Trump Canada and Greenland

The desire of nation-states to acquire resources has historically resulted in use of military action to support occupation of neighbouring territory that is not part of their country. 

Neighbour or Resource Opportunity

 

The German geographer Friedrich Ratzel first introduced the term Lebensraum in his 1897 book Politische Geographie (Political Geography). According to Ratzel, a nation-state should become self-sufficient by acquiring resources and territories in order to maintain independence and thrive internationally.

 

Friedrich Ratzel (1844–1904) was a German scientist and geographer. He is regarded as the “father” of political geography, which acquired popularity in the 19th century. Ratzel relied on the Darwinian theory of evolution and stated that the characteristics of different nationalities were determined by their geographical environment.

 

Inspired by Darwin’s evolution theory, Ratzel compared the state to a living organism. He claimed that young states needed territories to sustain themselves, just like a living organism needs nutrients to grow. Just as organisms are bound to their environments, Ratzel believed states were also tied to their geographic locations.

 

Ratzel argued that the development of all species, including humans as a race, was influenced by their ability to adapt to geographical circumstances; those who successfully adapt to one location naturally migrate to others. Thriving species strive to expand the territory they occupy. This concept of territorial expansion was linked to the idea of Lebensraum—living space.

 

Three key foreign policy goals of lebensraum were established:

 

• Belief that borders of states were not fixed.

• Certain races were inherently superior and needed more territory to expand and thrive. 

• Lebensraum is utilized to ideologically justify the invasion of foreign territory. Expansion is necessary to accommodate the needs of racially superior people who need vast territories of the rich in resources. (Cussans, 2025)

Byline Supplement is a reader-supported publication covering populism and the global rise of the far right. An article, published Feb 19, 2025, concludes that Trump Isn't Joking About Lebensraum. Trump's plans for Greenland, the Panama Canal, Canada and Mexico aren't just idle talk. A senior US insider tells us what to expect

Trump might appear to be joking, or playing coy about his intentions with Mexico, Panama, Greenland, and Canada. But he’s not. He plans on military action against cartels, and he is dead serious about acquiring the canal, plus Greenland, and annexing Canada. His “jokes” are just thinly veiled desires. Militarily, he could accomplish all of these. Hanging on to them is another matter.

His plans rely on a lot of the same calculi employed by the Germans leading up into World War II, and the Russians before their invasions of Ukraine in 2014 and 2022. Even if he doesn’t set off a massive conflict, it will result in the US becoming a nuclear armed pariah state. Unlike Germany and (to a lesser extent Russia), the US will have a plethora of ways to anesthetize sentiments in NATO countries that use some of the same social media platforms as the US public. (Trump Isn't Joking About Lebensraum., n.d.)

Bruce E. Johansen has published a discussion of parallels between four ideologies, including a reluctance to repudiate white supremacy and a disregard for the rule of law.

President Donald Trump's admiration of President Andrew Jackson evokes a discussion of parallels between their ideologies, including a reluctance to repudiate white supremacy and a disregard for the rule of law. These attitudes are reflected both in Jackson's authorship of the Indian Removal Act (1830) and his refusal to acknowledge a judgment by the US Supreme Court in favor of the Cherokee Nation that might have averted the Trail of Tears. Jackson's advocacy of American exceptionalism (“America first” to Trump) also provokes an analysis of what later was cast in popular discourse as Manifest Destiny. United States history--its “race law” in particular--is described here through the admiring eyes of Adolph Hitler, who likened Germany's expansion before and during World War II to United States “westward movement” during the nineteenth century.(Johansen, n.d.)

Tsira Shvangiradze, MA Diplomacy and World Politics, is an international relations specialist based in Tbilisi, Georgia. She holds a master's degree in Diplomacy and World Politics and a bachelor's degree in International Relations from Tbilisi State University. Beyond her professional endeavors, Tsira dedicates her time to researching and writing articles, including  What Is “Lebensraum” and Why Did Hitler Promote It? that enrich political science and international relations discourse.

Some have dismissed the cliche that “History Repeats Itself” but the current world conflicts and desire for expansion of territory in Ukraine, Palestine, and possibly North America have strong resonance with the war that placed my Dad in a tank in the Netherlands in the mid 40’s.

References

Cussans, T. (2025, May 13). What Is “Lebensraum” and Why Did Hitler Promote It? TheCollector. Retrieved September 25, 2025, from https://www.thecollector.com/what-is-lebensraum-why-hitler-promoted/ 

Johansen, B. E. (n.d.). Donald Trump, Andrew Jackson, Lebensraum, and Manifest Destiny. eScholarship. Retrieved September 25, 2025, from https://escholarship.org/uc/item/9nt557fz 

Trump Isn't Joking About Lebensraum. (n.d.). Byline Supplement | Substack. Retrieved September 25, 2025, from https://www.bylinesupplement.com/p/trump-isnt-joking-about-liebensraum 

Articles on Homelessness from Ponder Patterns

Research that has been curated in the Ponder Patterns blog since August 2023 underlines the urgent need for the Government to increase efforts to address homelessness and food insecurity for immediate relief to suffering residents and long term equity and balance in our social safety net.

