To the Editor:

Re “With an Eye on Greenland, Trump Mixes Real Estate With Diplomacy” (news article, Aug. 17):

President Trump’s neocolonial plan to purchase Greenland is not as absurd as it sounds. The world’s largest island is rich in minerals, including rare earths. Since C hina currently dominates the global production in rare earths and has the ability to hold the world hostage, the acquisition of Greenland would mean greater economic independence for the United States.

What is ironic, however, is that the plan is a tacit admission that climate change is real after all. The Trump administration is betting on the fact that Greenland’s glaciers are disappearing fast and will one day be gone, making mining and fracking feasible and affordable.

Thomas K. Wolber

Delaware, Ohio

To the Editor:

President Trump wants to buy Greenland. A better idea is for Greenland to buy us. Then we would be under Denmark’s rational government.

Denmark rates second in “international happiness.” We a re 19th. It has health care for all. It has a better income distribution system so that the rich don’t control the government. It has figured out a fair immigration policy. It doesn’t have urban sprawl. It has great food and schnapps. And Danes value theology — F .D.R. read Kierkegaard during the darkest days of the war.