this post was submitted on 11 Jan 2026
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My cousin works as a geologist for a mining company and I've seen the conditions that they have to work in. Often in highly unstable areas with active militia trying to kill them. They have metre thick concrete walls around the perimeter and armed guards. Inside it's like a small city, and every single person there needs to be there there is no one who's playing tourist.
Trying to do that in the Arctic is an insane proposition. Concrete doesn't set well in the cold, the roads are clogged for much of the year, and most industrial mining equipment is extremely sensitive and doesn't work if it's out of temperature range, or if it's too windy, or if you sneeze on it.
Obviously America attacking Greenland would be devastating to global stability but it would almost be worth it to watch the absolute disaster that would be the attempts at resource extraction. It's just like with Venezuela, no one is actually interested in attempting resource extraction other than Trump. The amount of upfront investment and technical hurdles to overcome are enormous and any profits (assuming there are literally any) are a decade or more away. Unless Greenland is harbouring a otherwise undisclosed vain of diamonds wrapped in 24 carat gold then I can't imagine it's going to happen.
I think Trump thinks that when the ice sheets melt it'll be worth it. That America will suffer in the short term, but have access to a giant archipelago in the long term that'll secure his legacy as an American hero. Unfortunately for him, his very actions might make it impossible for the US to capitalize on Greenland in any meaningful way.
I genuinely think it's in the interests of all other powerful countries to stoke regional tensions over the next few decades and break up the union, and I wouldn't be surprised if that's how things go. As much as I hate this country and think the empire needs to be knocked down a few pegs, civil war would not be a good thing. Such a heavily armed country descending into instability would be violent on a never before seen scale, and that violence will not stay in its borders.
I can't speak to the other issues, but you solve the concrete problem by making concrete shapes off site and shipping them in.
I've never been to Greenland but I have been to Iceland quite a few times and trust me the northern ice sheets are not a place for vehicles. Greenland is pretty much all ice sheet and is actually quite a bit further north than Iceland.