I know this is pretty small beer in the light of world events, but I was not expecting to have to write “risk of invasion by the USA” into the risk assessment for my fieldwork in Greenland in June.

I know this is pretty small beer in the light of world events, but I was not expecting to have to write “risk of invasion by the USA” into the risk assessment for my fieldwork in Greenland in June.

@drmikepj I am afraid of a world with just one big global power. But Trump is working hard to make sure China rises to that position.

@drmikepj

The real question is evaluating that risk given it's all at whim, could be good, could be bad, anyway which way the wind blows?

@trelord75 I don’t need to quantify the risk particularly, but I do need to think about what would prompt me to cancel the trip before departure, or bring everyone home mid-trip. In both cases a military buildup nearby would be a trigger to cancel the trip and go home.

@SkyLuke @drmikepj

I think that in this case, the opposite is true.
After ~ 30 years, they woke up to the fact that capitalist greed had created a monster.
What we are now witnessing are convulsions in the face of an existential threat!

@drmikepj

True but given the proximity, how close is enough, what is the range of the assets required to do what they might want to do, be logical is a good starting point, preempt it, long range bombing you may not know, but why would they bomb what they might need, surgical strikes more likely, so watch military movements, ships leaving, where are they going, carriers with required shorter range assets to do the job.

That's what I'd be looking at, no surprises, eliminate the possibilities, or confirm it, and leave.

@drmikepj

True but given the proximity, how close is enough, what is the range of the assets required to do what they might want to do, be logical is a good starting point, preempt it, long range bombing you may not know, but why would they bomb what they might need, surgical strikes more likely, so watch military movements, ships leaving, where are they going, carriers with required shorter range assets to do the job.

That's what I'd be looking at, no surprises, eliminate the possibilities, or confirm it, and leave.

@drmikepj

Also worth noting, the other place is tropical, your destination is ice covered, they need established assets to gain any foothold, if they destroy them then they would have to build, already defeated themselves if they do that.

I know this is pretty small beer in the light of world events, but I was not expecting to have to write “risk of invasion by the USA” into the risk assessment for my fieldwork in Greenland in June.

@trelord75 Greenland isn’t all ice-covered, and all the populated areas are just tundra. Seisure of strategic locations (airports) would be the obvious military objective. Greenland has no internal roads so everything travels by air or sea.

@trelord75 Greenland isn’t all ice-covered, and all the populated areas are just tundra. Seisure of strategic locations (airports) would be the obvious military objective. Greenland has no internal roads so everything travels by air or sea.

I know this is pretty small beer in the light of world events, but I was not expecting to have to write “risk of invasion by the USA” into the risk assessment for my fieldwork in Greenland in June.

@drmikepj My kid just turned down an invitation from a British friend to join them for eclipse-viewing in Iceland this summer--because my kid is trans, and was afraid they wouldn't be let back into the US.

@drmikepj A year ago that would indeed have been a far fetched idea.
But, the announcements have been repeated already multiple times since.