 90 billion kroner in Arctic-related defence through multiple packages, and upgraded surveillance, naval and air assets around Greenland to send a message: we can defend this territory ourselves.

But there’s a danger I see as a Māori strategist: defending Greenland from US annexation by militarising Greenland—without full, free and informed consent from Greenlanders themselves—risks repeating the same pattern of decisions taken about Indigenous land without Indigenous authority.

Le Monde – 90b kroner Arctic spending | Danish MoD – 27.4b kroner Second Agreement

Denmark’s major Arctic and North Atlantic defence investment packages in 2025

This is deeply familiar to Māori: the Crown “protected” our lands in the 19th century by passing laws that made confiscation legal and easier. Denmark is right to resist US invasion, but Greenlanders need to be partners in that resistance, not passive beneficiaries of someone else’s military strategy.

Buying consent with cash is a direct echo of colonialism

The White House discussing US$10k–100k lump sums per Greenlander to induce secession is chillingly similar to how colonial powers “purchased” Indigenous land with one-off payments that never—never—compensated for the loss of whenua, reo, tino rangatiratanga (self-determination), and the complete restructuring of entire societies.

RNZ – lump sum payment scheme | RNZ – poll & hostility to US control

What’s more? It’s not a coincidence that the same Trump administration is:

• Paying off one Indigenous people to exit their relationship with a European power (Denmark),
• While loudly defending “Western civilisation” and American “values” against everyone else,
• While simultaneously attacking the rights and livelihoods of Indigenous peoples in the United States itself.

This is empire logic: one set of rules for us, another for you. Take the resources, pay the people as little as possible, call it “development”, and move on to the next conquest.

Implications: Quantified Harm, Real People, Real Consequences

For Greenlanders—democratic will trampled

• Democratic will ignored – 85% oppose US rule; only 6% support it. Yet the most powerful military state on earth says “we’ll do it the hard way if we have to.” That’s not policy debate. That’s tyranny.

RNZ – polling results | Al Jazeera – Berlingske poll

• Risk of militarised occupation – Washington has explicitly stated that “utilising the US military is always an option” when discussing Greenland. That’s a threat. No matter how carefully it’s worded, it’s a threat of invasion.

RNZ – “Trump considering military options to take Greenland” | RNZ – “What you need to know about Trump and Greenland”

• Cultural and environmental devastation – Large-scale Arctic mining and military base expansion would shred lands already under extreme stress from climate change. Local leaders and Arctic policy experts warn this would turn the US into a bully to be resisted, a pariah state in its own backyard.

RNZ – mining critique | CBC – Arctic shipping & environmental risk

For Denmark and NATO—tens of billions wasted, alliance fractured

• Billions diverted to Arctic militarisation – 14.6 billion kroner + 27.4 billion kroner in just two major Danish defence packages, plus other allied commitments, as Europe scrambles to shore up Greenland while trying to avoid catastrophic war with the US.

Danish MoD – Second Agreement (27.4b) | CNN / Breaking Defense – 14.6b package

Denmark’s major Arctic and North Atlantic defence investment packages in 2025

This is money that could rebuild infrastructure, address climate crisis, or support struggling communities. Instead, it’s being burned on arms races because a fascist in the US wants to add Greenland to his property portfolio.

• NATO alliance fracture risk – European leaders have issued a joint statement that “Greenland belongs to its people” and warned that Arctic security must be handled collectively, not by US diktat. The alliance is already under strain. Trump threatening military conquest of a NATO member? That could be the fracture point that ends 75 years of Western alliance-building.

RNZ – joint European statement | RNZ – “Trump considering military options to take Greenland”

For Indigenous peoples globally—a precedent for our own erasure

But the biggest harm? It’s not just about one northern island.

If a nuclear-armed imperial state can openly draft laws to annex Indigenous homelands, against both local and allied opposition, and still be treated as a serious geopolitical actor, then every Indigenous nation on this planet is less safe.

The Greenland fight is a referendum on whether self-determination actually means anything in international law. It’s a referendum on whether the principle of “the right of all peoples to self-determination” is worth the paper it’s written on, or whether “strategic value” will always trump Indigenous rights when empire decides the rules.

RNZ – right to self‑determination highlighted | DW – “We choose Denmark” remarks & independence polling

And that precedent—that threat—applies to every Indigenous nation trying to defend its sovereignty. To Māori. To First Nations in Canada. To Kanaka Maoli in Hawaiʻi. To Sámi in the Arctic. To every Indigenous people on the planet.

If Trump gets away with this, every powerful state gets the same template.

Rangatiratanga Means Something Only If We Fight For It

Randy Fine’s Greenland Annexation and Statehood Act is not a joke. It’s not a sideshow. It’s not going to blow over in the next news cycle.

It is the legislative taiaha of an imperial project that has already moved from words to war in Venezuela and is now testing the boundaries of conquest against a NATO ally’s Indigenous territory.

The facts are brutally clear:

• Greenlanders overwhelmingly reject US rule. 85% said no. 6% said yes. That’s not ambiguous.
• Greenland’s leaders have said repeatedly: “No more fantasies of annexation. This is our home.”
• Denmark and Europe are pouring billions into Arctic defence to deter Trump, not enable him.
• The US already has every security access it says it needs without annexation.
• The mineral “pot of gold” is largely a mirage that only works if US taxpayers underwrite corporate extraction and Greenlanders absorb the environmental costs.

Every single one of these facts is documented by mainstream sources—often cautious ones: RNZ, 1News, NZ Herald, CNN, Reuters, AFP, the Danish Ministry of Defence, NOAA, PAME, ProPublica, Al Jazeera, and more.

RNZ overview | 1News Arctic explainer

For Māori, for all Indigenous peoples, our response must be whakawhanaungatanga and relentless vigilance:

• Standing with Kalaallit Nunaat when they say “Greenland belongs to its people”—not just in words, but through diplomatic pressure, public statements, and international solidarity.
• Naming this what it is: not geopolitics, not foreign policy, but colonial aggression—the same system that tried to extinguish us.
• Demanding that our own governments in Aotearoa and across the Pacific reject any support—military, diplomatic, or rhetorical—for annexation dressed up as statehood.
• Building networks with Greenlandic leaders, with Arctic Indigenous peoples, and with every nation and community resisting imperial expansion.

The taiaha points both ways. The way empire treats Greenland today is a mirror of how it treated Aotearoa for five centuries—and a warning of what it will try again if we ever stop defending rangatiratanga.

That’s our job now. That’s always been our job.

Greenland is not alone. And neither are we.

Ivor Jones The Māori Green Lantern Fighting Misinformation And Disinformation From The Far Right

Research Notes and Transparency

• Date of research: 14 January 2026 (NZDT).
• Tools used: Web search and document retrieval tools to verify live URLs and cross-check claims.
• Core sources: RNZ, 1News, NZ Herald, The Hill, CNN (via RNZ), Reuters (via RNZ), AFP (via RNZ), Danish Ministry of Defence, NOAA Arctic Report Card, PAME Arctic Shipping Status Reports, ProPublica, Al Jazeera, DW, Le Monde, YouGov.
• Unverifiable claims: All quantitative claims (poll percentages, defence spending amounts, shipping growth) have been cross-checked against at least one primary or high-reliability secondary source; no statistic has been included where a credible source could not be found.
• Caveat: The characterisation of Trump’s agenda as “fascist”, “imperial”, and “colonial” is my interpretation based on the evidence cited. The facts themselves—military threats, bribery schemes, conquest rhetoric—are directly sourced and verified.