Greenland: The USA's Next East Coast?

Austin Bay on Jan 8, 2025

Donald Trump's media genius strikes again, this time calling national and international attention to two slowly developing but strategically treacherous threats to North America's military and economic security: 1) Russian and potentially Chinese military and commercial encroachment on the North American Arctic; and 2) an enemy physically and/or politically disrupting U.S. military and commercial shipping through the Panama Canal.

In a speech delivered Jan. 7, Trump said he thought the United States should buy Greenland from Denmark to secure the north and, if necessary, regain control of the Panama Canal if the Republic of Panama fails to address U.S. concerns.

Call Trump's demands what they are: calculated and contextualized political bravado media and U.S. adversaries cannot ignore. I think the president-elect achieved two goals: 1) He raised the awareness of American citizens to two real hemispheric threats U.S. media fail to appreciate. 2) He established a strong bargaining position. He said he would use U.S. economic and political power to protect the Arctic and the Canal from adversaries, and, if necessary, military might.

DIME: a Pentagon acronym for the four elements of national power: "diplomatic," "information," "military" and "economic" power. When "policy is working," diplomacy, economic strength, military power and information power complement one another.

Every U.S. president with will and vision can wield enormous diplomatic, military and economic power. President-elect Trump is a master of information power, using the bully pulpit to inform citizens and shape what he knows will be an international political struggle to protect the Arctic and the Canal.

I'll examine the Panama Canal's physical and political vulnerabilities in a future column that addresses criminal, enemy saboteur, sea drone and air drone threats to U.S. hemispheric maritime commerce and infrastructure. Suffice to say Beijing has "interests" in two port "projects" near the canal, one on the Atlantic and one on the Pacific. Sure, they handle commerce. China does not overtly control the Canal. However, the "projects" are also potential air and sea drone bases for attacking or mining the Canal -- or launching a saboteur attack. It's a troubling but instructive strategic scenario illustrating long-range Chinese planning.

So to Greenland, the week's hot issue, so to speak. Who the heck ever thinks about Greenland?

That's part of the problem. Greenland is a major piece in the complex diplomatic, economic and military puzzle confronting the U.S. and its NATO allies with legitimate claims to the Arctic Ocean's sea lanes and seabed resources: Canada, Norway and Denmark (via Greenland). The claims of these democracies are being challenged by Russia -- and potentially China.

While warning China's threat should not be inflated, RAND noted in 2022 that China 'has declared itself a "near Arctic state," a diplomatic designation Beijing "invented to push for a greater role in Arctic governance." That's China's lawfare gimmick. However, "... China has worked to establish footholds in the region that would give it access to rich mineral deposits and shipping lanes, as well as a greater say in Arctic affairs."

Russia, which has the Arctic's longest land border, has steadily expanded its sea claims and backed them with action. In 2007, two manned Russian submersibles dove 4,000 meters beneath the Arctic Ocean ice and planted a Russian flag on the physical North Pole. Russia claims that point is on a deep-sea ridge that is an extension of a Russian mountain range. Presto -- the North Pole and all around it belong to Moscow.

Russia has signed the U.N. Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), but Vladimir Putin has demonstrated no treaty protects territory his Kremlin regards as sovereign. On March 18, 2014, Putin's Russia annexed Crimea. Don't snicker -- the Arctic Sea is mineral rich.

The U.S., Canada and the rest of NATO need to take Russia's polar territorial expansion very seriously. Canada needs to buy nuclear attack subs.

Can Denmark defend Greenland against Russia?

No. Only the U.S. can, and it already does. The U.S. has been Greenland's defender since April 1940 when Nazi Germany invaded and occupied Denmark. In 1941, Danish diplomats and Greenland authorities essentially made Greenland an American protectorate. When the U.S. entered World War II, America established air and sea bases on the island.

In 1951, the U.S., Denmark and Greenland signed a protection agreement.

In 1916, the U.S. bought the Virgin Islands from Denmark -- $25 million in gold.

No, the U.S. doesn't need to own Greenland. But it's not a bad idea.

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To find out more about Austin Bay and read features by other Creators writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate webpage at www.creators.com.

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