It’s possible that I shall make an ass of myself. But in that case one can always get out of it with a little dialectic. I have, of course, so worded my proposition as to be right either way (K.Marx, Letter to F.Engels on the Indian Mutiny)
Donald Trump is taking his demented dreams to a new level in his quest to take over Greenland. The man who whined over not getting a Nobel Prize and then followed Hitler propagandist Joseph Goebbels lead in accepting a prize awarded to someone else, has now decided he wants Greenland.
Trump is now proposing to whack us with a $75 billion tax increase to put pressure on Denmark and the rest of the EU to give him Greenland. If you missed Trump’s plans to hit us with this tax hike it’s because of the consistently awful reporting we get from major media outlets.
They reported on the tariffs Trump is imposing on the European countries most visible in resisting U.S. pressure to take Greenland. The problem with the reporting is that it implies the European countries pay the tariffs. They don’t, we do.
This is not a debatable point; the data are very clear. Well over 90 percent of the cost of a Trump tariff is borne by consumers or importers in the United States, not by the exporting countries. When Trump starts yelling “tariff, tariff, tariff,” he is yelling “tax, tax, tax,” and we’re the ones paying it. And $75 billion is not trivial. It’s one percent of the budget, more than twice the cost of the enhanced premiums for Obamacare policies that Trump says we can’t afford.
Let’s be clear, Trump wants Greenland because it is big. And he almost certainly thinks Greenland is far bigger than it actually is because he doesn’t understand that the Mercator projection maps, which are standard ones we all use, hugely exaggerate the size of areas near the poles.
No one likes the idea that the United States is being run by a moron.
We all know Trump says that he needs Greenland for national security. This argument is not worth a second’s consideration. Greenland and Denmark are both members of NATO. If he felt there was some need for putting additional military assets in or around Denmark, all he has to do is ask.
In fact, there were many more United States military installations in Denmark during the Cold War. We removed them after the collapse of the Soviet Union.
Trump’s team themselves made it clear that Greenland is not a national security issue. The country is not even mentioned once in Trump’s National Security Strategy plan that was crafted just two months ago.
Trump effectively admitted this in an interview with the New York Times earlier this month. He acknowledged that he could address any security issues through negotiation with Greenland, Denmark, and the rest of NATO, but said Trump said that he would feel better “psychologically” taking over Greenland.
He compared it to the difference between owning and renting. Insofar as Trump feels a psychological need to own territory that is something that is best addressed through therapy, not military action against allies.
The other argument is that Greenland is rich in rare earth minerals, which Trump’s rich buddies are anxious to exploit. This is popular among people who want to highlight both Trump’s venality and also find rationality in what seems to be an otherwise crazy quest.
While no one should ever underestimate Trump’s corruption, the story doesn’t make any sense. First, it’s not clear that there is big money to be made on Greenland’s rare earth minerals. It is a remote area with little infrastructure. It will be extremely expensive to reach these minerals and would almost certainly take many years. Given developments in technology, it’s not even clear these minerals will still be of much value at the point anyone is able to bring them to the market.
But what’s even more damning for this line of argument is that they could start mining in Greenland tomorrow, if they think it would be profitable. Greenland is very open to foreign investment. If they think there is big money to be made by mining Greenland’s minerals, they would be doing it already.
Trump’s rich friends are undoubtedly pushing for him to take Greenland, he’ll probably give them better deals than Greenland would. Most importantly he will likely get rid of environmental regulations that Greenland’s government would demand.
But the cost of environmental regulations is not likely to be the sort of thing that would warrant a military invasion. Also, it probably is not a good sell to the people of Greenland that Trump wants to take away their ability to protect their environment.
At the end of the day, we really can’t escape the basic story, Trump wants Greenland because it is big. No one likes the idea that the United States is being run by a moron. And it’s painful for those of us left of center to acknowledge that this is who we losing to, not some evil genius. However, that happens to be the reality, and we need to recognize it.
Trump's latest straight out of a Monty Python skit
It could be a Monty Python skit from 40 years ago: A demented U.S. president demands that Norway award him the Nobel Peace Prize (which he initially spells “Noble,” and which isn’t Norway’s to give anyway), after converting the name of the Department of Defense to the Department of War, sending troops into American cities, threatening Canada, and abducting the president of a Latin American country by force.
When he doesn’t get the peace prize, he says he’s no longer interested in peace and decides to take over Greenland. When Greenland refuses him, and Denmark and the rest of Europe make a fuss, he goes into a rage, raises tariffs on Europe (which cost Americans dearly), and threatens war on NATO. The president of Russia is delighted.
Can’t you see it? Eric Idle plays the American president — full of himself and utterly off his rocker. John Cleese is the vicious and hapless Latin American president who’s abducted. Terry Gilliam is the baffled, incredulous head of Greenland. Terry Jones plays the righteous leader of Denmark, Graham Chapman a perplexed NATO dignitary, and Michael Palin the wacky but triumphant president of Russia.
The Monty Python team was so funny because they came up with completely absurd situations, handled them with deadpan seriousness, and stretched them to the limits.
But this particular absurd situation isn’t funny. It’s actually happening. And Trump is truly, tragically, frighteningly out of his mind. Robert Reich is a professor of public policy at Berkeley and former secretary of labor. His writings can be found at https://robertreich.substack.com/
U.S. Treasury chief draws ridicule for wanting to protect Americans with '5, 10, 12 homes'
U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent delivers remarks to the American Bankers Association summit in Washington, D.C., U.S., April 9, 2025
Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent was met with mockery after explaining he wants to protect “mom and pop” owners who have up to a dozen homes they’ve bought as retirement investments.
Bessent and President Donald Trump have declared they want to ban large institutional investors from purchasing single-family homes as housing becomes more scarce and less affordable.
“We are going to give guidance at some point to see what is a mom and pop, that someone — maybe your parents — for their retirement, [bought] about 5, 10, 12 homes,” Bessent told Fox Business’ Maria Bartiromo at the World Economic Forum in Davos.
“So we don’t want to push the mom and pops out,” he continued. “We just want to push everyone else out.”
Bessent, a former hedge fund manager, has an estimated net worth of $521 million, according to The Street.
Critics were quick to ridicule Bessent as out of touch.
