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This post will be the last one for about a week. I am off to Yellowstone National Park and I hope that I can avoid newspapers and television. A break from news is long overdue. Perhaps when I return home the world will be more peaceful (I doubt it, but my aspiration is to be less frantically disgusted).

US President Trump has cancelled his scheduled trip to Denmark ostensibly because the state would not discuss the sale of Greenland to the US. The US has purchased land from Denmark in the past: the Danish West Indies became the US Virgin Islands in 1917 as the US feared German control of the islands during World War I. The price was $25 million. US interest in Greenland is twofold. First, the US has only a very small territory abutting the Arctic (Alaska) in comparison to Russian territory (west of Murmansk to the North Pole and from the eastern Chukchi Peninsula). As ice in the Arctic melts because of climate change, many states are interested in the region for maritime routes and resources. Second, Greenland has mineral resources that are quite valuable.

But what was once ordinary state behavior in the early 20th century is now regarded as preposterous. It does not appear as if the US overture to Denmark (which controls the foreign policy of Greenland, but not its domestic policy) was well-considered or even more than a brain fart (I really do need a vacation). When the government of Denmark indicated that Greenland was not up for sale, President Trump cancelled his scheduled meeting with the Danish government–a government that historically has been a steadfast ally to the US. Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen made a very diplomatic statement about the cancellation, but did say that the idea of buying Greenland was “absurd”. She went on: “Thankfully, the time where you buy and sell other countries and populations is over…..Let’s leave it there. Jokes aside, we will, of course, love to have an even closer strategic relationship with the United States.” President Trump characterized the response as “nasty”.

A more likely explanation for President Trump’s cancellation is that he is afraid that former President Obama will upstage his visit when Obama visits Denmark at the end of September.