Online Reporter
BEIJING. – US President-elect Donald Trump is risking turning the United States into a “rogue state” as he talked about making Canada the “51st American state” and taking over Greenland, the Financial Times (FT) reported on Monday.
“The forcible or coerced takeover of a country by a larger neighbour is the biggest alarm bell in world politics. It is a signal that a rogue state is on the march,” the FT said in an opinion piece.
The incoming US president has repeatedly expressed ambitions to turn Canada into part of the United States, prompting Canadian politicians to publicly dismiss such remarks.
Europe has also regarded Trump’s remarks of taking over Greenland seriously. Greenland has made it clear that the island is “not for sale and will not be in the future either,” said Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen.
France and Germany also warned against Trump’s statements. Norway called Trump’s remarks “unacceptable” and warned of the threat to North Atlantic Treaty Organisation unity and European stability.
Meanwhile, Trump’s followers are treating the whole thing as a big joke. Brandon Gill, a Republican congressman, reportedly said that the Canadians, Panamanians and Greenlanders should be “honored” at the thought of becoming Americans.
The violence against small nations’ rights triggered World Wars I and II, the FT opinion noted, adding that Britain and France failed to protect Czechoslovakia from Nazi Germany in 1938, and within a year, they had recognized their error and extended a security guarantee to Poland – the next small neighbor on Germany’s radar. The invasion of Poland triggered the start of the conflict.
Even though Trump rarely makes good on his threats, he has already enormously damaged America’s global standing and its alliance system, the FT said, adding that any laughing at Trump’s “jokes” is misplaced.
“What we are witnessing is a tragedy –not a comedy,” the FT said
Meawhile, President Joe Biden was due to will cap his half-century political career yesterday with a final Oval Office speech, hoping to seal a legacy that has been overshadowed by Democrats’ failure to stop Trump from returning to the White House. – Xinhua
