The Absurd Greenland Preoccupation - Horowitz

The Absurd Greenland Preoccupation - Horowitz

President Trump is taking his persistent and nearly inexplicable obsession with Greenland to a new level, repeatedly refusing to take the use of military force off the table and reportedly ordering the Pentagon to draft an invasion plan.  Sounding very much like a second-rate mob boss, or if you prefer a more grandiose comparison, a wannabe Napoleon, the president delivered a direct threat on Friday to Denmark and Greenland, saying, “I would like to make a deal the easy way, but if we don’t do it the easy way we’re going to do it the hard way.”

 

In other words, he is threatening to invade and take over a territory of Denmark, a steadfast ally of the United States and member of NATO, simply because it refuses to hand it over.  He is doing so despite the fact that 85% of the people of Greenland do not want to become part of the United States, according to polling.

GET THE LATEST BREAKING NEWS HERE -- SIGN UP FOR GOLOCAL FREE DAILY EBLAST

 

While Greenland is becoming strategically more important as navigable shipping lanes emerge in the Arctic region due to climate change, an agreement with Denmark-- signed in 1951 and still in force today--enables us to already greatly increase our military presence on the island.  As The New York Times reported, “the agreement allows it (The United States) to “construct, install, maintain, and operate” military bases across Greenland, “house personnel” and “control landings, takeoffs, anchorages, moorings, movements, and operation of ships, aircraft, and waterborne craft.”  We currently have one base in Greenland; however, we can ramp up pretty much at will without taking it over.

 

In other words, there is no credible national security argument for American ownership of Greenland.  The real Trumpian logic in play here is that as a powerful nation we can take what we want, especially if it is in our hemisphere. Asserting that “obviously Greenland should be part of the United States,” Stephen Miller, the deputy chief of staff, told Jake Tapper on CNN, “We live in a world, in the real world, Jake, that is governed by strength, that is governed by force, that is governed by power. These are the iron laws of the world since the beginning of time.”

 

Defenders of the president argue that his threats of force are a negotiating tactic not to be taken seriously.  I would call it bullying not negotiating, but even so, I hope they are right. Even if they are, however, he is doing major damage to the post-World War II international order that the United States created and that, despite its imperfections, has served us and the rest of the world relatively well.   By establishing that the United States now stands for little more than "might makes right," he is creating a permission structure for China and Russia to take over weaker nations in their own so-called “spheres of influence.”

 

In a rebuke to President Trump, the leaders of Great Britain, Germany, France, Italy, Poland and Spain, joined Denmark in issuing a statement underscoring the universal principles that we used to stand for and essentially telling the United States to back-off:  “Security in the Arctic must therefore be achieved collectively, in conjunction with NATO allies including the United States, by upholding the principles of the UN Charter, including sovereignty, territorial integrity and the inviolability of borders," European leaders wrote. "These are universal principles, and we will not stop defending them.. Greenland belongs to its people. It is for Denmark and Greenland, and them only, to decide on matters concerning Denmark and Greenland.” 

 

Under Mr. Trump, our allies already viewed the United States as unreliable. The absurd Greenland preoccupation is cementing and supercharging that impression. Instead of defending it on television, the president’s allies, most of whom know it is folly, should speak truth to power for a change.