Welker: " If the United States were to take Greenland by force, how would that be different than Russia's annexation of Crimea?"

Bessent: "I believe that the Europeans will understand that this is best for Greenland, best for Europe, and best for the United States." pic.twitter.com/AMWfQ5k5t9

— The Bulwark (@BulwarkOnline) January 18, 2026

The annexation of the Crimea was extremely successful for Russia. There were no negative consequences, nobody opposed it with anything except words. So why exactly would anybody want to be different?

It’s like people have been in a coma since 2013. Europe doesn’t live in a rule-based order anymore. Anybody grabs the lands they want and others sit vapidly by. Denmark, for example, eagerly bought Russian oil since 2014. Utterly unfazed by the annexation of the Crimea. Established a “productive dialogue on Arctic cooperation” with Russia after the annexation. The Danish Foreign Minister followed Lavrov around like a lovesick puppy for years. It’s important not to be like Russia, though. Very important.

“How would it be different? Do you understand that you will lose your moral advantage? Isn’t that like the absolute worstest?”

Go ask Ukrainians who believed in this crap about the moral advantage, refused to strike civilians in Russia, and are now freezing to death. They will die proud of never stooping to their opponent’s level.

No, I don’t think we should invade Greenland. Obviously not. My post is not about Greenland. It’s about, let’s quit it with “how is this different from Russia.” Use absolutely any other example to make your point. Russia was not punished in any way for its aggressive behavior since the beginning of the twentieth century. The West paid it tribute for the Cold War. Bush Junior waxed poetic about Putin’s soul. Obama helped him disarm Ukraine. Trump rolled out the red carpet. Denmark pranced around buying oil and looking rapt with pleasure.

This is what not being like Russia looks like, and who in hell wants to be this?

This is how Ukraine sounds today: explosions tearing the air apart, the hum of Shahed drones overhead, the whistle of incoming missiles, the steady growl of generators, and the piercing cry of air raid sirens.

Help protect Ukrainians from constant russian attacks:… pic.twitter.com/cJW7XAFo9A

— UNITED24 (@U24_gov_ua) January 18, 2026

Remember that Iraqi migrant who pushed a Ukrainian girl under a train and killed her back in August? The one who claimed that he was justified because he had the sads over having been raped by Lithuanians? The one who ended up in Lithuania because he claimed to be gay and Lithuania is the most obvious destination for gay Iraqis? The one who, in spite of being gay, was arrested in Germany for sexually molesting women? That dude.

He won’t go to jail over murdering the 16-year-old. The rapey Lithuanians apparently made him so sad he now has to go to a clinic instead of a jail cell.

My confidence in Article 5 has never been stronger. German Iraqis are bound to turn out in droves to defend Lithuanians.

 

I have so much to do that even thinking about how much I have to do keeps me riveted to the sofa and not doing anything. I put some pork loins into the oven and started running the washer but that’s about it.

I truly believe gender envy plays into a lot of trans situations because these types ALWAYS become their wives pic.twitter.com/n1ypDAuDD2

— Allie (@allie__voss) January 17, 2026

This is not a clean experiment until we’ve seen pictures of their moms. What if they were the original born for the wife and for the new version of the self?

I was asked in anonymous comments to say something about the debate around the Royal Spanish Academy. This is an institution that exists to ensure the preservation of the Spanish language. It was created in the early 18th century and was one of the very first institutions of the Spanish nation-state. The RAE is the reason why we can read any text in Spanish from 250 years ago and understand it with ease.

Recently, however, RAE has been experiencing problems. Some of the people on its decision-making body have been infected by the fear of seeming elitist. They have pushed to make language more inclusive by normalizing stupid, uneducated things. Dumbing down instead of preservation started happening.

The people arguing against RAE’s tendency towards dumbing down are hobbled from making an honest argument by the same fear of looking elitist and not inclusive. So they speak vaguely about the dangers of social media, and this makes their argument hard to understand.