“Good news for the forgotten man,” declared The Bulwark’s Tim Miller. “The mom and pop real estate investor who has purchased 12 homes can breathe easy, the Treasury Secretary is looking out for you.”
“These people are completely out of touch with how life is for you,” observed The Lincoln Project.
Governor Gavin Newsom’s Press Office commented, “Scott, people are trying to buy 1 house — to live in. Could the Trump Admin be any more out of touch?”
Nobel laureate economist torches Trump’s 'enablers' for making 'catastrophe' worse
Economist Paul Krugman at FIDES 2023 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazi
During Donald Trump's first presidency — which started on January 20, 2017 and ended when Democrat Joe Biden was sworn in as president four years later — he clashed with a long list of traditional non-MAGA conservatives he appointed, including a secretary of state (Rex Tillerson), a White House chief of staff (retired U.S. Marine Corps Gen. John F. Kelly), a national security adviser (John Bolton), and two U.S. attorneys general (Bill Barr and Jeff Sessions). But since returning to the White House a year ago, Trump has made a point of surrounding himself with MAGA loyalists who, unlike Tillerson or Bolton, won't push back against his policies.
In a scathing column posted on his Substack page on January 20, 2026 — the one-year anniversary of his second presidency — liberal economist Paul Krugman laments that Trump is now "surrounded by…. sycophants who tell him whatever he wants to hear and indulge his every whim, no matter how destructive." And those "sycophants," according to Krugman, are encouraging a variety of terrible ideas — from encouraging a military invasion of Greenland to condoning the fatal shooting of unarmed motorist Renee Nicole Good in Minneapolis.
Trump is angrily railing against European leaders who oppose his push to make Greenland part of the United States. And a rambling letter to Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Store, Krugman argues, shows that Trump "is suffering a real detachment from reality."
"What is incontrovertible is that he's deeply unwell and rapidly getting sicker," Krugman warns. "In fact, Trump is so deeply unwell that it's time to stop blaming him for all the terrible things he's doing. He is what he is. Responsibility for the catastrophe overtaking America now rests with his enablers — people who have to know that he's a sick man but continue to support his depredations. Some of these enablers are monsters themselves. For example, Stephen Miller, Trump's immigration czar and the architect of his violent ethnic cleansing policies, is clearly a fanatic who is using Trump to achieve his own fascist goals."
The former New York Times columnist continues, "However, many of Trump's enablers aren't fanatics, just amoral opportunists. Scott Bessent, the treasury secretary, clearly understands how destructive Trump's actions are, evidenced by the fact that he has at times tried to tone them down. But for some inexplicable reason, Bessent has decided to sell his soul to Trump."
Others in the Trump Administration, Krugman laments, "are such utter narcissists that they're willing to destroy this country in return for the limelight and perks."
"In that camp, we can find (Defense Secretary) Pete Hegseth with his Pentagon makeup studio, who is purging the finest officers in the military; (Homeland Security Secretary) Kristi Noem with her Barbie-in-a-10-gallon-hat act, who positively gushes while calling a murdered mother a terrorist; and (FBI Director) Kash Patel, who thinks it's fine to fly on an FBI jet to watch his girlfriend sing while overseeing the debasement and corruption of the FBI," Krugman argues. "And what can we say about the cowardly Republicans in Congress, who are still sustaining Trump even though many of them — perhaps most of them — are privately appalled by his behavior? It would take just eight of these people — four Republican senators and four Republican House members — to switch sides and caucus with the Democrats to end GOP control of Congress and eliminate much of Trump's power."
Krugman adds, "But taking such a step would mean risking Trump's wrath by standing up and acting like patriots, rather than knuckling down and averting their eyes as Trump descends into madness. How did a great, sophisticated nation, one of the world's longest-standing republics, end up so fragile that it can be undone by one man's dementia?"
Paul Krugman's full Substack column is available at this link.
These familiar steps show how Trump is walking us into autocracy
In his story about the search at Hannah Natanson’s home, at which FBI agents said they were searching for materials related to a federal government contractor, Post reporter Perry Stein wrote that “it is highly unusual and aggressive for law enforcement to conduct a search on a reporter’s home.”
And Jameel Jaffer, director of the Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia University, told the New York Times the raid was “intensely concerning,” and could have a chilling effect “on legitimate journalistic activity.”
While the United States remains institutionally far removed from countries like Russia, the Trump administration has taken troubling early steps toward autocracy by threatening — and in some cases implementing — restrictions on free speech and independent media. Public ignorance, free speech and independent media
Ignorance about what public officials do exists in every political system.
In democracies, citizens often remain uninformed because learning about politics takes time and effort, while one vote rarely changes an election. American economist Anthony Downs called this “rational ignorance,” and it is made worse by complex laws and bureaucracy that few people fully understand.
As a result, voters often lack the information needed to monitor politicians or hold them accountable, giving officials more room to act in their own interest.
Free speech and independent media are essential for breaking this cycle. They allow citizens, journalists and opposition leaders to expose corruption and criticize those in power.
Open debate helps people share grievances and organize collective action, from protests to campaigns.
Independent media also act as watchdogs, investigating wrongdoing and raising the political cost of abuse – making it harder for leaders to get away with corruption or incompetence.
When free speech and independent journalism disappear, citizens are less likely to learn about government corruption or failures. Ignorance becomes the regime’s ally — it keeps people isolated and uninformed. By censoring information, autocrats create an information vacuum that prevents citizens from making informed choices or organizing protests.
At the same time, the Kremlin built a vast propaganda machine to shape public opinion. This control over information helped protect the regime during crises. As I noted in a recent article, many Russians were unaware of Putin’s responsibility for military failures in 2022. State media used propaganda to shift blame to the military leadership — preserving Putin’s popularity even as the war faltered.
Threat to independent media in the US
While the United States remains far from an autocracy, the Trump administration has taken steps that echo the behavior of authoritarian regimes.
Consider the use of lawsuits to intimidate journalists. In Singapore, former Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew and his son, Lee Hsien Loong, routinely used civil defamation suits to silence reporters who exposed government repression or corruption. These tactics discouraged criticism and encouraged self-censorship.
