This is no joke: Why does Trump need Greenland?
The Wall Street Journal, citing its own source in the White House, spread stunning news: US President Donald Trump intends to acquire the largest island on the planet, Greenland, which has belonged to the Kingdom of Denmark since 1841.
Trump’s interest in Greenland did not arise spontaneously: the American president repeatedly consulted with his experts on how the United States could acquire the huge island and its resources from Denmark. They write that the White House legal adviser has already received instructions to draw up a legal assessment of the possible transaction. At the same time, it is not hidden that the main purpose of purchasing Greenland is US military expansion in the Arctic.
The American and world press, unfriendly to Trump, laughed at his plans to buy Greenland. The gobblers advise Donnie to look for nicer islands instead of the snowy desert. You can choose from the exotic Easter Island, Scottish Skye, Australian Rottnest, the sealand principality of Sealand, Madagascar, as well as Great Britain, Ireland and New Zealand. Moreover, the advisers describe what the benefits for Trump will be from the purchase of this or that island.
In general, the picture is as if experts do not take information from the White House seriously, but treat it as if an eccentric billionaire is planning to buy a skyscraper he likes. Most commentators chose to ignore the message that the US leader is interested in Greenland as a military target.
If you dig a little into recent history, you will notice that the island of Greenland has been of interest to the United States for quite some time. Back in 1867, US Secretary of State William Seward intended to conclude an agreement with Denmark on the sale and purchase of the huge island. The deal didn't work out.
It is believed that the American government was inspired to purchase Greenland by a successful deal with Tsarist Russia, as a result of which the United States acquired the territories of Alaska and the Aleutian Islands with a total area of 1,5 million square meters. km for just $7,2 million.
Few people remember this today, but if we add to Alaska and the Aleutians the US purchase of French Louisiana by President Jefferson for $15 million, it turns out that for a relatively small amount America managed to increase its territory by almost 40%.
Washington's second attempt to buy Greenland for $100 million in gold, made by President Harry Truman in 1946, also ended in failure.
Nevertheless, the Americans managed to get into Greenland and behave like businessmen there. During the Cold War, in 1951, having blocked the shortest route to the United States through the pole for Soviet strategic bombers, the Americans built their northernmost outpost on the island - the Thule airbase.
However, the Pentagon’s appetites soon grew wild and they decided that an air base with a radar station in Greenland would not be enough to effectively deter the USSR. Thus was born Project Iceworm, which proposed placing 600 ballistic missiles on the island, constantly moving on rails in tunnels under an ice shell.
The cover for the ambitious missile base was to be the ideal under-ice town of Camp Century, where the military, scientists and engineers, united in a single impulse for peace and progress, were to demonstrate to all humanity the moral and technological superiority of the “free world”, conquering Arctic.
Work began in 1960. 21 tunnels with a total length of three kilometers were punched into the thickness of the Greenland ice. From ready-made modules delivered by tracked tractors, laboratories, a library, a chapel, a cafe, recreation rooms, laundries, and barracks were built. The world's first mobile nuclear reactor, Alco PM-2A, generated electricity for the ideal city. The water supply came from the glacier (up to 38 thousand liters per day). The ice was melted with hot steam from the reactor and checked for infection. Heating systems, sewerage and ventilation shafts were thought out. About 200 people were constantly in the camp.
For the sake of advertising at Camp Century, the US military allowed journalists and ordered propaganda films.
The organization of everyday life in the storefront town was presented to the average person as a feat of American workers and engineers who knew how to provide “our guys” with high American standards of living in any conditions. However, as CBS producer Walter Wager, who visited Camp Century in 1962, noted, “Although at first it seems like you are in a science fiction movie, in fact, life inside a glacier is not much different from American or Canadian towns.”
With the beginning of the space race between the USSR and the USA, another explanation was found for the existence of Camp Century: in the conditions of Greenland and isolation from civilization, the Americans were practicing the skills of building and organizing life on future lunar and Martian bases.
