US President-elect Donald Trump has refused to rule out the use of military force to take control of Greenland. But the US military presence there has long been dwarfed by a handful of ships, dog patrols and a single surveillance plane operated by Denmark, the Arctic island's security guarantor.
The Petovik Space Base, located in the northernmost part of Greenland since the end of World War II, is home to 200 American soldiers and 450 other allied troops and contractors, who are part of Washington's missile early warning system in addition to providing space surveillance and satellite command.
The northernmost American base – only about 1,500 kilometers from the North Pole – is the most powerful symbol of how important it is. Greenland It is for American security. But its geostrategic importance is likely to increase as climate change reshapes the Arctic, opening new trade routes near North America and putting Greenland at the heart of the growing Arctic conflict between the United States, China and Russia.
“For the United States, the problem is Chinese and Russian interest in the Arctic,” said Mikkel Runge Olsen, a senior researcher at the Danish Institute for International Studies. The United States began to view the Arctic as an area of geopolitical competition. “It is very important for the United States to keep other great powers out of Greenland.”
When Trump first expressed interest in buying Greenland in 2019, he framed it as a “big real estate deal” and stressed the economics of moving it away from Denmark. This time, his focus changed. “We need Greenland for national security purposes,” he said on Tuesday, citing the need to deter Russian and Chinese ships.
The world's largest non-continental island may only have a population of 57,000, but it has a major role in security matters. It is located at the beginning of the Northwest and Northeast Passages through the Arctic, which would likely open more to commercial shipping through melting, and is close to vital routes for Russian and other submarines.
Greenland is part of North America, an autonomous region of Denmark whose capital is closer to Washington, D.C., than Copenhagen.
“Greenland is closely linked to our security for many reasons, and that has been clear since World War II,” John Bolton, Trump's former national security adviser, said when he first floated the idea of buying Greenland. He said Free Press recently.
“We know from repeated efforts by the Chinese to expand their influence that they want to become a power in the Arctic,” Bolton added. . . This is due to Greenland's geographical proximity to the United States. . . “It is clearly a strategic interest.”
The question is whether Trump's aggressive stance – which could threaten military action against a NATO ally – helps or hinders US attempts to bolster its security in Greenland.
The tone of Denmark's response was remarkably calm, even if it insisted on this in Greenland Not for sale. Lars Løkke Rasmussen, Denmark's foreign minister, said on Wednesday that he was open to discussing with the United States “how we can cooperate more closely than we already do to ensure that American ambitions (in the Arctic) are achieved.”
Denmark, whose troop presence in Greenland is limited to the Arctic Command consisting of only 75 soldiers, has tried to prove to the United States that it is ready to raise the level of its security presence on the island.
It unveiled a $250 million increase in surveillance capabilities in Greenland and the Faroe Islands, another autonomous Danish territory, in 2021. On Christmas Eve last year, right after Trump first again expressed his desire to control Greenland, Danish Defense Minister Troels Lund Poulsen said. The Scandinavian country will invest up to $2 billion in building new ships, drones, and dog sled teams, build out its Arctic command, and expand the airport runway to accommodate F-35 jets on the Arctic island.
However, the challenges involved in defending the vast island are underscored in 2023 when a cruise ship sets off… Ran aground On the east coast of Greenland, it took four days for the first Danish army rescue ship to arrive.
“It's a very risky situation for Denmark,” DIIS's Olsen said. “But Denmark has been very cooperative with the United States in Greenland. So it's puzzling that the United States would need to do this because it already has freedom of action.”
Greenlandic experts and officials say there are discussions about strengthening the US military presence on the Arctic island, perhaps even through a second base. Several years ago, a serving minister from Greenland said they would be “happy to see more” US defense forces on the island, describing it as “reassuring.”
The push for Greenland's independence from Denmark – which is likely to feature strongly in elections scheduled for next April, but remains a good path due to economic challenges – will only increase the need for an external security guarantor to help defend The island, as well as the need for an external security guarantor to help defend the island. Foreign investors.
“We don’t want a new colonial power. But it is clear that we cannot take care of defense ourselves – financially or in human terms,” said one Greenland official.
Bolton noted that it would be wise for Trump to “keep his mouth shut” and allow officials in Washington, Copenhagen and Nouk to work out a new relationship. But the president-elect seems unlikely to follow this advice, stressing that Denmark should give up Greenland “because we need it for national security.”
Olsen said the decision is ultimately up to the people of Greenland, and that Trump will need not only to threaten, but to show what he can provide them in terms of security. “What is the United States prepared to offer Greenland? Before we see that, it is difficult to know how Greenland will behave,” he added.
Cartography by Stephen Bernard