President Donald Trump has taken a similar approach, seeking US$15 billion from the New York Times for publication of several allegedly “malicious” articles, and $10 billion from the Wall Street Journal. The latter suit concerns a story about a letter Trump reportedly signed in Jeffrey Epstein’s birthday book.
Although Kimmel was later reinstated, the episode revealed how the administration could use the autocratic technique of bureaucratic pressure to suppress speech it disagreed with. Combined with efforts to prosecute the president’s perceived enemies through the Justice Department, such actions inevitably encourage media self-censorship and deepen public ignorance.
Threat to free speech
Autocrats often invoke “national security” to pass laws restricting free speech. Russia’s “foreign agents” law, passed in 2012, forced nongovernmental organizations with foreign funding to label themselves as such, becoming a tool for silencing dissenting advocacy groups. Its 2022 revision broadened the definition, letting the Kremlin target anyone who criticized the government.
Similar laws have appeared in Hungary, Georgia and Kyrgyzstan. Russia also uses vague “terrorist” and “extremist” designations to punish those who protest and dissent, all under the guise of “national security.”
The latter move is especially troubling, pushing the United States closer to the behavior characteristic of autocratic governments. The vagueness of the designation threatens to suppress free expression and opposition to the Trump administration.
Antifa is not an organization but a “decentralized collection of individual activists,” as scholar Stanislav Vysotsky describes it. The scope of those falling under the antifa label is widened by its identification with broad ideas, described in a national security memorandum issued by the Trump administration in the fall of 2025, like anti-Americanism, anti-capitalism, and anti-Christianity. This gives the government leeway to prosecute an unprecedented number of individuals for their speech.
As scholar Melinda Haas writes, the memorandum “pushes the limits of presidential authority by targeting individuals and groups as potential domestic terrorists based on their beliefs rather than their actions.”
Imbecile Trump Threatens Americans With $75 Billion Tax Hike So He Can Conquer Greenland
If you missed Trump’s plans to hit us with this tax hike it’s because of the consistently awful reporting we get from major media outlets.
The headquarters of the European Central Bank (ECB) is seen behind shipping containers of the Frankfurt container port on January 19, 2026 in Frankfurt, Germany. European leaders are scheduled to meet later this week to coordinate their response to the latest tariffs threat from U.S. Donald Trump. Trump recently announced he will impose punitive tariffs on European countries he sees as obstructing his desire to acquire Greenland. (Photo by Thomas Lohnes/Getty Images)
Donald Trump is taking his demented dreams to a new level in his quest to take over Greenland. The man who whined over not getting a Nobel Prize and then followed Hitler propagandist Joseph Goebbels lead in accepting a prize awarded to someone else, has now decided he wants Greenland.
Trump is now proposing to whack us with a $75 billion tax increase to put pressure on Denmark and the rest of the EU to give him Greenland. If you missed Trump’s plans to hit us with this tax hike it’s because of the consistently awful reporting we get from major media outlets.
They reported on the tariffs Trump is imposing on the European countries most visible in resisting U.S. pressure to take Greenland. The problem with the reporting is that it implies the European countries pay the tariffs. They don’t, we do.
This is not a debatable point; the data are very clear. Well over 90 percent of the cost of a Trump tariff is borne by consumers or importers in the United States, not by the exporting countries. When Trump starts yelling “tariff, tariff, tariff,” he is yelling “tax, tax, tax,” and we’re the ones paying it. And $75 billion is not trivial. It’s one percent of the budget, more than twice the cost of the enhanced premiums for Obamacare policies that Trump says we can’t afford.
Let’s be clear, Trump wants Greenland because it is big. And he almost certainly thinks Greenland is far bigger than it actually is because he doesn’t understand that the Mercator projection maps, which are standard ones we all use, hugely exaggerate the size of areas near the poles.
No one likes the idea that the United States is being run by a moron.
We all know Trump says that he needs Greenland for national security. This argument is not worth a second’s consideration. Greenland and Denmark are both members of NATO. If he felt there was some need for putting additional military assets in or around Denmark, all he has to do is ask.
In fact, there were many more United States military installations in Denmark during the Cold War. We removed them after the collapse of the Soviet Union.
Trump’s team themselves made it clear that Greenland is not a national security issue. The country is not even mentioned once in Trump’s National Security Strategy plan that was crafted just two months ago.
Trump effectively admitted this in an interview with the New York Times earlier this month. He acknowledged that he could address any security issues through negotiation with Greenland, Denmark, and the rest of NATO, but said Trump said that he would feel better “psychologically” taking over Greenland.
He compared it to the difference between owning and renting. Insofar as Trump feels a psychological need to own territory that is something that is best addressed through therapy, not military action against allies.
The other argument is that Greenland is rich in rare earth minerals, which Trump’s rich buddies are anxious to exploit. This is popular among people who want to highlight both Trump’s venality and also find rationality in what seems to be an otherwise crazy quest.
While no one should ever underestimate Trump’s corruption, the story doesn’t make any sense. First, it’s not clear that there is big money to be made on Greenland’s rare earth minerals. It is a remote area with little infrastructure. It will be extremely expensive to reach these minerals and would almost certainly take many years. Given developments in technology, it’s not even clear these minerals will still be of much value at the point anyone is able to bring them to the market.
But what’s even more damning for this line of argument is that they could start mining in Greenland tomorrow, if they think it would be profitable. Greenland is very open to foreign investment. If they think there is big money to be made by mining Greenland’s minerals, they would be doing it already.
Trump’s rich friends are undoubtedly pushing for him to take Greenland, he’ll probably give them better deals than Greenland would. Most importantly he will likely get rid of environmental regulations that Greenland’s government would demand.
But the cost of environmental regulations is not likely to be the sort of thing that would warrant a military invasion. Also, it probably is not a good sell to the people of Greenland that Trump wants to take away their ability to protect their environment.
