JD Vance Warns There's 'Very Strong Evidence' China, Russia Want Greenland

[muriel_volestrangler]

35. any foreign invasion would instantly turn into a search and rescue operation

That's the adapted message (it's a paraphrase of what people say about an actual invasion of the Canadian High Artctic) of this Danish analysis. This is the real situation, without Trumpian bullshit: China has no particular interest - they once put in a bid to run the main airport, but withdrew it (and all you need to do to avoid that is say "thanks but no thanks" ), and that's it; Russia would like a way to send out nuclear subs from its Arctic bases unnoticed, but that just needs international cooperation, not a change of government (or "ownership", as Trump wants to think of it).

Don’t get Greenland’s role in Arctic security wrong

President Donald J. Trump insists on buying or taking Greenland “for purposes of national security and freedom throughout the world”. Most recently, he cited one reason that “you don’t even need binoculars – you look outside. You have China ships all over the place. You have Russian ships all over the place.” This is a misunderstanding that conflates what goes on in different parts of the Arctic, and it is dangerous for all of us if the US acts on it.
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Canadian officers are fond of explaining how any foreign invasion of the Canadian Arctic Archipelago neighbouring Greenland would instantly turn into a search and rescue operation. Once ashore, invaders would not be able to go anywhere. No two Greenlandic settlements are connected by roads. The coastline is cut through with deep fjords, glaciers and sharp mountain ranges. Going inland will demand a weeks-long crossing of the inland ice. Greenlanders, knowing their geography, fear no invasion. However, they do worry that civilian critical infrastructure is vulnerable to sabotage – particularly telecommunications that depend on only two submarine cables.

The US already controls the territory in terms of military security, as formalised in a 1951 agreement with Denmark co-signed by the autonomous Government of Greenland in 2004. There are no Chinese investments or infrastructure in Greenland. It is very difficult to conceive of any military installation or activity which the Danish or Greenlandic authorities would be able to deny the US. Let alone any they would want to deny, if the US explained its necessity.
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Chinese activity is very far from Greenland
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Fourth, Russian second-strike capability in the event of a nuclear conflict relies on submarines having come out of Murmansk, hiding under the polar ice, and sneaking through the “GIUK” gap between Greenland, Iceland and the UK. So there might indeed be Russian vessels in the vicinity of Greenland. The US, the UK and Norway are “phishing” for these submarines. Denmark is likely going to chip in as a result of the defence spending negotiations currently being concluded in the Danish parliament.

https://www.diis.dk/en/research/dont-get-greenlands-role-in-arctic-security-wrong