Homeless in Winter

Saturday, August 26, 2023

Supply or Speculation 

A plan to alleviate the shortage of housing in Canada is likely to be mentioned in the political platforms of all persons seeking election federally, provincially, and in municipalities. The plans may differ depending on the understanding of the authors about the root cause of the shortage.

When we built Homes

Supply, speculation, demand, and the lack of taxes on the sale of principal residences are cited as contributors to the shortage of available housing in Canada. In the next election cycles, we expect the successful candidates will support policy to tackle this disastrous situation.

Tuesday, September 5, 2023

Housing Crisis Recent History

The evidence of the housing crisis in Nova Scotia is as close as our neighborhood park. This crisis has been building for many years. This article reviews some analysis and proposals from a few years ago.

Some Recommendations

The analysis of the housing crisis in these articles from 2019 and 2021 have identified the need for investment by government in affordable rental housing to rectify the inequity and injustice that continues to increase the number of homeless people in Nova Scotia.

Friday, September 8, 2023

Getting Back to Building Housing

A previous post, Housing Crisis Recent History, touched on the government decisions that have led to social housing austerity in Canada and the need for a large-scale community-based land acquisition strategy based on sustainable living, not returns for investors.

Building for Homeless or Investors

The need to address homelessness in HRM will be immediate as winter approaches. The alleviation of the housing crisis is urgent and requires action to maintain the status of HRM as a place to support living and working.

Saturday, September 16, 2023

Different Understanding of Housing Concerns

The housing emergency in Nova Scotia is increasing daily and the understanding of the problem by provincial political leadership appears to differ in important details with the assessment of the situation by at least one Halifax Regional Municipality Councillor. This development resonates with concerns expressed in the Housing and Ideology post in June 2023. As noted then, political ideology may be a serious obstacle to effective action in the area of housing.

Housing as a Human Right

In the crisis of homelessness that we are experiencing in Nova Scotia, and particularly HRM, one essential criteria for efficient progress on this catastrophe is cooperation between all levels of governments that avoids political “half truths”and acceptance rather than shifting of responsibility.

Tuesday, November 21, 2023

Insecurity and the Economy

Our community is experiencing severe housing and food insecurity. The increasing numbers of people living in tents and depending on food banks indicates that action by the government is essential and urgent.

Klein, Seth. (2020) A Good War: Mobilizing Canada for the Climate Emergency. Toronto, ON:ECW Press.

The role of the government to protect the health of Canadians was essential during the Covid 19 emergency. Government Action, similar to wartime programs, to guarantee the right of Canadians to adequate housing and access to healthy food is urgently required now.

Saturday, December 2, 2023

When the Market fails

We are more keenly aware of homelessness and food insecurity in our community when the days grow short and the temperature drops prior to the holiday season. We are fortunate to have many people who work very hard supporting the homeless and gathering food for food banks and soup kitchens.

Adequate Housing

Perhaps, simply put, the answer to homelessness is to build more homes and the answer to poverty is access to more money. In Canada, the Government has responded, in the past, to housing needs by rapidly building houses. Rent subsidies and a guaranteed basic income are examples of Government providing money to improve the life situation of citizens. When the market fails, the Government must step up.

Wealth Distribution Canada 2023

Renewal of Government Action for adequate housing and healthy food that mirrors the programs that created housing after WWII and during the CMHC supported housing initiatives that built Lower Sackville and Forest Hills with “sweat equity” are urgently required in combination with income support programs to alleviate food insecurity. Spending on housing and income for food security reduces spending in health, education, and social services and confirms the human right in Canada for adequate housing and food security for our residents.

Mobilizing an emergency mindset

 

What can we learn from the way our leaders handled the Second World War and what they are doing with COVID-19 to inform our approach to the climate emergency?

Emergency action

 

Linda McQuaig reviews A Good War1 by Seth Klein who issued a compelling call to arms and presents an inspiring vision of a possible response in Canada to the climate crisis. While the world continues to fast-forward on a path to catastrophe for humankind—and there is really only about a decade left to change course—the CBC blithely insists on maintaining some silly notion of journalistic objectivity—as if it were dealing with a topic for which there are competing biases that must be weighed. This is a perfect example of what Seth Klein calls “the new climate denialism,” in his powerful and important new book: A Good War: Mobilizing Canada for the Climate Emergency.

Under the old climate denialism political leaders and business commentators simply denied the scientific facts of global warming. Under the new denialism, political leaders and business types claim they understand and accept the science. But they remain in denial when it comes to action, imposing measures that are far short of what’s needed if we are actually going to deal with the looming disaster. Another factor behind this timidity is the reluctance of today’s leaders to confront Big Oil and its bombastic political supporters, particularly in Alberta. This fossil fuel lobby makes the argument that, by itself, Canada has little power to reduce global emissions, and, since some other countries aren’t doing their share, why should we compromise our economic prosperity to do our part? In fact, as Klein shows, similar arguments applied during the war: fighting Nazism required a worldwide effort, and Canada was only one small participant, unable to achieve much on its own. Even the United States wasn’t involved until 1942. The threat no doubt felt quite removed from Canadian shores.2

Seth Klein, an adjunct professor with Simon Fraser University’s urban studies program and the former B.C. director of the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives, writes that the federal and provincial governments still don’t treat climate change as an emergency.

