Atlasian Land Acquisition Bill of 2005 (Withdrawn)

[Emsworth]

Atlasian Land Acquisition Bill of 2005

1. After the passage of this bill, Atlasia shall begin talks with Denmark for the purchase of Greenland.
2. If purchase occurs Greenland shall become a full territory of Atlasia, completely governed by its constitution and laws.

Sponsor: Sen. MasterJedi

[King]

Is this constitutional?  I feel the need to table it.

[True Democrat]

Could the sponsor please explain the point of this bill?

[Emsworth]

Is this constitutional?

I'm afraid that it is permissible, under the Atlasian Constitution.

I question if this bill would be warmly received by Denmark or by Greenland. Greenland is an autonomous territory; its approval would be required to be sold. And I highly doubt that Greenland would be willing to sell itself to the U.S., given that there is a movement to make Greenland a completely independent country.

Could the sponsor please explain the point of this bill?

Modern-day manifest destiny, perhaps?

[MasterJedi]

First thing I'll say is that when I re-admitted it was changed to take out the money ammounts and let the Senate decide that.

And somewhat partially from what Emsworth said. There has also been oil deposits found in Greenland, under the ice IIRC.

If we get Greenland we could gain a little bit of independence from the Middle East and their oil.  We'd also let the residents of Greenland do what they want more than Denmark is now. And it's also a great way to try and preserve more arctic land, or land in general.

[Emsworth]

I hate to be a gadfly, but, having done a little research, I'm afraid that the sale of Greenland may violate the Constitution of Denmark. It appears that a Danish constitutional amendment passed in 1953 made Greenland a part of Denmark; the Danish Constitution makes explicit provision for the election of Greenland's representatives in the Folketing. (See here.)

[Joe Republic]

And what happens when the tiny oil reserves run out?  Back to the Middle East?

And I don't think preserving Arctic land and the polar ice cap by digging it up and drilling for oil is really the best technique.

[Bono]

First thing I'll say is that when I re-admitted it was changed to take out the money ammounts and let the Senate decide that.

And somewhat partially from what Emsworth said. There has also been oil deposits found in Greenland, under the ice IIRC.

If we get Greenland we could gain a little bit of independence from the Middle East and their oil.  We'd also let the residents of Greenland do what they want more than Denmark is now. And it's also a great way to try and preserve more arctic land, or land in general.

Greenland has a pretty expansive welfare system paid with danish money.I don't think they'd want to forfit that.

[PBrunsel]

What's the matter with Grenland. It's not green, and there's too much land!

I am not sure why we need Greenland. Please enlighten me here.

[Emsworth]

Given the various problems raised so far (necessity, constitutionality under Danish Law, extent of the oil reserves, and the Greenland welfare system), I would urge the Senate to reject this proposal.

[Colin]

Greenlanders would never accept this. They get over 500 million dollars a year in federal aid from Denmark. It has actually been one of the major arguments against independence is that it would lose that 500 million dollars a year. Unless we are able to give Greenland that much money or more each year in assistance and aid I am 100% sure that Greenland would not support it and even if it did it would destroy the economy of the Greenlanders. While oil and mineral resources have been found in Greenland they are usually either too remote to be profitable, lack international funding or require techonology that is either unavailable at this time or very expensive in order to explore these deposits. While their have been some new finds in Baffin Bay and the Baffin Strait these will take years to fully explore.

I know that MasterJedi will say that I am being like the people who said that the purchase of Alaska was Seward's Folly and I may be proved wrong in the future, I would actually like to be proved wrong since I would like to see an economically viable and independent Greenland, but I don't know how we can do this at this time.

[King]

Each person in Greenland gets $8869.17 from Denmark each year.

[Colin]

Each person in Greenland gets $8869.17 from Denmark each year.

Wow that's better than Alaska. They only get $2,000 per person tops each year.

[Sam Spade]

I will oppose this bill should it ever come to a vote.

[MHS2002]

For the reasons listed above, I oppose this bill.

[MasterJedi]

I once had the fight in me to try to fight to have this pass but a lot of things have come up which has cut down on some of my time. And if what Emsworth said earlier is true it's a moot point anyway.

I formally withdraw this bill.