Greenland is a key piece for American securityAt least that’s what the president himself says. donald trump. “The United States needs Greenland for its national security. It is vital for the ‘Golden Dome’ that we are building,” said the president in reference to the ambitious anti-missile defense system that he has proposed to protect the country from space.
Consider, furthermore, that the NATO would be “stronger” with Greenland under American power, although experts point out that an attempt to control it by force or through pressure would break the internal trust of the Alliance.
“NATO should lead the way for us to achieve it (…) Militarily, without the vast power of the United States, much of which I built during my first term and which I am now raising to a new and even higher level, NATO would not be an effective or deterrent force, not even close! They know it, and so do I,” he stated in this regard on his own social network.
The reasons behind Greenland
The reasons that motivate the American president to take over the island are diverse. On the one hand, it presents it as a national security issueas he insists that he needs the island to deter the military presence of Russia and China in the Arctic. In fact, this Wednesday he even asked NATO to put pressure on Denmark to avoid the military presence of these two countries in Greenland. “NATO, tell Denmark to get them out of there now!“he wrote on his social networks.
Nor is it new that the Greenlandic territory, currently under the power of Denmark, has large reserves of critical mineralsincluding rare earths, which Washington sees as a way to bolster its defense industrial base and reduce its dependence on Chinese-dominated supply chains.
“We are facing a possible conflict that is developing on European soil and, more broadly, between NATO member states,” he says. Javier Porras Belarraprofessor of international relations, in statements reported by Reuters. “Trump’s claims about Greenland are almost impossible to justify or acceptand the European Union sees it with some surprise, because this type of statement by the United States is inconceivable,” he explains.
These statements by Professor Porras take place after the US president stated this Wednesday that I would not accept any option that does not include control of Greenland. “NATO becomes much more formidable and effective with Greenland in US hands. Anything less than that is unacceptable.“, said.
On the other hand, Mikkel Runge Olesensenior researcher at the Danish Institute of International Studies, speaks of “other possible reasons”, although he focuses on the island minerals. “The problem of resource extraction in Greenland” is the high cost of extraction. That is to say, according to the expert, although “there are many resources, extracting them is very expensive.” Therefore, this may mean that “even if there are many resources, it may never be profitable to extract large quantities.”
In practice, the Greenlandic government has been willing to attract American companies to carry out explorations and extractions on the island, but “the results have been quite limited“.
The third possible argument, according to researcher Runge, is “make America great again”. That is, the idea of territorial expansion along with the possibility that Trump will go down “in history as one of the presidents who expanded the United States” would motivate the president’s ambitions.
However, Runge considers that “both in Copenhagen as in Nuuk They hope this is not a primary motivator for Donald Trump, because if it is, it is very difficult to reach a compromise. How do you negotiate something like that?”
End of US global influence?
Regardless of the reasons that motivate the United States to seek control of Greenland, there are those who defend all kinds of hypotheses. Beyond minerals, North American security and ‘Trump expansion’there are voices that put countries like Venezuela and Iran.
It is the case of Anton Fedyashinprofessor of history at American University. “I think we are entering a period of global fragmentation and that we are certainly entering a stage in which the American hegemony is in relative decline“, he stated. “I think Donald Trump is a manifestation of this, he is the ‘extinction burst’ of American hegemony, of the unipolar moment”.
The teacher believes that it is more likely that “countries unite to protect themselves” of the United States and the West. In his opinion, the members of the Global South They will begin to look for alternatives to Western-dominated organizations, both economically and security-wise. “If the United States continues to be so unpredictable and aggressive, the Global South will begin to unite“.