 

They need to show leadership and draw lessons from history. Nicholas Stern, author of the Stern Review on the Economics of Climate Change, has said governments should be spending two per cent of their GDP on climate-mitigation efforts, which in Canadian terms would be about $50 billion per year.

That means the Trudeau government isn’t merely spending a little less than it should in the face of the climate emergency. It is spending less by a massive order of magnitude.

But in response to the climate emergency, we have seen nothing of this sort. In contrast to C.D. Howe’s wartime creations, the Trudeau government has established two new Crown corporations during its time in office – the Canada Infrastructure Bank (which has thus far accomplished very little), and the Trans Mountain Corporation (an ill-advised decision that makes all Canadians the owners of a 60-year-old oil pipeline). If our government really saw the climate emergency as an emergency, it would quickly conduct an inventory of our conversion needs to determine how many heat pumps, solar arrays, wind farms, electric buses, etc. we will need to electrify virtually everything and end our reliance on fossil fuels. Then, it would establish a new generation of Crown corporations to ensure those items are manufactured and deployed at the requisite scale. It should also create an audacious new federal transfer program – I recommend a $20-40 billion annual Climate Emergency Just Transition transfer program – to catapult climate infrastructure spending and worker retraining in every province.3

Klein asserts that If our current leaders believe we face a climate emergency, then they need to act and speak like it’s an emergency. That is what our leaders did in the Second World War and what they are doing with COVID-19. The climate emergency demands that same level of response.

 

References

 

1	Klein, Seth. (2020) A Good War: Mobilizing Canada for the Climate Emergency. Toronto, ON:ECW Press.
2	(n.d.). In a compelling call to arms, Seth Klein presents inspiring vision. Retrieved November 25, 2020, from https://canadiandimension.com/articles/view/seth-klein-a-good-war-review
3	(2020, November 25). Canada must adopt an emergency mindset to climate change. Retrieved November 25, 2020, from https://policyoptions.irpp.org/magazines/november-2020/canada-must-adopt-an-emergency-mindset-to-climate-change/

Disconnected from the need for maximum effort

 

In his book “A Good War”, Seth Klein demonstrates how wartime thinking and community efforts can be repurposed today for Canada's own Green New Deal.

 

He has found a politics of disconnect is hampering our progress in addressing the climate emergency.

 

"We elect governments that promise climate action, they deliver underwhelming and contradictory policies, and then get replaced by right-wing governments that undo what little progress we’ve seen."1

Damian Carrington, environment editor at the Guardian, reports that CO2 emissions hit a new record despite Covid-19 lockdowns. Scientists calculate that emissions must fall by half by 2030 to give a good chance of limiting global heating to 1.5C, beyond which hundreds of millions of people will face more heatwaves, droughts, floods and poverty.

WMO report on atmospheric CO2

 

Climate-heating gases have reached record levels in the atmosphere despite the global lockdowns caused by the coronavirus pandemic, the UN’s World Meteorological Organization has said.

“The lockdown-related fall in emissions is just a tiny blip on the long-term graph. We need a sustained flattening of the curve,” said Petteri Taalas, the WMO secretary-general. “We breached the global [annual] threshold of 400ppm in 2015 and, just four years later, we have crossed 410ppm. Such a rate of increase has never been seen in the history of our records… CO2 remains in the atmosphere for centuries. The last time the Earth experienced a comparable concentration was 3m-5m years ago, when the temperature was 2-3C warmer and sea level was 10-20 metres higher than now. But there weren’t 7.7 billion [human] inhabitants.”2

In August 2016, Bill McKibben wrote that we are under attack from climate change—and our only hope is to mobilize like we did in WWII.

 

War on climate change

For starters, it’s important to remember that a truly global mobilization to defeat climate change wouldn’t wreck our economy or throw coal miners out of work. Quite the contrary: Gearing up to stop global warming would provide a host of social and economic benefits, just as World War II did. It would save lives. (A worldwide switch to renewable energy would cut air pollution deaths by 4 to 7 million a year, according to the Stanford data.) It would produce an awful lot of jobs. (An estimated net gain of roughly two million in the United States alone.)3

Carbon and methane now represent the deadliest enemy of all time, the first force fully capable of harrying, scattering, and impoverishing our entire civilization.

 

References

 

1	Klein, Seth. (2020) A Good War: Mobilizing Canada for the Climate Emergency. Toronto, ON:ECW Press.
2	(2020, November 23). Climate crisis: CO2 hits new record despite Covid-19 lockdowns. Retrieved November 24, 2020, from https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/nov/23/climate-crisis-co2-hits-new-record-despite-covid-19-lockdowns
3	(2016, August 15). We Need to Literally Declare War on Climate Change | The .... Retrieved November 17, 2020, from https://newrepublic.com/article/135684/declare-war-climate-change-mobilize-wwii