By Joshua KuceraPosted Thursday, Aug. 21, 2008, at 6:55 AM ET
Late one Saturday night last month, I found myself in a Greenland bar conversing with an extremely drunken member of the Royal Danish Navy. When he found out I was American, he lurched over and shared his belief that the United States was preparing to invade and annex Greenland, which currently belongs to Denmark, though it is peacefully moving toward independence. Washington, he explained, was worried about its key missile-defense radar site in far northern Greenland and didn't trust politicians in Denmark or Greenland to guarantee continued American access.
"Of course, we know that the Danish military is a lot weaker than the U.S. So you know who we'll have to call? Russia. They're the only military that can stand up to the U.S. Think about it," he said leaning into me, his breath reeking of Tuborg. "Think about it." I thought about it, and it seemed like a pretty improbable scenario. But back then, so did the return of the Cold War over South Ossetia, a tiny separatist enclave in Georgia that almost no one had heard of. After the events of the last two weeks, it behooves us to take another look at those obscure regions around the world that could also explode into global conflicts. Here's a list—in no particular order—of some of the most dicey:
"Of course, we know that the Danish military is a lot weaker than the U.S. So you know who we'll have to call? Russia. They're the only military that can stand up to the U.S. Think about it," he said leaning into me, his breath reeking of Tuborg. "Think about it." I thought about it, and it seemed like a pretty improbable scenario. But back then, so did the return of the Cold War over South Ossetia, a tiny separatist enclave in Georgia that almost no one had heard of. After the events of the last two weeks, it behooves us to take another look at those obscure regions around the world that could also explode into global conflicts. Here's a list—in no particular order—of some of the most dicey:
Anne Applebaum explained what’s going on in Abkhazia.
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