The US must stop its attempt to acquire Greenland. We can get what we need without realizing it. This effort does not benefit the reputation of President Trump – and the US.
The Danes, who own the land, don't want to sell Greenland – they never wanted to. We tried to buy the island after World War II and received a categorically negative response. Times have changed since we bought some of the Virgin Islands from Copenhagen, in 1917. The Greenlanders don't want their island to pass to us either.
Taking Greenland by force would bring us morally on a par with China when it occupied Tibet, and while Beijing continues to assert its desire to "reclaim the lost province" of Taiwan, Russia would use the annexation of Greenland by the US – a move seemingly useful for our national security – as an excuse to conquer Ukraine.
Moreover, an attempt to capture Greenland would fail. Congress, with the support of American public opinion, would not give a "green light". The president would be humiliated by the rejection of Congress. This move will dismantle NATO, the cornerstone of our post-World War II security system. Such a development would help Vladimir Putin realize his dream: to undermine U.S. security arrangements in order to isolate the U.S. and facilitate the imperial ambitions of Russia and China.
There was a time when a proper, soft political approach to Greenland, with the aim of severing its ties with Denmark and becoming a fully-fledged autonomous state, could succeed. The Democrats would be pleased. With its left-wing electorate, the two Greenland senators in the US would be Bernie Sanders-type Democrats. But with the way we approached Greenland, that scenario has probably burned out.
As almost all independent analysts have pointed out, we do not need to acquire Greenland to maintain and expand our strategic defense interests in the Arctic. The U.S. already has a space base in northwest Greenland as part of a long-standing deal with Denmark. At the base there are early warning radar systems and satellite tracking capabilities.
Through NATO, the U.S. maintains a strong defense partnership with Denmark, with the two countries coordinating on critical security issues in the Arctic. Denmark recognises the mutual benefits of countering the escalating threats from Russia and China in a region that is becoming increasingly strategically important as melting ice opens up new sea routes.
The increasingly threatening moves of Moscow and Beijing in the Arctic are more effectively countered by strengthening alliances with the Nordic countries and Canada than by violent territorial expansion. From a practical point of view, the current military strategy emphasizes technological superiority, information sharing, and potential for rapid deployment rather than physical territorial control. In addition, Denmark is willing to allow the US to expand its military presence if necessary. The US has bases all over the world, some of them very large, without owning the territory itself.
Also the Danes would be open to agreements on minerals. Owning an island with a disgruntled population would create problems that would hinder the exploration and extraction of minerals.
The US must strengthen its ties with its strategic allies and not alienate them, and for no reason.
