Greenland's geopolitical stakes rise amidst US ambitions
Greenland is important for the national security of the USA, said future US National Security Advisor Mike Waltz on Thursday. Keith Kellogg, who is set to become the US special envoy for Ukraine and Russia, noted that Washington has long sought to expand its presence in the Arctic.
"You have Russia that is trying to become king of the Arctic, with 60-plus ice breakers, some of them nuclear power," Waltz said in an interview with Fox News, adding that the US lags significantly in this regard. Moreover, American icebreakers are managed by the US Coast Guard, not the Department of Defense.
Waltz also emphasised that Greenland is important from the perspective of resources. "This is about critical minerals. This is about natural resources. This is about, as the polar ice caps pullback, the Chinese are now cranking out ice breakers and pushing up there as well. So it's oil and gas. It's our national security," stressed Trump's advisor.
Also on Fox News, retired General Kellogg stressed that the issue of Greenland's belonging to the United States "is not new." Kellogg stated that many people forgot President Andrew Johnson, who served from 1865 to 1869, had tried to buy Greenland, and that at the end of World War II, President Harry Truman had offered $100 million for the island. He remarked that it was an old idea that had since been revived.
On Tuesday, Trump said that the United States needs Greenland "for its national security". He added that he does not rule out the use of force to achieve this goal, which met with a strong reaction from the EU.
Greenland has attracted international attention due to its strategic location in the Arctic. Its area can be used to track missiles launched towards the USA, for example, by Russia. In the north-western part of the island, the United States has the Pituffik space base, which in the past, under the ancient name Thule, served the US Air Force. With climate change and melting glaciers, Greenland's economic significance is increasing due to deposits of oil, natural gas, and rare earth metals.
