Greenland General Election Firmly Rejects Becoming Part of U.S. War Machine
Greenlanders line up to vote, March 11, 2025
General elections in Greenland, an autonomous region in the Kingdom of Denmark, took place on March 11. The results affirmed Greenlanders' longstanding aim of independence, a demand repeatedly opposed by Denmark. This year, in the face of ongoing threats from the U.S. Trump administration to annex Greenland, the outcome of the elections in Greenland is all the more significant.
When former Greenland Prime
Minister Mute Egede called a snap election on February 5, he
wrote, "We are in the middle of a serious time, a time like we
have never experienced in our country. This is not a time for
internal division as the time obliges us to work together and
unite for our country."
Since 2009, Greenland has had the right to unilaterally secede from Denmark. Of the six parties in the election, five are in favour of independence from Denmark. All six parties are categorically opposed to Greenland becoming part of the U.S. None of the parties achieved a majority of 16 seats out of the 31 that make up the Inatsisartut (Parliament of Greenland), meaning that a coalition government will now form.
Notably, while the second-place party Naleraq is said to support rapid independence from Denmark, Reuters reports that it would pursue a defence agreement with the U.S. and a so-called "free association" with Denmark or another country, possibly the U.S.
Although Denmark ostensibly oversees Greenland's foreign affairs and defence, under the 1951 Greenland Defense Agreement, the U.S. operates the Pituffik Space Base (formerly the Thule Air Base) on its northwest coast under a NATO framework. The base is part of U.S. intelligence and surveillance operations targeting Russia and other countries.
NORAD under U.S. Command also has installations and conducts operations in Greenland, notably at Pituffik Space Base, said to be "a key location for missile warning and satellite control." It is the site of recurring NORAD air defence operations like Operation Noble Defender.
In 2023, Denmark signed a Defense Cooperation Agreement with the U.S. that will let the latter establish three more military bases on Danish territory.
Denmark's so-called defence of Greenland has not been in the interests of Greenland, but is based on the subordination of Greenland to U.S. and NATO aims. In 1968, after the crash of a U.S. bomber in Greenland, it came to light that the Danish government had given the U.S. permission to station nuclear weapons in Greenland without public knowledge and in violation of its 1957 stated policy that Denmark and its territories are a nuclear-weapons-free zone. Nuclear contamination from damaged warheads resulted from this crash.
All of this makes clear that Greenlanders' security and their worthy aim to be independent and sovereign are not compatible with arrangements that subordinate them to military and economic domination, whether by Denmark, the U.S. or the NATO war alliance. Permitting Greenland to be further embroiled in the U.S. war machine and a focal point of U.S. economic and military contention with Russia and China will only endanger Greenlanders and the people of the region, including Canada.
Demonstration in Nuuk, Greenland, March 15, 2025, against
Trump's threats to annex Greenland
Qaanaaq, Greenland, March 15, 2025
U.S. Claims on Greenland Not New
On January 13, U.S. Congressman Andy Ogles (R-Tennessee), introduced the Make Greenland Great Again Act. Ogles' website says the bill "would direct Congress to support President Trump's negotiations with Denmark to acquire Greenland immediately. The United States' ownership of the Danish territory would allow for the advancement of American economic interests and national security priorities."
Trump first stated his aim to take over Greenland in 2019 during his first term. As expected, the Danish parliament rejected Trump's "offer" which resulted in the cancellation of Trump's visit to Denmark. Most recently President Trump said at this March 4 address to Congress, "We need Greenland for national security. One way or the other we're gonna get it."
Reuters says of a possible sale of Greenland to the U.S., "Any sale would require a change to Greenland's legal status through an amendment to Denmark's constitution."
The U.S. aim to take over Greenland long precedes the Trump presidencies. There were notable internal discussions within the U.S. federal government about acquiring Greenland in 1867, 1910, 1946 and 1955.
In 1867, following the U.S. purchase of Alaska from Russia, U.S. Secretary of State William H. Seward also proposed the U.S. annexation of both Greenland and Iceland. A report from the U.S. Coast Survey, used by Seward to promote this aim, said that with Alaska to the west, the annexation of Greenland would surround British North America and encourage Canada to join the U.S.
In 1910, a proposal for the acquisition of Greenland was discussed within the U.S. government to trade Mindanao and Palawan in the Philippines (acquired as a spoil of war after the Spanish-American War) for Greenland and the Danish West Indies.
In 1941, the Danish Ambassador Henrik Kauffmann and U.S. Secretary of State Cordell Hull signed the Agreement Relating to the Defense of Greenland. Kauffmann did so without authorization from the Danish government and was recalled. Nonetheless, the U.S. began construction of the first of several military bases on Greenland later that year.
In 1946, the United States offered Denmark U.S.$100 million (equivalent to U.S.$1 billion today) in gold bullion for Greenland. U.S. Senator Owen Brewster said in November 1945 that he considered buying the island "a military necessity." The planning and strategy committee of the Joint Chiefs of Staff determined in April 1946 that acquiring the "completely worthless to Denmark" island was vital to the United States.
In April 1951, Denmark and the United States signed the Greenland Defense Agreement. Replacing the 1941 agreement, it allows the latter country to keep its military bases in Greenland, and to establish new bases or "defence areas" if deemed necessary by NATO.
In 1955, the Joint Chiefs nonetheless proposed to President Dwight Eisenhower that the U.S. again try to purchase Greenland, citing military necessity and that the U.S. should have unconditional access to its bases and Greenland's resources.
Background on Greenland
Qeqertarsuaq, Disko island, Greenland
Greenland is an autonomous region of the Kingdom of Denmark. Its population of about 57,000 people is 90 per cent Inuit, with nine per cent Danish and the remainder from other countries. The island's official language is Greenlandic, an Eskaleut language, spoken by some 50,000 people.
Geographically, Greenland is the world's largest island, with an area of 2,130,800 square kilometres. In comparison, the province of Nova Scotia has an area of 55,284 square kilometres.
In prehistoric times, Greenland was home to several successive Paleo-Inuit cultures known primarily through archaeological finds. The earliest entry of the Paleo-Inuit into Greenland is thought to have occurred about 2500 BC. From about 2500 BC to 800 BC, southern and western Greenland was inhabited by the Paleo-Inuit Saqqaq culture. Their descendants are thought to have later died out.
Norse settlement for a period of some 400 years began in the 10th century, after which this initial settlement ended. However, it was during this period that it gained its current name, given by the Viking Erik the Red, who is said to have chosen the name to encourage settlement.
Around the 12th century, descendants of the Thule people, who inhabited the Western Arctic, primarily the Inughuit, migrated to Greenland through what is today the Canadian Arctic.
In the 17th century, Danish-Norwegian explorers re-established a permanent Scandinavian presence in Greenland. When Denmark and Norway separated in 1814, it was transferred to the Danish Crown. The 1953 Constitution of Denmark fully integrated Greenland into the Danish state, ending its status as a colony and making the people of Greenland citizens of Denmark. Under legislation passed in 2009, it was granted broad self-governing autonomy, excluding only foreign affairs and defence.
(With files from Reuters, BBC, The Hill, Newsweek, ogles.congress.gov, syracuse.com, Copenhagen Post, Wikipedia. Photos: O. Joelsen)
This article was published in
Volume 55
Number 3 - March 2025
Article Link:
https://cpcml.ca/Tmlm2025/Articles/M550039.HTM
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