The following is the opinion and analysis of the writer:
Ronald Eustice
During a visit to the US military base at Pituffik, Greenland, Vice President Vance accused Denmark of not doing a good job keeping Greenland safe and suggested the United States would better protect the semi-autonomous Danish territory.
“Denmark has not kept pace and devoted the resources necessary to keep this base, to keep our troops, and in my view, to keep the people of Greenland safe from very aggressive incursions from Russia, from China and other nations,” Vance said. He gave no details of the alleged incursions.
In response, Denmark’s Foreign Minister Rasmussen said Vance “has a point that we haven’t done enough, but I’m a little provoked because it’s also the Americans who haven’t done enough.” Rasmussen said that the U.S. today has a base with 200 soldiers, while during the Cold War the Americans had 17 military installations in Greenland with 10,000 soldiers.
Vance’s wife Usha, national security adviser Mike Waltz and Energy Secretary Chris Wright accompanied him on the trip. One could ask why the energy secretary was on the trip if security is the concern? The visit was scaled back when Greenlanders expressed deep unease about the visit and held protests in front of the American consulate in Nuuk, Greenland’s largest city, population 20,000.
President Trump has frequently said that the United States has a security imperative to acquire the island, which has been controlled by Denmark since 1721. “We need Greenland, very importantly, for international security. We must have Greenland. It’s not a question of, ‘Do you think we can do without it?’ We can’t,” Trump said.
During his speech to a joint session of Congress, Trump said the U.S. would acquire the strategic territory “one way or the other.” Trump said, “We will go as far as we have to go” to get control of Greenland, ahead of the Vance visit. “We need Greenland. And the world needs us to have Greenland, including Denmark. Denmark has to have us have Greenland. And, you know, we’ll see what happens. But if we don’t have Greenland, we can’t have great international security.”
Trump is willing to push his idea of taking over the island, said Andreas Oesthagen, a senior researcher on Arctic politics and security at the Oslo-based Fridtjof Nansen Institute.
“It is still unlikely that the United States will use military means,” he told Reuters. “But it is unfortunately likely that President Trump and Vice President Vance will continue to use other means of pressure, such as ambiguous statements, semi-official visits to Greenland, and economic instruments,” he added.
Polls have shown that Greenlanders overwhelmingly oppose becoming part of the United States. Anti-American protesters, some wearing “Make America Go Away” caps and holding “Yankees Go Home” banners, have staged some of the largest demonstrations ever seen in Greenland. Greenland has a total population of 56,000, almost 90 percent being Inuit native people who earn their living by fishing and hunting. Greenlanders receive many benefits from Denmark such as free universal schooling, free health care and much more “free stuff.”
Greenland is a semi-autonomous territory of Denmark and thus part of the Council of Europe and NATO. NATO is a collective security system of 32 countries independent member states agree to defend each other against attacks by third parties. Under these terms, NATO would be required to defend Denmark and Greenland from a hostile takeover by the United States, a NATO member. Since the US is also a member of NATO, we would be obligated to defend Greenland against ourselves.
The decision to reduce US presence in Greenland from 17 bases with 10,000 troops to one base with 200 was made solely by the US over a period of years. Denmark and Greenland did not ask the US to reduce its presence and in fact they welcome further US military involvement for many reasons.
In view of Russia’s aggression in Ukraine, greater US involvement in Greenland is warranted. China’s constant threats to forcibly takeover Taiwan further strengthen Trump’s concern about international security. The future of Greenland should be determined not by President Trump but by the people of Greenland.
Follow these steps to easily submit a letter to the editor or guest opinion to the Arizona Daily Star.
