{"id":365501,"date":"2025-02-09T10:28:04","date_gmt":"2025-02-09T09:28:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=365501"},"modified":"2025-02-09T10:28:05","modified_gmt":"2025-02-09T09:28:05","slug":"trump-means-business-on-greenland","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=365501","title":{"rendered":"Trump means business on Greenland"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"
Oqaatsut, formerly Rodebay, is a settlement in the Qaasuitsup municipality, in western Greenland. It had 46 inhabitants in 2010. The modern name of the settlement is Kalaallisut for “Cormorants”.\r\rThe settlement is located on a small peninsula jutting off the mainland into eastern Disko Bay (Kalaallisut: Qeqertarsuup Tunua), 22.5 km north of Ilulissat.\r\rhttps:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Oqaatsut<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

From CFACT<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

By Bonner Cohen, Ph. D.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rather than dismissing Donald Trump\u2019s pre-inaugural musings about the importance of the United States acquiring Greenland as typical Trumpian bluster, people \u2014 friend and foe \u2014 should take the man seriously.  Changes are on their way in the Arctic North Atlantic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Greenland \u2014 two and one-half the size of Texas \u2014 is strategic in terms of its location and its natural resources. It is coveted by China and Russia, and Trump is wise to recognize the geopolitical implications of allowing the giant island to fall into unfriendly hands.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A self-governing territory of Denmark, Greenland (population: 57,000) is pursuing complete independence.  The island cannot really stand on its own. It has been kept afloat by $600 million in annual Danish subsidies, a revenue stream that will disappear once ties are cut with Copenhagen. This is where Trump enters the picture.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In his wide-ranging Jan. 7 news conference, Trump said was an \u201cabsolute necessity\u201d for the United States to take ownership of the island, even threatening Denmark with tariffs and hinting at military intervention if a deal cannot be reached. Denmark refuses to sell, and Greenland\u2019s prime minister, Mute Egede, says, \u201cWe do not want to become American.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, U.S. investments in Greenland\u2019s mining industry and closer bilateral security ties would be welcome, Egede emphasized.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The stakes are high. Greenland\u2019s subsoil contains a variety of valuable minerals, rare earth metals, precious metals, and precious stones, including gold, silver, copper, lead, graphite, zinc, olivine, cryolite, and marble, according to Greenland\u2019s Department of Environment and Mineral Resources. The island also abounds in lithium, cobalt and uranium, which, along with its rare earth elements, have a wide range of commercial and military applications.  The surrounding North Atlantic waters also have the potential for oil and natural gas development.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This treasure trove of natural resources between the Arctic and the Atlantic oceans now finds itself near center stage in the mounting geostrategic rivalry involving the United States, Russia and China. A change in Greenland\u2019s status \u2014 from a Danish territory to some form of closer affiliation with the United States \u2014 will profoundly shake things up inside the Arctic Circle. With 15,000 miles of Arctic shoreline, Russia enjoys a formidable presence at the top of the world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Commenting on Trump\u2019s plans for Greenland, Vladimir Barbin, Russia\u2019s ambassador to Denmark, said that \u201cattempts to ensure U.S. national security at the expense of other nations may result in further deterioration of the situation in the Arctic, which Russia will take into account in its military planning.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

China, which now calls itself \u201ca near-Arctic\u201d state, threatens to challenge Russia\u2019s maritime regional dominance while simultaneously undermining the American position in the Arctic.  As a first, three Chinese icebreakers entered the Arctic via the Bering Straight last summer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Beijing, the new kid on the Arctic block, has met with a cool reception. Its Polar Silk Road initiative launched in 2018 to enhance China\u2019s presence in the region has fallen flat, with ambitious infrastructure and research projects in Finland scrapped by Helsinki after Beijing refused to condemn Russia\u2019s invasion of Ukraine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Greenland has also rebuffed Chinese efforts to establish a mining presence on the island. China already dominates the mining, refining and processing of global metals. Penetrating Greenland\u2019s riches would only strengthen its position to the detriment of Greenland\u2019s only serious protector, the United States.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The rapidly shifting crosscurrents of 21st-century geopolitics support Trump\u2019s interest in Greenland.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIf you want to be a powerful space-faring nation and be able to project space power in terms of offensive and defensive space weapons systems and other sorts of (intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance), you have to have infrastructure in the Arctic Circle \u2014 not to mention the Antarctic Circle \u2014 to seamlessly communicate and control all of your satellites,\u201d Jahara Matisek, a professor at the U.S. Naval War College, recently told Radio Free Europe\/Radio Liberty. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

As for projecting space power from the Arctic, Thule Air Base in northern Greenland (opened by the United States in 1952) was renamed Pituffik Space Base in 2023 and is now part of the U.S. Space Force. To the remote installation\u2019s southeast lies the strategically important Greenland-Iceland-United Kingdom (GIUK) gap, which provides access by sea to the Arctic. Monitoring the GIUK gap, safeguarding Greenland\u2019s natural resources, and protecting U.S. military\/space installations in Greenland is something that only an enhanced U.S. presence on the island can guarantee.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Interest in Greenland is nothing new. Secretary of State William Seward wanted to buy it from Denmark in 1867 (he had to settle for purchasing Alaska from czarist Russia); President Harry Truman offered Denmark $100 million ($1.6 billion in today\u2019s money) in 1946. Trump raised the idea in his first term.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Today, the only question is what form the acquisition should take. Statehood is problematic given Greenland\u2019s tiny population. More appealing to Trump and the Greenlanders may be the \u201cFreely Associated State\u201d status as has been granted to the Marshall Islands, Micronesia and Palus in the Pacific Ocean, where the United States has a military presence in exchange for financial assistance.  Another option is for Greenland to become a U.S. territory like Guam. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Trump is the author of \u201cThe Art of the Deal.\u201d  Negotiations are not far off. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This article originally appeared at DC Journal<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Rather than dismissing Donald Trump\u2019s pre-inaugural musings about the importance of the United States acquiring Greenland as typical Trumpian bluster, people \u2014 friend and foe \u2014 should take the man seriously.\u00a0 Changes are on their way in the Arctic North Atlantic.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":121246920,"featured_media":365502,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_coblocks_attr":"","_coblocks_dimensions":"","_coblocks_responsive_height":"","_coblocks_accordion_ie_support":"","_crdt_document":"","advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[1],"tags":[691833132,691818252,691826121,691831255],"class_list":{"0":"post-365501","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","6":"hentry","7":"category-uncategorized","8":"tag-department-of-environment-and-mineral-resources","9":"tag-greenland","10":"tag-natural-resources","11":"tag-us-president-donald-trump","13":"fallback-thumbnail"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/00Greenland-Cottages-Rodebay.jpg?fit=2513%2C1669&ssl=1","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/paxLW1-1x5b","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":421100,"url":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=421100","url_meta":{"origin":365501,"position":0},"title":"Claim: 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