Retired Broker Offers Greenlanders $200,000 Each to Join the United States
Updated
Updated · The New York Times · May 30
Retired Broker Offers Greenlanders $200,000 Each to Join the United States
1 articles · Updated · The New York Times · May 30
Clifford E. Stanley, an 86-year-old retired mortgage broker from Las Vegas, traveled to Nuuk and offered Greenland residents $200,000 each to sign a petition backing U.S. annexation.
Nuuk police went on high alert after the sharply dressed American was seen approaching people in the capital with the proposal about three weeks before the interview.
Stanley said he was acting alone and described the effort as a broker’s "sales job," saying he came to Greenland to test whether there was any interest.
His pitch fits a long pattern of self-directed ventures, including failed efforts in Saudi Arabia, a plan involving Mongolia and a shelved $1 trillion canal through the Caucasus.
Is a broker's bizarre offer a sideshow, or does it signal a new era of corporate-style geopolitics?
As America restricts foreign land ownership, why is it pursuing the acquisition of an entire country?
How can Greenland use this intense foreign interest to achieve true economic and political independence?