The United States, Greenland and Denmark have signed a trilateral agreement on the security of the island. It allows Washington to expand its military presence in Greenland while confirming the sovereignty and territorial independence of the autonomous Danish territory. Although Trump has already declared the deal a major victory, in reality the winners are on the other side.
Masterclass in Diplomacy
Tensions between Washington, Nuuk and Copenhagen began to grow after Trump returned to the White House. He repeatedly demanded that the United States take control of the largest island in the world and even threatened military intervention. While the American president officially talked about security, a number of businessmen close to him visited Greenland, and experts pointed out that the territory is also rich in a number of resources. Concerns were growing, and citizens of the island began to arm themselves.
Now it seems that all this is coming to an end. The agreement is a master class in diplomacy, notes Jana Sinram from ARD. Because the Danes and Greenlanders are actually warming up an old deal - from 1951, which allows the US a serious military presence on the island. A presence that is actually beneficial to Greenland's security.
Trump took a step back, and NATO gained from the deal
Only the specific plans for additional bases are new. The United States intends to expand the existing space base "Pitufik" and build two new military bases in the southern and eastern parts of Greenland. In this way, the Americans will again participate more actively in the defense of the Arctic island, after having withdrawn from these commitments in the years after the end of the Cold War. This would be beneficial for NATO, which must defend the Arctic from the interests of Russia and China. The US commitments to the military alliance are no longer a given, so any step in this direction is actually a plus.
"Ownership gives you things that you can't get from signing a document that allows you to have a base," Trump said at the beginning of the year, when he was still insisting on gaining full control of Greenland. He has apparently given up on these claims, and the political price that the US paid for the few concessions it received is extremely high, notes Mikkel Runge Olesen of the Danish Institute for International Studies to the "New York Times". Because the Europeans already have more than one thing in mind about future relations with Washington.
In the preamble to the agreement, the parties affirm the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the Kingdom of Denmark, as well as the right of self-determination of the Greenlandic people. With his signature, Trump took a step back and confirmed that Greenland's fate is decided in Nuuk and Copenhagen, not in Washington, writes Jana Sinram of ARD.