Of all the possibilities that are being heard about “the Greenland thing”one, possibly the most plausible, is getting lost in the conversations. No money, no political pressure, not even the “military option”. If the United States wants something in the Arctic, it only has to turn to an old and little-known Cold War pact.
There is no need to buy what you control. The Donald Trump’s obsession “buying” or even “taking” Greenland is actually based on a false premise, because for more than seven decades the United States has already had a freedom of military action extraordinary without the need for formal sovereignty, something that turns his recent threats more into a political gesture than a real strategic necessity, despite the fact that he justifies them in terms of national security and the presence of Chinese and Russian actors in the Arctic.
The 1951 agreement. The core of this situation is in the defense agreement signed in 1951 between the United States and Denmark, which gives Washington the right to build, operate and maintain military bases throughout Greenland, deploy personnel and control air and maritime operations, a scope so wide that Danish experts recognize that, in practicethe United States can get almost anything it wants simply by asking for it, without resorting to annexations or impossible purchases.
From WW2 to the Cold War. The origin of the agreement dates back to Nazi occupation of Denmark during World War II, when fear that Germany would use Greenland as a platform to America led to a defensive pact which allowed the United States to expel the Germans and build more than a dozen bases on the island.
That presence that remained during the cold war through radars and early warning systems and which today focuses on strategic Pittufik Space Basekey to tracking missiles over the North Pole.
Headquarters of the Schalburg Corps, a unit of the Danish SS, after 1943. The building occupied was the lodge of the Danish Order of Freemasons located on Blegdamsvej, Copenhagen.
Why buying is impossible. Beyond the military, the idea of buying Greenland collides with a clear political and legal reality: Denmark cannot sell it and the Greenlanders themselves, who today have the right to decide their future through referendumthey overwhelmingly reject any US takeovera position reaffirmed by his prime minister and backed by polls showing massive opposition to a Washington takeover.
The 2004 amendment. The defense agreement was updated in 2004 to explicitly recognize Greenland as an equal part of the Kingdom of Denmark and force the United States to consult on any significant changes to its military operations, a requirement that, according to Danish analystsworks more as a diplomatic courtesy than as a real brake, since if Washington wanted to expand its presence it could do so immediately without violating the existing framework.
Trump, Venezuela and escalation. The recent American coup in Venezuela and the capture of Nicolás Maduro seem to have emboldened Trump and his entourage, who talk about Greenland as if it were an inevitable lootprovoking an angry reaction in Copenhagen and Nuuk, where it is warned that any attempt at occupation rempire the international orderwhile European leaders remember that the legal framework already gives the United States everything it needs without resorting to threats.
It’s all about minerals and the Arctic. It we counted yesterday. Beyond military geopolitics, Greenland attracts for its enormous reserves of critical minerals and, very importantly, for your key position in an increasingly navigable Arctic, although even here experts agree that the United States does not need to control the territory to access those resources.
The reason is simple: Greenlanders are open to doing business with anyone… as long as their sovereignty and right to decide are respected.
Image | Defense Visual Information Distribution Service
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