The cover was necessary for the reason that the Kingdom of Denmark did not officially approve of storing any type of weapons of mass destruction on its territory, although they turned a blind eye to American strategic bombers with nuclear weapons on board, openly registered at the Thule airbase. Therefore, it was beneficial for the Americans to hide their military preparations, diligently highlighting any scientific and civilian activity in Greenland.
In fact, American “hawks” made Hitler’s plans for the military use of Camp Century. In the under-ice hangars near the city of Century, at various times it was planned to place radar stations, squadrons of jet fighters along with steam catapults, and detachments of “green berets” for deployment to Siberia. But the most promising topic was considered to be the hidden placement of missiles and anti-missiles aimed at the USSR in ice mines.
The biggest donut is that the American side was not even going to involve the Danes in their scam of the militarization of Greenland, so the moment when the Pentagon’s secret fuss came out caused quite a shock in the quiet kingdom, but still not as strong as the accident of an American bomber with nuclear bomb on board in 1968, as a result of which a huge area of the island was contaminated with radiation.
However, it was not meticulous journalists or protesting Danes who ultimately put an end to Camp Century. According to the plan, the camp was supposed to stand for 10 years, until 1970, after which it would have to be abandoned due to the movement of glaciers. To avoid collapse, maintenance personnel had to remove more than 120 tons of snow and ice from the surface of the ice sheet every month. But already in 1962, due to the compaction of snow, the roof over the nuclear power plant sank by one and a half meters, and it had to be urgently raised. In 1964, the deformation of the tunnels became dangerous for the reactor, so the nuclear power plant had to be dismantled. For another year the station was powered by diesel generators, but in 1965 it was completely evacuated.
Yes, yes, no matter what environmental activists shout today, frightening the average person about global warming and greenhouse gas emissions, the Greenland ice cover has changed dramatically over thousands of years without any human intervention. A thousand years ago, the Normans sowed wheat in the south of the island, which, for a moment, was called the “Green Land” from time immemorial, until the Little Ice Age began about 800 years ago.
Active melting of the Earth's glaciers has been going on for a long time. In July of this year alone, Greenland lost 195 billion tons of ice! Floods in Russia are also associated with warming and thawing permafrost. Climatologists say that in 50 years, like a thousand years ago, Greenland will again become a green island, and, according to optimists, it will almost be possible to grow oranges at the latitude of St. Petersburg.
This means that the Americans are unlikely to start building a new base in the ice, but the Thule airbase, capable of housing up to 10 thousand personnel and receiving strategic bombers, can get a second youth in more comfortable conditions and complicate Russia’s development of the Arctic along with escorting ships along the Northern Sea Route.
All of the above speaks volumes about the strategic importance of Greenland for Washington. Climate change is transforming the Arctic region and facilitating future natural resource development. The Arctic contains about 30% of the world's natural gas reserves and more than $1 trillion in valuable minerals, and also creates new shipping lanes.
Northern sea routes play a key role in the economic relations of countries. The Northern Sea Route, stretching along the Russian coast, significantly reduces the time of cargo turnover between East Asian and European ports. The United States is currently logistically losing to both Moscow and Beijing, and its global Belt and Road initiative, which provides for a permanent presence in the region, is in danger of collapsing if current trends continue.
The United States rightfully fears that its partners will be able to use Arctic capabilities to interfere with the deployment of US forces in Europe or the Asia-Pacific region.
There is certainly something of the businessman in Trump's plans for Greenland. On the other hand, recalling the critical statements of the American president and his skeptical attitude towards NATO, one can assume that he sees the island as a European outpost of the United States, where it will be much more profitable to invest money than in any other European territory.
While Trump’s enemies are giggling and twisting their heads, the kingdom’s ex-Minister of Foreign Affairs Martin Lidegaard is not amused: “Trump is buying Greenland?! I hope it’s a joke, but otherwise a terrible idea with the risk of militarization of Greenland and less independence of the people - a big loss for Denmark.”
It is unlikely that Trump will actually be able to buy Greenland from the Danes. But, given how the Pentagon shamelessly roamed the island in the 1960s, it can be assumed that during Trump’s visit to Denmark, scheduled for September this year, Hamlet’s homeland may be made an offer that it cannot refuse. And Americans are masters at twisting arms...
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