-----Original Message-----
From: Chas Freeman via Salon <salon@listserve.com>
Sent: Jan 20, 2026 11:54 AM
To: <salon@listserve.com>
Subject: [Salon] When Peace Means War and War Means Peace
(Dobbs) When Peace Means War and War Means PeaceTrump thinks he can protect the Arctic against Russian aggression by jeopardizing the pact that protects against Russian aggression.
I have long shied away from making comparisons that others make between Donald Trump and Adolf Hitler. As evil as Trump is, I don’t believe he would ever resort to the scale of Hitler’s crimes against humanity. But when it comes to Trump’s accumulation of power and Hitler’s rise to unchallenged power, those comparisons no longer seem so far over the top.
I have felt the same way about evaluations by Trump’s critics that the man is going mad. He might be many bad things, and he is, but I haven’t thought that stark-raving mad was one of them. Now I’m wondering if I’ve been wrong. Now, I’m not so sure those evaluations are so far over the top. The latest manifestation of madness came Sunday, when he sent this text to Norway’s prime minister Jonas Store: “Dear Jonas: Considering your Country decided not to give me the Nobel Peace Prize for having stopped 8 Wars PLUS, I no longer feel an obligation to think purely of Peace, although it will always be predominant, but can now think about what is good and proper for the United States of America.”
Where do I even start? I can put aside the fact that Prime Minister Store already has told Trump the facts of life, as his government spelled out in this statement: “As regards the Nobel Peace Prize, I have clearly explained, including to president Trump what is well known, the prize is awarded by an independent Nobel Committee and not the Norwegian Government.”
Trump is not, as the rest of us know, a well-read man. But there are too many things I cannot put aside. One is, his impudent avowal of entitlement to the sovereign territory of Greenland, which he made to the Norwegian leader as if the Nordic nations— including Denmark, with its long recognized 300-year-old claim on Greenland— all answer to the same drummer: “Denmark cannot protect that land from Russia or China, and why do they have a ‘right of ownership’ anyway? There are no written documents, it’s only that a boat landed there hundreds of years ago, but we had boats landing there, also.” The man lives in a lurid fantasy, with an ignoble ego even larger than Greenland. If I were Prime Minister Store— and I didn’t have to worry that Donald Trump is so petty that Norway would be punished— I would explain to Mr. Trump that if that’s how he thinks, then he should remember that long before Christopher Columbus landed on an island off the North American continent in 1492, Leif Erikson beat him to the punch about 500 years earlier.
Ironically, Erikson was born in Iceland and grew up in Greenland. So shouldn’t Iceland or Greenland lay legal claim to the United States, rather than the other way around? Then there’s the end of Trump’s text to Norway’s prime minister: “I have done more for NATO than any other person since its founding, and now, NATO should do something for the United States. The World is not secure unless we have Complete and Total Control of Greenland. Thank you! President DJT.” That’s another thing that I can’t put aside. He is willing, even eager, to jeopardize the collective security of NATO, and to trash treaties that his own country signed over the years with Denmark. In 1916 the U.S. promised, “The United States of America will not object to the Danish Government extending their political and economic interests to the whole of Greenland.” Then in 2004, the U.S. signed a defense pact that called Greenland “an equal part of the Kingdom of Denmark.” But if Donald Trump can strong-arm his way to control of Greenland, those become puffs of smoke. This man who boasts about what a great businessman he is does not in fact know the first thing about the virtue of a handshake, which used to mean, “Your word is your bond.”
This is what people mean when they talk about a “zero-sum game.” There is no negotiation, no accommodation, no honor, only the raw exercise of power. One party wins with the superior weapons it brings to the table— military superiority, tariffs, whatever—and the other party loses, game over. But not everyone is willing to play by Trump’s rules. France’s president called Trump’s game “intimidation,” Sweden’s prime minister called it “blackmail.” Blackmail. With Trump’s threats to take Greenland militarily if he can’t just buy it, is there any other word for it? I hate to think of rooting for Europe in this standoff, but I can’t abide the mad logic he has lately served up, telling The New York Times that owning Greenland “is what I feel is psychologically necessary for success.” What? And given the president’s consummate contempt for treaties and norms and international law, it’s hard right now to root for the U.S. as long as he is putting it on this antagonistic and appalling path. Especially when the strongest words of encouragement right now come from Russia. Which they do. Yesterday, Russian president Vladimir Putin’s spokesman addressed Trump’s threats to “take” Greenland: “Whether this is good or bad, whether it complies with international law or not, there are international experts who believe that by resolving the issue of Greenland’s accession, Trump will go down in history, not only in U.S. history, but also in world history. It is difficult to disagree with these experts.”
As Dan Rather pointed out here on Substack, “Somewhere deep inside the Kremlin, Russian leaders must be beside themselves.” It is “stunningly ironic,” Rather wrote, “some might say idiotic or even suspicious, that annexing Greenland to guard against Russian activity in the Arctic could result in killing an organization that guards against Russian expansion.” Idiotic, suspicious, or some might say, simply mad. Which brings us to Trump’s other mind-boggling move yesterday: he invited Putin to be a member of his “Board of Peace,” which he envisions bringing peace to Gaza and reportedly sees in the longer term as a replacement for the United Nations. Imagine! Trump has invited the merciless leader who has waged a ruthless war on Ukraine to be a member of his Board of Peace.
He also invited the enduring dictator of Belarus and Putin’s good friend Alexander Lukashenko, the authoritarian leader of Hungary Viktor Orban, as well as Argentina’s President Javier Milei, Turkey’s President Recep Erdogan, and India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi. He also has invited impartial members for his Board of Peace, including Britain’s Tony Blair and Canada’s Mark Carney, but overall do you see a common thread here? Trump is cozying up to autocrats who have cozied up to him. So, like virtually everything he does, they’re not rewarded for their competent skills, they’re rewarded for their servile loyalty. And here’s the crowning conclusion: each will serve three-year terms unless they pony up a billion dollars for the reconstruction of Gaza, which would make their seats permanent. Which brings five words to mind: “Riviera of the Middle East.” Remember Trump’s plan to rebuild Gaza? It was designed to put more money in the president’s pockets. You can bet, although it has disappeared from the headlines, it hasn’t disappeared from Donald Trump’s head.
So let’s recap: • Trump now says, “I no longer feel an obligation to think purely of peace.” • Trump wants the bully who has waged an unceasing war on Ukraine on his Board of Peace. • Trump thinks he has a claim to Greenland but Leif Erikson doesn’t have one to North America, even if he got here 500 years earlier. • Trump thinks he can protect the Arctic against Russian aggression by jeopardizing the pact that protects against Russian aggression. • Trump keeps boasting that he has stopped wars that he hasn’t actually stopped. • In Trump’s world, America’s word is not its bond. • In Trump’s world, peace means war and war means peace. Share
On Saturday, Greenlanders demonstrated in their capital city against Trump, chanting “No means no.” It does. Except to a madman. Whch might mean Donald Trump. |