monitoring Trump and relevant contemporary events

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So why is Trump trying to bring actual socialists into the United States?

That’s the inescapable conclusion from Trump’s reported interest in buying Greenland. It’s an idea we’re all required to have a good laugh about, but historically it hasn’t been such a punchline. The United States actually sought to purchase Greenland back in 1946 for the cool price of $100 million (about $1.3 billion in today’s dollars). It was so seriously considered that Gallup even polled what people thought of the idea, finding a mixed bag. Later, during the Cold War, Greenland was considered such a strategic location that the United States established an air base there. Fast-forward to now, and Trump isn’t the only one interested in acquiring the world’s largest island; so is China.

But what would be done with Greenland, politically speaking? Completing the purchase would require clearing high (and apparently insurmountable, judging by the response) hurdles. It is a self-governing country in the kingdom of Denmark, and we’d have to pay the Danes and get the Greenlanders themselves to sign off.

We don’t know much about what Trump would do with Greenland, but given its veto power, it would probably want some deal-sweeteners. Would the proud Greenlanders settle for status as a mere U.S. territory with no votes in Congress or for president? That seems unlikely. So let’s assume for the moment that it would need to be the 51st state. (How can you make the world’s largest island anything but, after all?)

Despite this being Trump’s idea, that’s something Democrats could probably get behind. That’s because the island is full of socialists who would probably elect left-leaning U.S. senators.

Greenland has a political system with multiple parties, which all fight over 31 seats in the parliament. If no party has a majority, a coalition government must be formed. The top two parties are the Siumut and the Inuit Ataqatigiit, which account for a majority of the 31 seats and until recently formed a coalition. Both parties advocate Greenland’s sovereignty — a key issue in the country’s politics — and both also advocate varying degrees of socialism. The Siumut (which means “forward”) is the party of Greenland’s premier and is the more moderate of the two, while the IA is the more left-leaning socialist party. Even the third-ranking party, the centrist Demokraatit (or Democrats), is left-leaning by U.S. political standards.
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One potential stumbling block in making Greenland the 51st state is its size. Despite being the world’s largest island and having a landmass bigger than Mexico, its population is just 56,000. That makes it roughly one-tenth the size of the current smallest state in terms of population, Wyoming.

That said, while Democrats have complained about the relative voice that rural states like Wyoming have in the Senate, it seems unlikely they’d complain about bringing Greenland into the fold. Perhaps this is a deal everyone can get on board with — provided the price is right, of course.

he Chief Minister has written to the Presidents of the European Council and Commission, informing them of Gibraltar's success in applying EU sanctions against Syria.

As well as Donald Tusk and Jean-Claude Juncker, Fabian Picardo also wrote to the EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs, Federica Mogherini, and Commission President-elect, Ursula vonder Leyen.

He set out that Gibraltar's actions have deprived the Assad regime of around $140 million dollars' worth of crude oil, by securing published written assurances from the Iranian Government that the supertanker's cargo will not be made available to any EU-sanctioned entity or person.

Mr Picardo also provided the recipients with a copy of the relevant legal notice, which includes these written assurances.

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The struggle in Hong Kong isn't even remotely like those playing out in Europe.

Your right, they have only been protesting in Hong Kong for a few weeks, they have been protesting in France for almost 9 months now. The reasons might be different, but the struggle is just the same, pretesting against what they see as injustice and wanting change. What's going on in Hong Kong is classical freedom vs communism. Have you seen the reports of protesters waving the US flag and singing our National Anthem?

the struggle is just the same, pretesting against what they see as injustice and wanting change. 

The reasons might be different, but the struggle is just the same, pretesting against what they see as injustice and wanting change. What's going on in Hong Kong is classical freedom vs communism. Have you seen the reports of protesters waving the US flag and singing our National Anthem?

Yes. I’m not sure why people try to act like this isn’t happening.

I'd thought that wanted to re-institute the "one country, two systems" policy, eroding the civil rights enjoyed by Hong Kong residents since the handover of sovereignty from the UK to China in 1997.

The populists demonstrations in Europe are manifestations of right-wing nationalistic currents which have existed in Europe for generations. Jean-Marie Le Pen's National Front, for instance, dates back to the early '70's. The EU exacerbated the alienation between economic and social classes in Europe and the influx of refugees in recent years brought the conflict to a head. The European populist movements aren't all identical either. The "Yellow Vest" protests in France are more anarchist than reactionary; some of the others are clearly racist, and some are more nationalist. Trying to establish some sort of political equivalence between the Hong Kong protests and say, Brexit, is unfocused, unproductive, and unnecessary.

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the struggle is just the same, pretesting against what they see as injustice and wanting change. 

Are you saying that protestors generally want some sort of change? Man, that's so deep...

The guys protesting Putin also want change, as do the American demonstrators for gun control, and the neonazis in Charlottesville. I guess they all fight for the exact same thing: freedom from an oppressive regime.

Compare and contrast of the public protests in Hong Kong and France...and Brecit and Puerto Rico and...

In France, the Yellow Vests—named after the warning jackets that French motorists must keep in their cars in the event of breakdown—was an anti-globalization movement that saw in Macron a symbol of an out-of-touch elite that had let them down.