“We don't want to be American or Danish”
In the run-up to his inauguration as President of the United States on January 20, Donald Trump proposed seizing Greenland, as well as the Panama Canal, and even saw fit to annex Canada.
“We need it for economic security reasons,” said Trump in the face of natural refusal from the leaders of the territories concerned.
The president-elect had already called for this during his previous term. In recently announcing the appointment of a new ambassador to Denmark, he asserted that “ownership and control” of Greenland was “an absolute necessity” for US national security.
Greenland's Prime Minister, Mute Egede, was quick to respond: “We're not for sale and never will be, we don't want to be American, we don't want to be Danish, we are Greenlandic.”
The United States' strategic interest in Greenland is not new. The country has been of great importance to Washington since the Cold War, when it established a military airfield and radar base there.
Today, the Pituffik space base is the US military's northernmost detachment. It monitors missiles that could be launched against the United States by Russia, China or North Korea. The base can also be used to send missiles or ships to Asia or Europe.
(MH with AmBar/Source: Agence/Photo: DPA/ZB | Sascha Steinach)