Greenland soon to be independent?

In the weekly magazine L'Express, economist and author Jacques Attali analyses political developments in Greenland, whose inhabitants recently voted in a referendum for more independence from Denmark. "This huge slab of ice, ... the world's largest island which is four times as big as France and for some reason is call Greenland, is turning into one of the most important geopolitical challenges. At first glance it is not a cheerful country: 57,000 inhabitants who are breaking the records for alcoholism and suicide. ... And yet the inhabitants of this inhospitable land have made a further step towards independence. ... The reason for this is that global warming may make the country more inhabitable. ... [And] Greenland may indeed own between 30 and 90 billion barrels of oil and 47 billion cubic metres of natural and liquid gas - or in other words around a quarter of the world's hydrocarbon reserves."

» full article (external link, French)
More from the press review on the subject » International Relations, » Trade, » Economic Policy, » Denmark, » Northern Europe
All available articles from » Jacques Attali

» To the complete press review of Thursday, December 11, 2008