At the end of the day, we really can’t escape the basic story, Trump wants Greenland because it is big. No one likes the idea that the United States is being run by a moron. And it’s painful for those of us left of center to acknowledge that this is who we losing to, not some evil genius. However, that happens to be the reality, and we need to recognize it.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License
Dean Baker is the co-founder and the senior economist of the Center for Economic and Policy Research (CEPR). He is the author of several books, including "Getting Back to Full Employment: A Better bargain for Working People," "The End of Loser Liberalism: Making Markets Progressive," "The United States Since 1980," "Social Security: The Phony Crisis" (with Mark Weisbrot), and "The Conservative Nanny State: How the Wealthy Use the Government to Stay Rich and Get Richer." He also has a blog, "Beat the Press," where he discusses the media's coverage of economic issues. Full Bio >
Scott Bessent just exposed 'insanity' behind Trump's latest ploy: analyst
U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent gives a statement during the 56th annual World Economic Forum (WEF) meeting, at the USA House venue, in Davos, Switzerland, January 19, 2026. REUTERS/Denis Balibouse
President Donald Trump's Treasury Secretary just revealed the "insanity" behind Trump's ploy to control Greenland, according to one analyst
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent joined NBC News's "Meet the Press" on Sunday to discuss Trump's efforts to wrest control of Greenland from the Kingdom of Denmark. Will Saletan, writer for The Bulwark, discussed Bessent's interview in a new video for "Bulwark Takes," which he said was one of the most "embarrassing" of the entire administration.
"He's twisting himself into a pretzel to justify Trump's totally crazy threats against Greenland," Saletan said.
Trump has said that acquiring the country is in America's national interests, although experts have questioned some of the motives the Trump administration has floated to justify the move. The president has repeatedly threatened to invade Greenland, which Danish officials have said would be an "end of NATO" moment, and he recently imposed a 10% tariff on all goods from certain EU countries, including Denmark.
Bessent justified Trump's actions by arguing that the U.S. doesn't want to get dragged into someone else's war to defend the territory, and said the Trump administration is working off of "asymmetric information" to make its decisions about Greenland.
"See, that is information nobody else has," Saletan said. "Not the Danish government, which actually has sovereignty over Greenland and has way better intelligence than we do, and not the Democrats on the Senate Intelligence Committee, who would know if we really did have secret information about Russia and China operating in Greenland. No, Trump and Bessant have information that is so secret they haven't shared it with anybody else. Almost as though they're making it up."
Stop ‘appeasing’ bully Trump, Amnesty chief tells Europe
Amnesty International Secretary General Agnes Callamard on the opening day of the World Economic Forum (WEF) annual meeting in Davos - Copyright AFP Fabrice COFFRINI Elodie LE MAOU
The leader of global rights group Amnesty International urged European countries Monday to stop “appeasing” US President Donald Trump and resist him and other “bullies” who she said were intent on destroying the rules-based order in place since World War II.
“We need much more resistance,” Amnesty secretary general Agnes Callamard told AFP in an interview on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.
“Europe’s credibility is at stake.”
Her comments came as Trump doubled down on his threats to take over Greenland “one way or the other”, insisting such a move is necessary for world security, prompting European countries to close ranks against his designs on the vast Danish territory.
German and French leaders denounced as “blackmail” Trump’s weekend threats to wield new tariffs against countries which oppose his plans for the Arctic island, suggesting Europe was preparing trade countermeasures.
But German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, who was due to meet Trump in Davos on Wednesday, also stressed that Europe was eager to “avoid any escalation” in the dispute.
– ‘Say no’ –
Callamard urged governments to show more “courage” and to “say no”.
“Stop thinking you can make deals with bullies, stop thinking you can agree to the rules of the predators and not become yourself a victim of them.”
The Amnesty chief highlighted that the US bid to seize Greenland was only the latest indication that the world is facing the “destruction of the rules-based order”.
She lamented that global and regional “superpowers” seemed “intent on destroying what has been established after World War II, dedicated to finding common rules to our common problems”.
Since Trump’s return to the White House a year ago, he has taken “a range of decisions that have led to the demise of many rules around the world”, while Russia was destroying the system “through its aggression in Ukraine”, she said.
European powers have been treading a thin line over Ukraine in recent months, relying on Washington to try to help settle the conflict but resisting terms too favourable to Moscow.
The post-WWII order “is also being destroyed by Israel that has completely ignored international law in its genocide of Palestinians in Gaza,” she added.
Amnesty and other rights groups have repeatedly accused Israel of carrying out a genocide against Palestinians in Gaza, a term vehemently rejected by the Israeli government.
Callamard stressed that the rules-based order was established in response to “a global war that had killed millions of people, as a response to extermination camps that had killed six million Jews, as a response to authoritarianism that had led to the most daunting global repression the world over”.
– ‘Abyss’ –
“The fact that it is now being destroyed without any plan B, just for the sake of destroying the rules, should send shivers to all of us,” she said, warning that the only alternative to the rules-based system was “falling down into an abyss”.
“That’s what we need to prevent.”
The Davos gathering this year is taking place under the tagline “A Spirit of Dialogue”, but Callamard warned “there is no evidence of dialogue” currently among the world’s decision-makers.
“There is evidence of bullying. There is evidence of destruction. There is evidence of countries using their military power, their economic power, to force others into agreeing to their one-sided deals.”
Such tactics had for the past 12 months been met with European “appeasement”.
“We have sought to appease the bully, the predator living in Washington,” she said.
“Where has this led us? To more and more attacks, to more and more threats.”
Callamard, who is French, recalled that the European project was not just about economics, but also about values, humanity and the rule of law.
“I’m hoping that our leaders will recall that… history and see in the current challenges a way of re-insisting on the European project and demanding human rights protection for the sake of humanity,” she said.
“That demands stopping the appeasement politics, (which) simply is not working”.
“Please stop it. Resist. Resist.”
Leading economist teaches Europe how to cripple Trump
Jesper Toennesen, the creator of the Anti-MAGA cap "Nu det NUUK!" which is sold in his clothing store McKorman on Noerrebrogade, looks on, in Copenhagen, Denmark, January 13, 2026. The message "Nu er det NUUK!" and "Make America go away" is embroidered on the cap. After the heated debate between the U.S., Greenland, and Denmark about Trump's renewed desire to take over Greenland, "Nu er det NUUK" has gone viral on the internet. The phrase "Nu er det NUUK!" refers to Greenland's capital Nuuk - and can be translated from Danish as "Enough is enough"
Thomas Traasdahl/Ritzau Scanpix/via REUTERS
The leading French economist Gabriel Zucman is urging European governments to inflict financial pain on American billionaires in response to US President Donald Trump’s effort to seize control of Greenland, a mineral-rich island that some of Trump’s rich campaign donors see as a potentially massive profit opportunity.
