Trump's Not-So-Crazy Greenland Strategy

Trump's Greenland Proposal is Geopolitical Common Sense

The issue of Trump's desire to bring Greenland under American control is not hard to understand.

Greenland is largely self governing, has a population of only 56K and 68% of those people want formal independence from Denmark. And if Greenland were to become independent from Denmark, it would exit NATO

This makes it extremely vulnerable to subversive influence from US adversaries and Denmark has neither the attention nor resources to address this type of hybrid threat which would be targeted at such a small number of people.

It's about keeping Greenland within the western security orbit because ultimately, any country that controls Greenland would become a become a new strategic force in the Atlantic and Arctic, and a challenge to North Atlantic security. The US still remembers what it was like during WW2 when Germany sank 2,770 merchant ships with a relatively cost-effective submarine fleet despite not being a significant naval power at the time.

Greenland is also significant economically because The Arctic has become a new arena for strategic competition among great powers, primarily the United States, Russia, and China, due to trends in ice melting, which opens up new shipping routes and access to vast natural resources. The Arctic region is rich in untapped resources like oil, gas, minerals, and fisheries, which have become more accessible as ice recedes. The potential for new shipping routes, particularly the Northern Sea Route, shortens travel times between continents, enhancing economic and military strategic interests.

Then there’s the Arctic consideration. Historically, we have tended to think of geopolitical distances in terms of the east and west whereby vast oceans exist between the US and any potential threats. When considered this way, America’s enemies are very far away.

But if you consider that The Arctic is opening up (due to global temperature rise/ice melt) as an accessible route between the eastern and western hemisphere, then the geopolitical picture changes.

Now look at where Greenland is actually located in relationship to the US and Russia/China…it’s right in the middle! Securing control of that territory is now significant for US National Security. And unfortunately, Denmark is too small of a country to properly secure it against the hybrid threats that could bring it under foreign influence. I’ll repeat, there are only 56K people in Greenland who are easily influence-able by one side or the other.

Trump likens this issue to how Chinese influence has spread in Latin America, culminating with strategic economic and military issues for the US at the Panama Canal. Does Trump overstate the threat? Possibly, but maybe he knows more than available public information. But that’s besides the point because with National Security, the priority is to proactively secure your interests and deter foreign meddling/aggression rather than having to react to once your opponents are entrenched. The potential of a Chinese threat should be treated as an actual threat.

So if you can get past his bombastic and hyperbolic rhetoric, what Trump is saying is common sense and it’s not all that hard to understand. In a world at peace, this was not an issue. But with a rising China and expansionist Russia, Greenland is vulnerable and it’s geostrategic location is increasingly more important as the Arctic becomes more accessible to shipping.

Trump is not wrong to be making this case.

At the very least, it’s a public discussion/debate worth having.

And besides, the “Make America Greenland Again” memes are just going to be so much fun!