President Trump has sparked a fresh row with Denmark after appointing Louisiana's Governor Landry special envoy to Greenland. Trump has refused to rule out using force to secure control of the island.
Greenland's prime minister said the island must "decide our own future" and added "Greenland is not for sale!"
Trump claims we need Greenland for national security, not minerals and mentioned Chinese and Russian ships as potential threats in the nearby seas.
Greenland, home to about 57,000 people, has had self-government since 1979. Opinion polls show overwhelming opposition to becoming part of the US.
As with his military and rhetorical aggression towards Venezuela, it indicates Trump is determined to gain greater control over what his recent National Security Strategy called "the Western hemisphere," a sphere of influence that he hopes will cover the whole of the Americas.
Greenland holds vast mineral wealth, including critical elements like neodymium, dysprosium, graphite, lithium, copper, zinc, nickel, gold, iron ore, titanium, vanadium, and uranium, essential for green tech and electronics.
Ronald Eustice
Northwest side
Disclaimer: As submitted to the Arizona Daily Star.
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