“Europe should respond to Trump’s blackmail with targeted measures aimed not at American consumers, but at American billionaires,” Zucman wrote in a post on his Substack. “Access to the European market—by billionaires and the companies they own—should be made conditional on paying a wealth tax: in effect, a tariff for oligarchs. If Elon Musk, for example, wants to keep selling Teslas in Europe, he should have to pay it. If he refuses, Tesla would lose access to the European market.”Zucman outlined his proposal after Trumpthreatened over the weekend to hit France, the United Kingdom, Germany, the Netherlands, Sweden, Denmark, Norway, and Finland with tariffs up to 25% if they don’t drop their opposition to the US president’s demand for “the complete and total purchase of Greenland,” an autonomous territory of Denmark.
The targeted countries are currently weighing retaliatory tariffs and other potential responses to Trump’s threat.
Zucman, a renowned expert on global inequality, argued that while existing mechanisms such as the anti-coercion instrument known as Europe’s trade “bazooka” can be useful, “anti-oligarchic protectionism has a decisive advantage: It opens a two-front struggle against Trump, at home and abroad.”
“By targeting oligarchic wealth rather than national pride,” Zucman wrote, “Europe can blunt Trump’s ability to mobilize nationalist resentment and rally part of the American public behind his imperial agenda.”
Trump’s proposed Greenland takeover is widely opposed by the island’s population and US voters. But as journalist Casey Michel wrote for The New Republic last week, there is one key constituency that stands to benefit massively from a US takeover of the mineral-rich territory: American oligarchs, including some of Trump’s top campaign donors.
“Ranging from tech moguls to fossil fuel company heads, all of these figures and forces have invested in mining and extraction companies across the island—and all stand to profit if only they can cut out any pesky Danish or Greenlandic authorities from regulating or restraining their operations,” wrote Michel. “The figures behind the curtain are by no means obscure. KoBold Metals, a mining outfit helping lead Greenland’s ‘modern gold rush,’ has seen investments from figures like Mark Zuckerberg, Jeff Bezos, and hedge funds like Andreessen Horowitz.”
“Another company eyeing Greenland,” Michel added, “is Critical Metals Corp, which is backed by the same hedge fund that Howard Lutnick, now Trump’s commerce secretary, spent years running.”
“The vast fortunes of the sleaze buckets who put Trump into the White House and back his attack on democracy in the United States and around the world will suddenly be thrown into question.”
Tariffs targeting such firms and the billionaires behind them, Zucman argued, would be the most effective way to penalize Trump’s reckless behavior and deter him in the future.
“If imperialism is driven by oligarchic power, then oligarchic power must be confronted,” Zucman wrote. “What are the alternatives? Doing nothing invites endless blackmail.”
US economist Dean Baker, co-founder of the Center for Economic and Policy Research, made the case for a similarly aggressive European response to Trump’s economic warfare.
“European countries can announce that they will no longer honor US-owned patents and copyrights,” Baker wrote Monday. “Putting US patents and copyrights on the line is a guaranteed attention grabber. The vast fortunes of the sleaze buckets who put Trump into the White House and back his attack on democracy in the United States and around the world will suddenly be thrown into question.”
“The key point is that European countries, by opting to not respect US patents and copyrights, have an incredibly powerful weapon to use against Donald Trump and his rich supporters,” Baker added. “The time has come for them to go nuclear.”
'Who does it benefit?' Expert reveals who Trump is really helping with Greenland fantasy
FILE PHOTO: U.S. President Donald Trump is interviewed by Reuters White House correspondent Steve Holland (not pictured) during an exclusive interview in the Oval Office in the White House in Washington, D.C., U.S., January 14, 2026. REUTERS/Evelyn Hockstein/File Photo
President Donald Trump's designs on Greenland seem almost perfectly calculated to be a boon to Russia and Vladimir Putin, New York University professor and authoritarianism expert Ruth Ben-Ghiat told MS NOW's Ari Melber on Monday evening.
"Ruth, what do you see as the validity of this move?" asked Melber. "On a scale of 0 to 10, we're seeing a lot of folks say zero. It has — it's not a risk/reward, it has no particular validity. What do you rate it? And then what do you think is really going on with Trump and this plan?"
"Well, it has zero validity from a point of view of anybody other than an autocrat, a megalomaniac autocrat," said Ben-Ghiat, a frequent critic of Trump. "But what's going on is, you know, Trump talked about trying to buy Greenland in 2019. And the then-Secretary of State [Mike] Pompeo went along with it, saying that, you know, global warming will liberate all these precious minerals and oil and discovered oil. So there's that."
"The other thing is that I believe that Trump is in office, in part, to solve Vladimir Putin's problems and creating a crisis for NATO and dividing NATO and having the U.S. go rogue in ways that are quite authoritarian," she continued. "Who does it benefit? It benefits Putin. And the other thing is that, unfortunately, autocrats can get into a state, I call this 'autocratic backfire,' when they believe their own hype, and they become convinced that nothing can restrain them. And Donald Trump recently gave an interview to The New York Times saying that he was restrained only by his own mind, which is not reassuring, and his own morality."
Melber agreed with this assessment, adding that Trump appears to be "believing the hype."
Ultimately, Ben Ghiat added, Trump "had almost like a narcissistic ego injury when he did not get the Peace Prize. And he talked about it in many, many posts. And Machado of Venezuela gave him hers, but that didn't satisfy him. And so he actually wrote to the Norwegian Prime Minister saying that because he didn't get, as you said in the introduction, because he didn't get the Peace Prize, he feels no obligation to care about peace. And so when autocrats are denied something, they go into a kind of rage and they take it out both on their own people and in this case, on the continent of Europe, by threatening economic warfare with the tariffs."
Trump's Greenland push highlights 'real danger' of president's second term: expert
U.S. President Donald Trump points a finger during a meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (not pictured) in the Oval Office at the White House in Washington, U.S., April 7, 2025. REUTERS/Kevin Mohatt
Donald Trump's continued interest in Greenland highlights a bigger hazard than first thought according to a political commentator.
