OPINION:
Readers of a certain age will recall the late, great Tina Turner introducing her iconic performances of “Proud Mary” by informing her audience: “We never, ever do nothing nice and easy. We always do it nice and rough.”
President Trump could say the same about his policymaking. Greenland is the most recent example.
Mr. Trump understands that the Arctic island is essential to America’s national security and to Europe’s as well. Look at the globe from above. The shortest routes for long‑range Russian or Chinese missiles targeting the U.S. pass over the polar region. There’s also the Greenland‑Iceland‑UK gap, a key chokepoint through which Russian submarines must pass to reach the Atlantic.
Because Greenland is a self-governing territory of Denmark, an American ally, and because Mr. Trump is the world’s greatest dealmaker, it seemed to me from the start that if any international dispute could be solved with a deal, it’s this one.
Nevertheless, there were some fraught days when Mr. Trump was threatening to use a big stick — tariffs or even military force — to take Greenland away from the melancholy Danes. Could that have just been a nice-and-rough negotiating tactic? Demand the stars, settle for the moon?
Maybe, but to my relief — and that of the stock market — Mark Rutte, the extraordinarily capable secretary-general of NATO, came up with a “framework” in Davos last week for a long-term agreement that appealed to Mr. Trump. “This solution, if consummated, will be a great one for the United States of America, and all NATO Nations,” he exulted on Truth Social.
If Mr. Trump had his druthers, Greenland would become an American territory like Puerto Rico, Guam, American Samoa and the U.S. Virgin Islands — the latter, it so happens, purchased from Denmark in 1917 for $25 million in gold coin.
If the U.S. now leverages expanded authority to detect, deter and, if necessary, defeat threats on the world’s biggest island while Denmark retains sovereignty, history will record it as a significant Trump achievement.
Would it not be better — more Trumpian, really — for the U.S. to make the key decisions on Arctic defense while other NATO members pick up most of the checks?
Additionally, 4 in 10 Greenlanders are government employees. Moving them from Copenhagen’s payroll to Washington’s strikes me as not ideal. As to the notion that Greenland should become America’s 51st state: Based on the evidence at hand, Greenlanders are more likely to vote like Minnesotans than Alaskans.
I think it’s always interesting and occasionally useful to know a bit about the history of lands involved in conflicts and controversies with the United States. Mr. Trump told a group of oil executives: “The fact that [the Danes] had a boat land there 500 years ago doesn’t mean they own the land. I’m sure we had lots of boats go there also.”
Here’s the story: Norse settlers, led by Erik Thorvaldsson — his madcap Viking buddies nicknamed him Erik the Red — reached southern Greenland around 985 AD. That was a couple of centuries before the arrival of the Thule Inuit, ancestors of most modern Greenlanders. The Inuit had migrated from northeast Asia across the North American High Arctic.
The fact that tribes with only primitive tools and weapons could survive in these environments and climates is a testament to human adaptability.
Speaking of climates, from 800 to 1300 AD, there was the Medieval Warm Period, during which southern Greenland experienced temperatures mild enough to support limited agriculture and the grazing of sheep and cattle.
That said, Erik the Red’s bright idea of naming the island “Greenland” was as purposely deceptive as AOC’s “Green New Deal.” Back then, ice covered about 80% of Greenland. That percentage hasn’t changed, bovine flatulence and carbon dioxide emissions from soccer moms’ SUVs notwithstanding.
The Little Ice Age began in the 14th century and continued until the mid-19th century. That chill was among the reasons the Norse settlers disappeared in the 15th century, most likely headed for the balmier climes of Iceland and Scandinavia.
Fast-forward to 1940: The Germans conquer Denmark in a matter of hours. The U.S. sends troops to Greenland. After World War II, Norway becomes a founding member of NATO.
In 1951, the U.S. and Denmark sign the Defense of Greenland Agreement. During the Cold War, more than 6,000 Americans are stationed on the world’s largest island.
Today, only about 150 members of the U.S. Air Force and U.S. Space Force operate Pituffik Space Base in northwestern Greenland, focusing on missile warning.
The prospect of a new Greenland deal prevents what some argued could have been the collapse of NATO. I’m pro-NATO, but I think Mr. Trump is correct to insist that America’s allies be partners, contributing to the collective security, not dependents.
Among the free riders: Spain, Belgium and Canada.
Britain needs to be called out. Prime Minister Keir Starmer has been eager to surrender another strategically vital island: Diego Garcia, in the Chagos Archipelago in the Indian Ocean.
Since the 1970s, the U.S. and Britain have maintained a military base on Diego Garcia. Yet as an act of atonement for the sins of British imperialism, Mr. Starmer wants to surrender sovereignty to Mauritius, a speck of an island nation 1,300 miles away, east of Madagascar, that is increasingly being pulled into Beijing’s empire.
Mr. Trump characterized that as “great stupidity.” British conservatives, to their credit, are trying to block the giveaway.
Sometimes, one can say about a Trump policy what no one would say about a Tina Turner song, but which a wit once said about the music of Richard Wagner: “It’s better than it sounds.”
• Clifford D. May is the founder and president of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, a columnist for The Washington Times and the host of the “Foreign Podicy” podcast.
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