In short, this is another foundational institution of the nation-state that is falling apart under the pressure of globalizing forces. These forces have found out that name-calling is their best way to victory, and they are deploying it successfully here and everywhere else.

Words can’t describe how incredibly off-putting I find the author of this tweet:

A friend reviewing Harvard applications remembered one student clearly: he had dropped out of high school, joined a Buddhist monastery for a year, then finished school. Great academics, yes. But among hundreds of applications, that's the one she remembered and recommended.

When…

— Michael Strong (@flowidealism) January 16, 2026

This whole approach to life is making me want to vomit. The applicant (whether real or apocryphal) and the man gushing over him are very unpleasant people.

Horrible, nasty individuals who are eating up everything that’s good in the world.

The Sunday Times has obtained a new report from doctors on the ground [in Iran] which says at least 16,500 protesters have died and 330,000 have been injuredhttps://t.co/Kbd9a6K0lB pic.twitter.com/ufnpUZiKIa

— Faytuks News (@Faytuks) January 18, 2026

It is very very important for the US not to get involved in any way, shape, or form. Iranians should be completely in control of their fate and decide what regime they need. Any involvement from outside forces will severely undermine the next regime because it will forever be seen as an imposition from colonizers. The US already interfered to remove an evil dictator from a country in the region and created a mess of incalculable proportions. We clearly don’t understand these people and shouldn’t be messing with them.

If we haven’t learned even this, we have learned nothing.

I have a friend who recently received a stage four metastatic cancer diagnosis. She’s young, this is so unfair. But she’s a deeply religious person. She’s luminous in spite of the diagnosis. Looks incredibly elegant, has an unquenchable interest in others, her life is full and interesting. Being around her is a joy.

Yesterday I visited another acquaintance at her place. She’s completely healthy and, unlike my friend, is blessed with three children. But being at that house was so taxing that Kara wept for an hour after we came back. The house is bombed out, looks like a dump. The bank is taking it for debts. This is not an issue of poverty. The husband has a PharmD and managed to get to this place of devastation from a salary of $120,000. The hopelessness and squalor engulfed these good people. And I promise, these are good people. But there’s no philosophy of life and no grounding in reality. I feel great sadness over this. 

We are in the stage of parenting where we segue very seamlessly from “You are making split pea soup, Mommy??? You know that I hate split pea soup!!!! If you loved me you’d never make split pea soup!!! I do not feel loved in this family!!!! My life is not fun any more!” into “Mommy, can I have a fourth bowl of split pea soup because it’s my favorite soup?”

It is excellent soup, by the way.

This is an excellent idea:

https://twitter.com/i/status/2011726621007626743

I don’t know who can possibly think it’s a bad idea and why. I especially don’t understand people who agree that Russia is an enormous threat to world peace and hates the US but are opposed to this security move. For years, they were repeating that we need to do something about Russia. Finally, Russia is being kicked in the teeth, and they are still unhappy.

Alaska was acquired, and it turned out great. I’m not seeing any downside at all to acquiring Greenland. People are being defeatist for no reason.

I also have to mention that the post-WW2 world order fell apart in 2014. People who are  hand-wringing about it in 2026, like they only just noticed, sound either clueless and dishonest. Russians are sending drones to one European airport after another. It is conducting aggressive sabotage in most European countries. The authorities of those countries know that, say it openly and… do absolutely nothing. Europe has been funding Putin’s war against itself with oil and gas purchases for 12 years. This is the Europe to which we are supposed to leave our security. Nah, thanks, doesn’t look great.

Only an absolute moron refuses to see that Russia is preparing to do to the US what it’s been doing to Europe. Testing the waters first and then being more and more aggressive is the strategy. If there’s a plan in place to prevent it other than the Greenland Purchase, let’s hear it. There was over a decade to unveil it.

It’s very annoying that everybody has a long-term strategy except the West. We are supposed to be sitting there, feeling guilty for existing and not developing a plan at all.