U.S. to Denmark: Your Inhabited Lands, Our Security Blanket
CBS World reports President Trump's unwavering conviction that Greenland is a 'national security' imperative, threatening to 'take it by force.' The segment, featuring Vice President JD Vance's discussion with Danish officials, treats this as a novel and perhaps eccentric proposition. What goes unmentioned is the uncanny resemblance to Manifest Destiny, banana republics, or the purchase of Alaska,
where Indigenous sovereignty was, and often still is, an afterthought. Greenlanders' 'uncertain future' is only uncertain if you ignore over a century of colonial resource extraction and strategic military base expansion in the Arctic. One might wonder if this 'national security' suddenly becoming paramount has anything to do with newly accessible rare earth minerals (which China dominates),
melting ice caps revealing oil reserves, or missile defense. The geopolitical chess game, dressed in the emperor's new clothes of 'security,' rarely includes indigenous voices, much like the original settlers of lands now integral to the 'American Dream.' Perhaps the U.S. should secure its own borders before eyeing others'.