President Trump was less than subtle in his insistence on the fact that the United States “will obtain” Greenland in one way or another, reiterating on Friday that the United States cannot “live without it”.
When he pronounced those words in the oval office, the high -level American political shipping force that has ever set foot on the vast territory had already landed to inspect the real estate prospects. But they were confined to the fence of a remote and frozen American air base, the only place where the protesters could not present themselves.
Guided by vice -president JD Vance, American visitors quickly discovered what the past administrations learned at 1860: the weather conditions are as prohibited as politics. When Mr. Vance’s plane landed in the Sun of Mezzogiorno, 750 miles north of the Arctic circle, it was less than 3 degrees outside.
Mr. Vance used a playful and slightly vulgar epithet to describe the temperature, where he wore jeans and a parka, but no hats or gloves. “Nobody told me,” he said to the troops at Pitugik’s space base as he entered their canteen room for lunch. The Guardians of the Space Force, who manage what was once known after the Second World War as the base of the Air Force Thule, broke out laughing.
But for all humor, the journey was simultaneously a reconnaissance mission and a passive-aggressive reminder of the determination of Mr. Trump to satisfy his territorial ambitions, regardless of obstacles. As to guide the point at home, Mr. Trump told journalists in the oval office on Friday: “We must have Greenland. It is not a matter of” think we can do without “. We cannot.”
In fact, of the four territories, Mr. Trump discussed the acquisition – Greenland, Cana di Panama, Canada and Gaza – is Greenland that seems more determined to obtain. Perhaps it is the vast expanse of the territory, much larger than Mexico. Perhaps it is its strategic position or its determination to have an American “sphere of influence”, a very vision of the nineteenth century of how the great powers deal with.
Yet one of the mysteries hanging from the Vance Tour is what Mr. Trump is willing to go to achieve his goal. This has been the question since the beginning of January, when Mr. Trump, pending his inauguration, was asked if he would have excluded economic or military coercion to make his way. “I won’t work for this,” he said. “You may have to do something.”
Not from the time of William McKinley, who worked in the Ispano-American war at the end of the 19th century and ended with the control of the United States of the Philippines, Guam and Puerto Rico, has an elected American president so clearly threatened by the use of force to expand the territorial borders of the country. And Friday’s visit appeared designed to clarify, without repeating the threat enough.
Vance is the first vice -president sitting to visit a land that the Americans have wanted for more than a century and a half. The fact that he was accompanied by the National Security Councilor Mercata, Michael Waltz, and by the secretary to energy, Chris Wright, was clearly designed to underline the strategic logic that Mr. Trump cites as justification for his territorial ambitions.
Before the visit, the leader of Greenland suggested seeing the presence of Mr. Waltz, in particular, as a show of the aggressive intent of Mr. Trump.
“What is the National Security Councilor doing in Greenland?” Múte Bourup Aegede, the 38 -year -old Prime Minister of Greenland, told the local newspaper on Sunday Sirmitsiaq. “The only purpose is to demonstrate power over us.”
Aegede and other officials in Greenland clarified that the Americans were not welcome for a visit. The White House had to eliminate a tour of goodwill of Usha Vance, the wife of the vice -president, who intended to attend a race of sleds and keep conversations with the normal Greenlander. As it became clear that the streets around Nuuk, the capital, would be flanked by protesters, the visit was moved only in the basis of the space force, where the distance from any population center and high fences ensured that there would be no visible dissent.
Trump is not wrong when he says that there are strategic advantages in the acquisition of the territory. William Seward, the secretary of state under Abraham Lincoln and Andrew Johnson, was negotiating to buy the territory for just over $ 5 million in 1868 – with Iceland launched – immediately after acquiring Alaska. But the agreement has never been made. Harry Truman wanted the territory after the Second World War, recognizing that failure to control would give advantage to the Soviets and make the United States more vulnerable to Soviet submarines.
Today Greenland is the site of a surface and submarine competition with China and Russia for access to the Arctic, a territory with a military and commercial importance significantly increased since global warming has made it easier to cross polar routes. And Mr. Trump clarified that he is interested in the unused mineral reserves of Greenland and rare lands, as is in Ukraine, Russia and Canada.
“If you look at the globe, you can understand why we prefer that the Russians and the Chinese do not control him,” said Doug Bandow, an elderly member of the Libertarian Cato Institute of Washington. “But we don’t need to own it to protect it and prevent them from taking control.”
Mr. Trump, he said, “wants the resources of Greenland, but in today’s world you can buy resources”. And expanding the American presence, it could defend itself from the growing Chinese or Russian influence without seizing control of the earth.
But Mr. Trump looks at the world through the eyes of a real estate developer and clearly loves territorial control. In his inaugural speech he spoke of “Manifest Destiny” and praised Mr. McKinley. The portrait of James K. Polk arrived on the wall of the oval office, together with a selection of other past presidents; He was the president who supervised much of the American expansion on the western coast.
Mr. Vance’s audience was the American troops, not Greenland, once the journey of his wife was transformed into a vice -presidential mission. But he was clearly talking to a wider audience when, before returning to his plane and returning to warmer climates to Washington, he claimed that the United States would be a far better administrator for the Greenland of Denmark for several hundred years.
“We are honest,” he said. “This base, the surrounding area, is less confident than those of 30, 40, years ago, because some of our allies have not kept the step since China and Russia have increasingly aroused more interest in Greenland, in this basis, in the activities of the brave Americans right here.”
He accused that Denmark and most of Europe did not “keep up with military expenses and Denmark did not keep the step to dedicate the resources necessary to maintain this base, to maintain our troops and, in my opinion, to protect the people of Greenland from many very aggressive incursions from Russia, China and other nations.”
It was a remarkable public criticism of a NATO ally, but milder than Vance told his national security colleagues on European partners in Signal’s chat that became the public at the beginning of the week.
“Our message in Denmark is very simple, you have not done a good job from the people of Greenland,” said Vance, everything except going to Greenlandian to declare independence from Denmark. “You have underestimated the people of Greenland and underestimated the security architecture of this incredible and beautiful ground mass, full of incredible people.”
In an exchange with journalists, Mr. Vance seemed to recognize that the push to acquire the territory had as much to do with Mr. Trump as the threat of national security. “We cannot simply ignore this place,” he said at some point. “We cannot simply ignore the president’s desires. But above all, we cannot ignore what I said before, which is the Russian and Chinese invasion in Greenland.”
“When the president says that we must have Greenland, he is saying that this island is not safe,” he said. “Many people are interested. Many people are playing.” But he was careful to say the decision on who to collaborate was that of Greenland. (Mr. Trump himself did not put him in such voluntary terms.)
Just before leaving, Mr. Vance was asked if the military plans had been enrolled to take Greenland if he refuses to become an American protectorate.
“We don’t think that military force will ever be needed,” he said. “We think that the people of Greenland is rational and good, and we think we will be able to cut an agreement, in Donald Trump style, to ensure the safety of this territory, but also the United States of America.”