Christopher Bucktin, writing in The Daily Mirror, suggested the president's interest in taking Greenland into US control highlights a larger problem for world nations to stand against. Bucktin wrote, "The real danger is how familiar this all feels. Each outrageous threat lands, causes a stir, then fades."
"The bar drops. What once would have sparked fury is now dismissed as “just Trump being Trump”. That shrug is how norms and society collapse."
"This is no longer theatre. It’s a warning. Trump’s obsession with power, territory and punishment has turned him into a genuine threat to world order. The only unanswered question is how much damage he will be allowed to do before the world finally tells him his shakedown is over."
Trump has made it clear he wants Greenland for national security purposes, and has since lashed out at NATO members opposing his desire for the country to be subsumed into the US.
Tariff actions were applied to eight nations, including Germany, the United Kingdom, and Denmark. The president has also posted to Truth Social earlier today (January 20) denouncing the UK for giving up an island with a US military base.
He wrote, "Shockingly, our 'brilliant' NATO Ally, the United Kingdom, is currently planning to give away the Island of Diego Garcia, the site of a vital U.S. Military Base, to Mauritius, and to do so FOR NO REASON WHATSOEVER."
"There is no doubt that China and Russia have noticed this act of total weakness. These are International Powers who only recognize STRENGTH, which is why the United States of America, under my leadership, is now, after only one year, respected like never before."
"The UK giving away extremely important land is an act of GREAT STUPIDITY, and is another in a very long line of National Security reasons why Greenland has to be acquired. Denmark and its European Allies have to DO THE RIGHT THING. Thank you for your attention to this matter. PRESIDENT DONALD J. TRUMP."
Trump says world ‘not secure’ until US has Greenland
Danish soldiers disembark in Nuuk, Greenland, on January 18, 2026, as US President Donald Trump steps up his threats to take the Arctic territory from NATO ally Denmark - Copyright Ritzau Scanpix/AFP Mads Claus Rasmussen
Pierre-Henry DESHAYES, with Johannes LEDEL in Stockholm
Donald Trump no longer needs to think “purely of peace” after being snubbed for a Nobel, the US president said in comments published Monday, adding the world will not be safe until Washington controls Greenland.
Trump has put the transatlantic alliance to the test with threats to take over Greenland “one way or the other”, with European countries closing ranks against Washington’s designs on the vast Danish territory.
German and French leaders denounced as “blackmail” weekend threats by Trump to wield new tariffs against countries which oppose his plans for the Arctic island, and said Monday that Europe was preparing trade countermeasures.
The European Union said it was holding an emergency summit on Thursday to weigh its response, and that while its priority is to “engage not escalate” it is ready to act if needed.
Greenland, for its part, said the tariffs threat does not change its desire to assert its own sovereignty.
“We will not be pressured,” Greenlandic prime minister Jens-Frederik Nielsen said in a Facebook post, adding that the autonomous territory “is a democratic society with the right to make its own decisions”.
But Trump had earlier doubled down, announcing in a message to Norway’s Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Store that the world “is not secure unless we have Complete and Total Control of Greenland”.
The message — published Monday and whose authenticity was confirmed to AFP by Store’s office — also saw Trump brush aside peace as a primary goal.
“I no longer feel an obligation to think purely of Peace,” he said, citing his failure to win the last year’s Nobel Peace Prize, despite openly coveting it.
He said although peace would still be “predominant,” he could “now think about what is good and proper for the United States of America.”
Store said the statement had been received in response to a message from him and Finnish President Alexander Stubb, where they had “conveyed our opposition” to Trump’s tariff threats.
Store also underlined that the Nobel Peace Prize was not awarded by the Norwegian government.
“I have clearly explained, including to President Trump what is well known — the prize is awarded by an independent Nobel Committee,” he said in a written statement.
– Russia, China threat? –
Trump has repeatedly said his country needs vast, mineral-rich Greenland for “national security”, despite the United States already having a base on the island and security agreements with fellow NATO ally Denmark.
“Denmark cannot protect that land from Russia or China,” Trump said in his message to the Norwegian premier, doubling down on that sentiment in a post to Truth Social on Monday.
Denmark’s defence minister Troels Lund Poulsen said Monday steps had already been taken along with NATO allies to “increase military presence and training activity in the Arctic and the North Atlantic”.
Lund Poulsen added that he and Greenlandic foreign minister Vivian Motzfeldt would be meeting with NATO chief Mark Rutte later on Monday.
– ‘Blackmail’ –
This weekend, Trump said that from February 1, Denmark, Norway, Sweden, France, Germany, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, and Finland would be subject to a 10-percent tariff on all goods sent to the United States — a duty which could go higher.
Germany’s vice chancellor Lars Klingbeil slammed the move as blackmail, and said Monday that Europe was preparing countermeasures.
French finance minister Roland Lescure, speaking at a press conference alongside Kingbeil, agreed.
“Blackmail between allies of 250 years, blackmail between friends, is obviously unacceptable,” Lecurse said.
Klingbeil said Europe’s response could have three main strands.
First, the current tariff deal with the United States would be put on hold, he said.
Second, European tariffs on imports from the United States, currently suspended until early February, could come into force.
And thirdly the EU should consider using its toolbox of instruments against “economic blackmail”, he added.
Europe’s stock markets fell as the week’s trading began Monday, with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer warning that a “trade war is in no one’s interest”.
Greenland — whose tiny population of 57,000 has voiced disquiet at Trump’s threats — continued to make its preferences clear Monday.
Greenland’s dogsled federation said that the new US special envoy to the Arctic island had been disinvited to its annual race.
Jeff Landry had been invited to attend the race by a private Greenlandic tour operator, an invite the KNQK federation has previously called “totally inappropriate”.
burs-jll/st
CRIMINAL CAPITALI$M
Ex-OPEC president in UK court ahead of corruption trial
Former OPEC president Diezani Alison-Madueke leaves Southwark Crown Court in London ahead of her full trial for corruption - Copyright AFP STEPHANE DE SAKUTIN
Former OPEC president Diezani Alison-Madueke appeared in a London court on Monday, ahead of her full trial on bribery charges relating to her time as Nigeria’s oil minister.
Preliminary proceedings, including technical matters and jury selection, began this week, with Alison-Madueke in attendance.
