The Greenland Quest
- Thread starter TigerGrowls
- Start date
I understand that many Danes feel attached to Greenland, and I'm sure that some Greenlanders feel attached to Denmark.
But the blunt truth is that Greenland matters far, far more for the United States than it does for Denmark, and that BOTH countries, and the Greenlanders themselves, would benefit from a transfer of Greenland to United States sovereignty.
For nearly a century, Greenland security has been handled more by America than by Denmark. During World War 2, the U.S. occupied Greenland on Denmark's behalf, even before entering the war against Nazi Germany.
In 1951, the Greenland Defense Agreement gave U.S. forces almost total free access to Greenland territory and let us build the Thule Air Base, a crucial piece of our Arctic defense network.
This makes sense. Greenland is a vital security interest for the United States, but it isn't for Denmark. America is bounded by two oceans to the east and west, and Greenland to the north. For Denmark, Greenland is simply a dependency 2,000 miles away.
America is large enough to handle Greenland's defense easily. Denmark is not — there are more men in the Russian or Chinese militaries than there are adult men in Denmark.
Under Denmark, Greenland has yet to become self-sufficient, partly because properly developing its economy is simply too costly — a recent analysis estimated it would cost about $17 billion to get the island's economy off the ground. That's way too much for Denmark — but for America, this is easily achievable.
Above all, the people of Greenland deserve self-determination. But the U.S. should be clear that we have everything to offer Greenland's people, and a lot to offer Denmark as well. This isn't win-lose. It's win-win-win.
Being a nationalist doesn't mean totally ignoring the outside world. The US is still the leader of the free world and it's just a smart move.
Most people look at a flat map and don’t get it that if you look at a globe of the earth the shortest route to the US from Korea,Russia and China pretty much comes over Greenland and Canada
Denmark has done little if next to nothing for Greenland
Everybody can be a winner here
Dit fown snd figure it out
Denmark has done little if next to nothing for Greenland
Everybody can be a winner here
Dit fown snd figure it out
Just landed in Amsterdam from Detroit. It’s always fascinating to watch the flight tracker. We passed over western NY and stayed northwest of Vermont and Maine. Never crossed the East Coast. Up through Canada into the far North Atlantic. Stayed a bit south of Greenland before eventually crossing over Ireland and the UK as we approached AMS.
