Danes Offer to Buy California

The ‘Denmarkification’ campaign launched by Danes on Monday seeks to crowdfund $1 trillion (€970 billion) to purchase the US state of California – and they're even willing to throw in a lifetime supply of Danish pastries to “sweeten the deal”. 

After all, they pointed out that US President Donald Trump has already described the state as “the most ruined” in the US.

The said group humorously had suggested that the acquisition would bring Danish cultural values, including “hygge” (comfort), bike lanes and Smorrebrod sandwiches to California. They also planned to rename Disneyland to Hans Christian Andersenland (after the famed Danish fable writer) jotting down “Mickey Mouse in a Viking helmet? Yes please”.  

Speaking to Politico’s Playbook over the weekend, the group’s founder, Xavier Dutoit, suggested that LEGO executives should lead the talks with the US about acquiring the state because “dealing with children throwing tantrums over missing bricks has made them experts in negotiation”!

The satirical idea of purchasing the territory comes after Trump reiterated his interest in buying Greenland. He has repeatedly floated the idea of acquiring Greenland – an autonomous territory of Denmark – citing the island’s significant strategic and economic value for the US. 

Both Danish and Greenlandic officials have vehemently rejected the idea. Trump, however, has suggested that he would be prepared to use military and economic force to obtain the territory. And US Secretary of State Marco Rubio also stressed last month that purchasing Greenland is a serious goal and “not a joke”.

The body of water formerly known in the United States as the Gulf of Mexico is now listed for US-based users of Google Maps as the Gulf of America. 

The change follows an executive order by US President Donald Trump renaming the area. Google have previously said they have “a longstanding practice of applying name changes when they have been updated in official government sources”. 

“People using Maps in the US will see ‘Gulf of America’, and people in Mexico will see ‘Gulf of Mexico’. Everyone else will see both names”, they said in a statement Monday. 

Google said last month they would also change the name of Mount McKinley, the nation’s highest peak, from Denali following Trump’s order. Former President Barack Obama renamed the Alaska landmark to Denali in 2015 as a nod to the region’s native population. But that change hasn’t been made on Google Maps as of Tuesday. 

Both changes stem from an executive action that Trump signed shortly after taking office, saying the changes “honor American greatness”.