Alison-Madueke, who was in office from 2010 to 2015, was the first woman oil minister in Nigeria and the first female president of the global oil cartel OPEC.
The 65-year-old has been on bail since she was first arrested in London in October 2015. She has denied six charges against her.
She was formally charged in 2023 by the UK’s National Crime Agency with offences of accepting bribes between 2011 to 2015.
“We suspect Diezani Alison-Madueke abused her power in Nigeria and accepted financial rewards for awarding multi-million-pound contracts,” the NCA said at the time.
According to the indictment, Alison-Madueke benefitted from at least £100,000 ($134,000) in cash, chauffeur-driven cars, flights on private jets and the use of multiple London properties.
The charges also detailed financial rewards including furniture, renovation work and staff for the properties, payment of private school fees and gifts from top designer shops such as Louis Vuitton.
The trial is scheduled to begin on Monday, January 26 and is expected to last 10 to 12 weeks.
Two others are also being prosecuted on bribery charges linked to the case: Doye Agama, who appeared in court via video link on Monday, and Olatimbo Ayinde, who was present in the dock.
The thieves broke in on a Sunday morning - Copyright GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA/AFP/File Michael loccisano
Francois Becker, Celine Cornu and Murielle Kasprzak
Thieves in October broke into the French capital’s world-famous Louvre museum in broad daylight, escaping in under eight minutes with jewellery worth $102 million.
Three months on from the brazen heist, four suspects are in police custody but the jewels are still nowhere to be found.
Here is what we know — and don’t.
– Four detained –
Four men in their thirties, arrested in October and November, are suspected of being the team who conducted the theft on October 19, 2025.
The pair suspected of having broken in include Abdoulaye N., an unlicensed taxi driver turning 40 this month, who previously showed off his motorbike stunts on social media.
The other is a 35-year-old Algerian, who was detained in October as he was preparing to fly out of Paris.
A third suspect, aged 37, was involved in a previous theft with Abdoulaye N., while a fourth — who is 38 — hails from the same Paris suburb as the other three.
Investigating magistrates started questioning them this month, but have no significant leads so far, top Paris prosecutor Laure Beccuau has said.
A fifth suspect — a 38-year-old woman who is the partner of the third suspect — has been charged with being an accomplice, but released under judicial supervision pending a trial.
– ‘Genuine preparation’ –
There was “genuine preparation” before the heist, said Beccuau.
The robbers struck early on a Sunday morning, “when everything was slowly getting going at the museum”, after locating and stealing a mover’s truck with an extendable ladder to reach the first-floor gallery housing the French crown jewels.
After parking the truck below, two of the thieves hoisted themselves up the ladder in a furniture lift, the investigation has shown.
They broke a window and used angle grinders to cut glass cases containing the treasures, while the other two waited below.
They then lowered themselves down with their loot, and the four fled on high-powered motor scooters, dropping a diamond-and-emerald crown in their hurry.
But eight other items — including an emerald-and-diamond necklace that Napoleon I gave his second wife, Empress Marie-Louise — remain at large.
– DNA samples –
During the escape, “you can sense a certain amount of stress — no doubt because they are actually doing it — which means they end up dropping the jewellery and also leaving behind DNA traces,” Beccuau said.
The first suspect — the motorbike stuntman — was identified after his DNA was found on broken glass and objects abandoned on site, while the second left genetic clues on a scooter as he fled.
The third — and his female partner — had left DNA on the furniture lift.
Further investigations and cross-checks led to the arrest of a fourth, suspected of having parked the truck under the museum gallery, said Beccuau.
– ‘Not bunglers’ –
Some observers may have called the burglars amateurs, but a source with knowledge of the probe said they were “not such bunglers after all”.
“They had put their scooters and equipment in storage units and had disabled the video surveillance” nearby before the heist, the source said, speaking to AFP on condition of anonymity because they were not allowed to reveal details of the investigation.
Dressed as workmen in high-visibility jackets, they completed the whole burglary in just eight minutes.
After they abandoned their scooters for a van, it headed for the suburbs “to throw off the investigators by entering an area not covered by cameras”, the source added.
“They then didn’t call each other again and went back to their lives as if nothing had happened,” the source said.
Contacted by AFP, lawyers of the suspects did not immediately respond or declined to comment.
– Poor security –
Poor security at the Louvre made the robber’s getaway easier, a culture ministry probe found last month, even if they evaded security forces with just 30 seconds to spare.
Only one of two security cameras was working near the site where the intruders broke in, and agents in the security control room did not have enough screens to follow the images in real time.
– Missing jewellery –
Beccuau said it was still unclear if a third party ordered the heist — or indeed where the jewellery might be.
Beccuau said there was no sign the spoils had crossed the French border, but investigators were relying on contacts abroad to signal if something suspicious showed up.
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Monday, January 19, 2026
Kyiv in crisis: how wild capitalism is exacerbating the devastation
The year 2026 began with devastating Russian shelling of Kyiv’s infrastructure, which, in freezing conditions, brought the population to the brink of survival. The city, home to 3 million people, is experiencing an acute shortage of heat and water, and electricity is being supplied on a short-term basis. It has become clear that the authorities had no plan B in case of a catastrophic deterioration in the security and weather situation. However, the Putin gang’s insidious plan would not have been so painful if it weren’t for the vulnerability of the municipal infrastructure caused by Kyiv’s leaders. Mayor Vitali Klitschko has already called on all those who can to leave Kyiv. This leads to the conclusion that the authorities are unable to solve the problems of a city that is far from the front line.
Such statements place the responsibility for salvation on the people and do nothing but increase panic. In contrast, the response should be to introduce measures that increase social support and, as a result, strengthen solidarity. Giving people the feeling that they are in control of the situation and can make a difference is what would strengthen their belief in Ukraine’s victory.
