The Greenland Ruse
If Trump is serious about combating Russian and Chinese aggression, he can do that at home.
Once again, we are talking about President Donald Trump’s dream of acquiring Greenland from our Danish allies. Now, talk of Greenland involves Trump’s plans to potentially take the island from our Danish allies by force if necessary:
The reporting comes from the Daily Mail, which said Trump directed top commanders, including planners connected to the Joint Special Operations Command, to work up invasion scenarios for the Arctic island. According to the paper, the directive was not framed as a long-term thought exercise. It was treated as immediate. Operational. Real enough to worry people.
Those worries showed up quickly. Military officials, the report said, raised questions about legality. About Congress. About what it would mean to target territory that belongs to Denmark.
Denmark is a NATO ally. Greenland is part of the Kingdom of Denmark.
At best, seizing Greenland by force would be the end of NATO.1 At worst, the United States would be left all alone to potentially face military action from Russia, China, AND former NATO allies in what would best be described as World War III.
Only somebody who is an idiot would think this is somehow a good idea.
Trump’s Greenland fever dream continues to ignore the fact that 1951 Greenland Defense Agreement between the United States and Denmark already allows the U.S. to do pretty much whatever it wants on the island:
(b) Without prejudice to the sovereignty of the Kingdom of Denmark over such defense area and the natural right of the competent Danish authorities to free movement everywhere in Greenland, the Government of the United States of America, without compensation to the Government of the Kingdom of Denmark, shall be entitled within such defense area and the air spaces and waters adjacent thereto:
(i) to improve and generally to fit the area for military use;
(ii) to construct, install, maintain, and operate facilities and equipment, including meteorological and communications facilities and equipment, and to store supplies;
(iii) to station and house personnel and to provide for their health, recreation and welfare;
(iv) to provide for the protection and internal security of the area;
(v) to establish and maintain postal facilities and commissary stores;
(vi) to control landings, takeoffs, anchorages, moorings, movements, and operation of ships, aircraft, and water-borne craft and vehicles, with due respect for the responsibilities of the Government of the Kingdom of Denmark in regard to shipping and aviation;
(vii) to improve and deepen harbors, channels, entrances, and anchorages.
Pituffik Space Base2 opened in the north of Greenland 83 years ago, and continues to house U.S. personnel related to Space Force Operations. Any U.S. concerns related to North American defense in the Greenland sphere can easily be addressed under this Defense Agreement without Greenland becoming a U.S. possession.
No, Trump wants Greenland not for defense reasons but for resource reasons. Greenland holds significant untapped natural resources, particularly minerals crucial for green tech, including the rare earth elements, lithium, graphite, zinc, iron ore, gold, copper, and uranium. There are also potentially untapped oil and gas reserves off the coast, plus the potential for methane hydrates.
Greenland is a natural resources bonanza waiting to happen. And that’s what Trump is really angling for here.
But let us get back to the alleged raison d’etre of Trump’s interest in Greenland: Russian and Chinese interference with U.S. security interests in the area. The Chinese have been effectively excluded from Greenland by the Danish government. The Russian fleet is the biggest concern in the area, as the GIUK gap is a natural chokepoint for Russia’s northern fleet.
But at its closest approach, Greenland remains 1,750 miles from Russian territory. Want to know what’s just a bit closer to Russian territory?
A mere 2.31 miles separates the United States and Russia. If you want to look at their continental mainland, it is a mere 51 miles between Farthest Eastern Siberia and Farthest Western Russia.3
In recent years, the Bering Strait has transformed from a remote frontier into a focal point of intensifying geopolitical competition. Russian and Chinese naval activities in this narrow gateway have shifted from occasional transits to coordinated, large-scale displays of power.
In recent years, the scope of joint exercises has gradually shifted north, with joint naval patrols taking place in the Bering Sea every year since 2022. In 2024, China and Russia conducted their eighth joint aerial strategic patrol, which for the first time took place over the Bering Sea, entering the Alaska Air Defense Identification Zone.
In October 2024, the U.S. Coast Guard spotted a joint formation of Chinese and Russian maritime enforcement vessels transiting the Bering Sea toward the Arctic. This marked the third consecutive year of joint naval convoys in the region. Just months prior, in July 2024, Sino-Russian cooperation reached a new altitude when Russian and Chinese strategic bombers conducted their first joint patrol in international airspace near Alaska, prompting interceptions by U.S. and Canadian fighter jets.
For Russia, the Bering Strait is the eastern gateway to the Northern Sea Route, which it seeks to control as a primary global shipping lane. For China, which defines itself as a "near-Arctic state," the strait is essential for its "Polar Silk Road" ambitions, providing access to resources and shorter trade routes to Europe. Both directly threaten American control of the Bering Sea and the Alaska Defense Area.
The U.S. has responded by increasing its surveillance and "homeland defense" patrols. The frequent appearance of Chinese surface combatants and research vessels used for dual-purpose data collection has fueled concerns about underwater surveillance and the potential for nuclear-armed submarines to eventually use the deep Arctic waters as a "bastion" for second-strike capabilities. As the ice melts, the Bering Strait is no longer just a geographic oddity of the Cold War past, but a crowded corridor for the future of global maritime security. And unlike Greenland, it’s right in America’s backyard.
Trump’s Greenland obsession is a distraction from the real Sino-Russian threat in the Arctic. U.S. Citizens, U.S. Military Interests, and U.S. Commercial interests are already potentially at risk in the event of Chinese or Russian aggression in the Bering Sea. Trump’s focus on Greenland does little to advance American interests and takes the focus away from protecting actual Americans. Our nation would be best served by abandoning this fakakta scheme and focusing on the very real threats that already exist to Hemisphere Security.
The end of NATO is exactly what Vladimir Putin would love to see, which does little to rebut the view that Donald Trump is merely a Russian apparatchik.
My Grandfather was stationed there in the 1950’s.
Remember back in the 1990’s when everybody was gung-ho to build a rail and road link across the Bering Strait to connect the U.S. and Russia? It’s practically ridiculous to think about now.