Gordon L. Weil
The Merriam-Webster dictionary provides three words
associated with the verb “to rape” – violate, assault, force.
President Trump has launched an assault on Denmark’s Greenland,
intending to violate Danish sovereignty and Greenland’s autonomy, using force
if necessary. While his proposal may
lack the sexual connotation of rape, it is the political equivalent.
Denmark and Greenland are not submitting to Trump’s unwanted
advances, and their friends are coming to their aid.
There are eight Arctic nations: U.S., Canada, Iceland, Denmark, Norway,
Sweden, Finland and Russia. The first
seven have joined others in NATO, mainly to defend against the eighth. The NATO 7 are rightly concerned about Russia’s
expected attempt to control the Arctic Sea, seeking military domination and
economic exploitation of the area.
Trump sees Greenland, Denmark’s sparsely populated semi-autonomous
territory, as a target for Russia and perhaps even China. He imagines, without evidence, that their vessels
are now circling an almost defenseless island.
He focuses exclusively on the threat to the U.S, ignoring the other six NATO
allies.
The irony is that Greenland has become accessible to Russia because
the Arctic ice is melting as global warming increases. Trump claims that global warming (a.k.a. climate
change) is a “hoax.”
The NATO 7 agree that the region’s defense must be sharply
increased. While the Russian economy, far
smaller than California’s, is obviously strapped by Putin’s invasion of Ukraine,
his ambition seems limitless. Over time,
Russia is likely to exploit its Arctic location to threaten NATO members.
The situation calls for joint planning and action by
NATO. The alliance needs a coordinated
strategy for protecting their territories from the north and to then quickly create
necessary military installations. These
facilities should provide for both on-site defense and leverage to put pressure
on Russia.
But NATO has been slow to act, perhaps reflecting the
weakness of its new Secretary-General. It has recently begun moving, obviously
in reaction to Trump’s claims. He
believes that the alliance is meaningless and heavily depends on the U.S. That means
he can go it alone without regard to his alliance partners.
The U.S. has had military facilities in Greenland since
World War II. Though its operations are at
a single location, it formerly had bases across the island and retains the
right to bring them back to life.
Denmark would approve under the terms of a 1951 agreement, and the U.S.
would control the defense of Greenland.
Given the American desire to diversify the sources of so-called
“rare earths” and other minerals away from China, Greenland offers attractive
alternatives. Greenlanders say they
would welcome U.S. investment to develop its increasingly valuable resources.
But that’s not enough for Trump. He demands that the U.S. must become the sovereign
owner of Greenland, even if it must be wrenched away from Denmark and opposed
by Greenland, which prefers its relationship with Denmark, giving it the right
to move toward independence.
In a New York Times interview, Trump was asked about his demand
for ownership when the U.S. already had all he wanted. Why? “Because
that’s what I feel is psychologically needed for success. I think that
ownership gives you a thing that you can’t do, whether you’re talking about a
lease or a treaty,” he said.
“Psychologically important to you or to the United States?”
he was asked.
“Psychologically important for me. Now, maybe another president would feel
differently, but so far, I’ve been right about everything,” he replied.
Vice President Vance and Secretary of State Rubio vigorously
pursue the acquisition of Greenland, because it is “psychologically important”
to President Trump. He counts on a loyal
Republican Congress backing him, because he has “been right about everything.”
After a high-level meeting in Washington last week, the
Greenlandic Foreign Minister addressed the media in her own language. She highlighted the existence of her
non-American culture. That matters.
As an American territory, Greenland would lose its autonomy
and be subject to a federal executive agency.
Its culture could be ignored and its majority non-white population might
encounter discrimination. The fate of
the Greenlanders seems not to matter to Trump, though it is of prime importance.
There may be a reason beyond national security that whets
Trump’s appetite for Greenland. Though
it is smaller than it appears on most maps, its acquisition would be the largest
addition to American territory ever. It
would be larger than the Louisiana Purchase.
In the Nineteenth Century, the U.S. pursued its “Manifest
Destiny” to obtain what became the continental 48 states. To “Make America Great Again,” Trump could renew
that policy, just as he seeks to revive the Monroe Doctrine. He may hope to burnish his legacy by adding
Greenland.
But his hope may be in vain.
How many people remember President James Monroe or James K. Polk, the
president who fulfilled Manifest Destiny?
