“The Greenland fiasco should be a wake-up call for Americans.”
BY: CALEB CARR
Staff
In early January, President Donald Trump took a keen interest in the autonomous territory of Greenland, Denmark. Trump has said in multiple statements that the U.S. must act, giving his supporters the narrative “if we don’t do it, Russia or China will take over Greenland, and we’re not going to have Russia or China as a neighbor.”
The president views Greenland as a strategic asset that the United States needs to help protect itself from foreign powers, such as Russia and China, which he claims have multiple naval vessels near Greenland and around the Antarctic. Numerous reports from the European Union (EU) and senior Nordic diplomats with NATO intelligence have stated that the Russia-China threat in the Antarctic and Greenland is actually minimal, showing Trump’s reasoning for wanting Greenland to be false. Trump has also claimed that Greenland being part of the United States could help detect incoming missiles from Russia, giving the United States more time to prepare for the attack. The one issue with his claim is that the United States already has missile detection systems in Greenland at the Pituffik space base, showing that this is another false claim to hide his personal reason for wanting the island.
Another reason for Trump’s personal interest in Greenland is their vast, untouched natural resources, including iron and oil. Trump wants these resources to help alleviate the dependency on China and Russia’s resources and possibly expand his own wealth along with his billionaire allies.
On Jan. 16, after Trump’s threats of annexation toward Denmark, several EU countries– including France, Sweden and Germany– have since sent military personnel to the territory for exercises and security purposes. The next day, Jan. 17, Trump threatened new 10% trade tariffs on any and all goods sent to the United States from Denmark, Norway, Sweden, France, Germany, the UK, the Netherlands and Finland if those countries do not support his plans. It is also worth noting part of the reason for Trump’s aggressive behavior toward Denmark is because he was not awarded a Nobel Peace Prize last year which he has been desperately wanting nearly since the beginning of his presidency in 2017. The president almost starting a war and possibly causing the destruction of (NATO) is not only extremely petty but a gross abuse of power as the president.
After the tariff threats were made, Greenlanders protested Trump’s ambitions to take over the country. Jens-Frederik Nielsen, prime minister of Greenland, was part of what many of the island’s population described as the island’s biggest protest, drawing nearly a quarter of Nuuk’s population. Others held rallies and solidarity marches across the Danish realm. The residents of Greenland protesting against Trump’s hostility towards their home shows that his claims of Greenlanders wanting to be part of the United States is completely wrong and actually the opposite of what he said. Greenlanders are disgusted by the idea of their island being a part of the United States, even after being offered over a hundred thousand dollars each to move away.
Trump dropped the tariff threat after speaking with the secretary of NATO, saying that he has “the framework of a deal” with Denmark over Greenland. The details of what the deal entails are still not known, but it is known that the prime minister of Greenland will not negotiate the sovereignty of their island.
Trump’s borderline imperialist ideals of taking over the Northern Hemisphere has no place in our modern world and left unchecked could lead to all out war with another country if not an entire continent. The Greenland fiasco should be a wake up call for Americans, if not already from the multiple other questionable actions of the president and his administration since he took office last year. Americans need to speak out and take action against our country’s current administration’s reckless behavior before we start a conflict with another country, possibly causing an all out war that could affect not only our country but the entire world itself and throw it into pure chaos.
