WASHINGTON, D.C. – President Donald Trump announced the US and NATO have agreed to a framework regarding Greenland but details have been limited as to what that framework looks like. The US already has a military presence on the Danish territory. So, a Congressional Democratic Delegate is questioning why the administration wants to take control of the island.
In President Trump’s campaign to acquire Greenland, a Danish territory, he recently said it will not be done by military force.
“I don’t think it will be necessary,” the President said during a gathering Davos, Switzerland.
His administration maintains the President is seeking Greenland for national security purposes.
“Greenland’s location truly sits at the front lines of what is important and critical to US national defense and as it relates to its geography that has not changed but essentially what has changed are evolving risks, evolving threats, evolving technology,” said Mignon Houston, deputy spokesperson for the State Department.
Some reports estimate it could cost the US $700-billion dollars to buy Greenland from Denmark. The Danish government maintains Greenland is not for sale.
It wouldn’t be the first time the US bought territory from Denmark. In 1917, the US purchased the Danish West Indies for 25-million dollars, which is now known as the US Virgin Islands, a US territory in the Caribbean. The State Department archives said the purchase was for American expansion, securing the route for the future Panama Canal and its location was important during the first World War.
“When you’re opening and expanding imperial designs over people without their consent such as was done in the case of the Virgin Islands, there are huge ramifications,” said Congresswoman Stacey Plaskett (D- Virgin Islands). “I think the people of Greenland as well as Denmark along with NATO allies have said that American support in the region is really important, but does that support mean we have to own people?”
Del. Plaskett questions the administration’s reasons for wanting to acquire Greenland.
“If we’re able to have military bases there, that can’t be the reason,” said the Congresswoman. “Could it in fact be the rare earth minerals in Greenland which are more important to this administration than it is military purposes because then we can continue to expand our military there. So, I think all of us should be concerned and this is a distraction as well to the American people and that’s if they can afford their life. Can they make their rent? Are their children going to be able to buy a house? Are they going to be able to put their children through college? Is the American dream being realized? Right now, it’s not.”