Criticism of the situation focuses on the personalities of Kyiv’s leaders, but ignores the broader political context. The government’s inability to solve the pressing problems of the population stems from the fact that it is focused on serving the business elite. Therefore, it is extremely important to discuss the essence of the changes that will allow for the integration of urban services, the humanization of the work of municipal workers, and the maximization of benefits for the community. Under the rule of business
It would be naive to deny the connection between the critical situation and the spontaneously capitalist course of the Kyiv authorities. For years, pieces of municipal property have been handed over to private owners, and there has been no development planning at the city level. Where the authorities proved to be systematic was in selling land to developers and protecting the interests of corporations. The capital had the flaws described by researcher David Harvey in his critique of modern cities: private capital focuses on selective development, while everything around it deteriorates. Developers overload urban communications, ignoring the destructive consequences of chaotic urban development. And then all Kyiv residents pay for it with their comfort due to the deterioration of utilities (heating temperature, water pressure, frequent accidents, etc.). The urban model, based on commerce and corruption, has never been sustainable and is now experiencing its deepest crisis in history. According to Forbes, before the invasion, Kyiv was the best city for business development, although the level of satisfaction with its development was critically low (38%).
During the war, a situation arose where emergency services were able to quickly overcome the consequences of shelling and save people, but people had to rely on their own resources to solve the related social challenges. We have a paradox: a city with a budget of UAH 100 billion cannot afford temporary social housing for resettlement, and utilities are provided intermittently.
A separate issue is the deplorable working conditions of critical infrastructure workers, on whose daily heroism many lives depend. For years, the authorities have been unable to set wages at a level commensurate with the existing risks, and only now have they started talking about bonuses for those involved in emergency work (we are talking about allocating 50 million hryvnias). Without effective worker control, such measures may be selective and sporadic. It is known that in 2023, the trade union of Kyivteploenergo had to go to court to force the employer to increase staff salaries.
Dissatisfaction with the state of wages even resulted in a petition demanding additional pay for operational personnel who perform their duties during air raid alerts. We should not forget about the situation with non-payment of compensation for injuries caused by Russian shelling, which is a measure of the authorities’ attitude towards such workers.
The problem is fuelled by mistrust due to the lack of real information about the state of housing and communal services: the accountability of both municipal and private enterprises is highly questionable, and the headquarters that are being set up bring together a limited circle of officials. Who owns all the utilities?
There is no coordinated system for managing Kyiv and responding to challenges, which reflects the situation with control over property. The ownership structure in the capital’s housing and utilities sector is complex, with elements of communal and private (oligarchic) forms of ownership intertwined.
The largest companies in this sector are as follows: Kyivteploenergo (100% municipal ownership); DTEK Kyiv Electric Grids (100% private ownership); Kyivgaz JSC (60% owned by Kyivenergo Holding PJSC); Kyivvodokanal PJSC (67% owned by Kyivenergo Holding PJSC).
Given the pre-collapse state of the housing and utilities sector, the profitability of these companies is surprising. At the same time, Kyivenergo Holding, which has shares in a number of leading enterprises, is municipally and offshore owned, with a majority stake held by the city authorities (61%), which, as is well known, consist of friends of big business.
It is too early to say that Kyivteploenergo is a model of responsible management, as the company has shown itself to be extremely ruthless towards consumers of utility services. Through the efforts of its lawyers, this municipal enterprise has filed up to 26,000 lawsuits to collect debts; some of the claims in current cases date back 10 years. Pensioners, whose accounts are blocked during martial law, are forced to make their ‘contribution’ to the company’s profitability. The company itself does not hesitate to use martial law as a cover to ignore requests regarding its finances. The logic of ‘corporations are more valuable than people’ in action! Disintegration and irresponsibility
Kyiv’s master plan for 2000, planned in the past.
Urban economy is a single complex system that covers all areas of the city’s life support (engineering networks, transport, amenities, social infrastructure) as interrelated elements that work for the functioning and welfare of the urban community. The fragmentation of this sphere by various entities leads to a lack of responsibility for its maintenance. It is nonsensical for these companies to be privately owned or to exploit the population for profit. Maintaining this chaos in times of war is a crime against the welfare of the community.
The situation requires a change in approach to ownership of property used by all city residents. In order to provide the population with affordable goods and services, as well as to increase the city’s revenues, the possibility of municipalizing other public facilities, including catering establishments, should be considered. Only on this basis can the amount of available resources be determined and the priorities for production and distribution of goods be set correctly. This could curb the growth of inequality, as we are approaching a point where hundreds of thousands of people will not be able to cook for themselves at home, while shopping centres and restaurants will operate for their own benefit. It is not too late to municipalize
So, the current crisis in the capital is a crisis of governance, caused by the disintegration of the economy and misguided anti-social priorities. However, at the same time, it may lead to an awareness of the need for radical changes, as a result of which the community will feel like a full-fledged owner. If we want to transform municipal companies from someone’s feeding trough into a means of salvation, we will have to take responsibility, resisting the myths about the magic of the free market and the omnipotence of corrupt bosses.
1. Socialisation of infrastructure as the basis for transparency. During wartime, nothing can be private or exist on its own — the entire system must work towards a single goal and for the good of the country. Monopolies must serve the community.
2. Effective worker control. Creation of rescue headquarters with the mandatory involvement of critical infrastructure workers. This body should have complete information about the state of the energy system and make decisions on the shutdown of enterprises that are not critical to the economy due to force majeure.
3. Cancellation of utility debts. Citizens should not suffer from accumulating utility debts when services are provided intermittently. It is unacceptable for utility companies to operate profitably by collecting funds from pensioners and people with disabilities.
4. Fairness for critical infrastructure workers. During the hardest years of the war, the heroes of the infrastructure worked almost for free, putting themselves at risk. The state must fulfil its debt to them and listen to the demands of the trade unions.
5. Support for the suffering population of the city. Instead of calling on people to leave, there should be benefits for those who stay. Heating in budgetary institutions and meals in catering establishments, compensation for the cost of installing solar panels at home. For remote workers, communal centres should be properly functioning so that they can work regardless of disruptions. In addition, these measures should be combined with steps in the field of employment, such as counting the time spent in the city during blackouts towards insurance experience, voluntary involvement in socially useful work with decent pay, and the provision of paid leave for volunteering in the interests of the city.
If the logic of governance is not reoriented towards support, cities will face depopulation, inequality and stagnation.
Selfishness and the market have run their course; it is time to think municipally and collectively!
Fortunately the Hungarians sent the newsreel back before their revolution collapsed and it was eventually retrieved from the Soviet archives. Arbeiten. 14 ...
