Alaska for Greenland! Former Belgian PM proposes exchange as 'Danish explorer was there 1st'

Since a Danish explorer discovered Alaska, former Belgian PM and current MEP, Guy Verhofstadt, has mockingly proposed an exchange to Donald Trump, swapping Greenland for the US state.

“Perhaps an exchange could be explored?” Verhofstadt wrote on Twitter. He argued that Dane Vitus Bering was the first to discover what later became the 49th US state.

Trump's behaviour is ridiculous. Bering, a Danish explorer, discovered Alaska. Perhaps an exchange could be explored?????

Confirmation once again that Trump has no respect for his allies.https://t.co/ZcDcO6S0yD

— Guy Verhofstadt (@guyverhofstadt) August 21, 2019

Bering, who at that time was actually serving in the Russian Empire as a navy officer, was one of the first Europeans to lead an expedition to Alaska in the mid-eighteenth century.

Verhofstadt omitted those details in his Tweet. Perhaps he thought that wasn’t important or the limit of 280 words barred him from saying anything about Russia.

However he did manage to add, in the same tweet, that Trump has “once again” shown that he “has no respect for his allies,” by offering to buy Greenland from NATO ally Denmark.

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Trump postponed an upcoming visit to Denmark this week after Danish PM Mette Frederiksen shot down his offer to “buy” the world’s largest island from them. Trump thanked Frederiksen for being “so direct” in her refusal and for sparing him “a great deal of expense and effort” in the process.

Yet, for canceling the meeting on the basis of being refused the option of buying Greenland, Trump was accused of insulting the Danish queen, showing a “complete lack of respect” and being “rude to the Danish people,” who had invited him.

Trump has claimed that buying the landmass “would be nice” for “strategic” purposes, but the idea has unsurprisingly gained no traction in Copenhagen.

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