The case for
Greenland
There’s a strong case to be made for purchasing Greenland—which is why America has been trying to acquire the icy realm since the 1940s.
An old idea
Truman
Documents declassified in the early 1990s revealed a Truman administration plan to buy the island from Denmark for $100 million in gold. The Danes declined. After WWII, Rep. Bud Gearhart of California made an impassioned effort to buy up a number if Atlantic islands, including Greenland, for defense purposes. And in the 1970s, the U.S. vice president Nelson Rockefeller floated the idea of buying the island for its mineral resources.
We're already there
Russia
Many Americans may not realize that the United States already has a presence in Greenland, at Thule Air Force base far above the Arctic Circle. It’s the perfect place to keep an eye on the Russians just across the North Pole.
Polar Silk Road
China
Today, the concern is Chinese influence. China is already involved in mining on the island, and even tried to purchase a former U.S. military base in Greenland in 2016. China laid out its plans for the arctic in 2018, proposing a new “Polar Silk Road” by taking advantage of shipping lanes that are opening up due to global warming.
As close as Alaska
Geography
Geographically, Greenland is strategically situated midway between the U.S. and Europe—and the south end of the island is only 1,500 miles from New York. So Chinese influence in Greenland should not be any less worrisome than Russian influence in Cuba in the 1960s.
Ask the people
A Vote?
The problem America faces in this kind of acquisition isn’t financial or military, it’s image. America is already the most powerful nation on earth, and the idea of gobbling up more territory would raises eyebrows worldwide.The only way to counter the imperialism charge is to ask the residents of Greenland themselves. And there is evidence they would rather be American than Danish. For starters, many parents are pushing the school system to teach English—rather than Danish—as a second language. Most major decisions in the country are based on keeping America happy, since islanders clearly understand their nation’s strategic value to the U.S. And Greenlanders have more in common with their Inuit brethren in Alaska (and, admittedly, Canada) than anyone in Denmark.What do Greenlanders think? The only way to know is a vote; a “Grexit” of sorts, to determine if the islanders would rather be Americans or Danes. It would be hard to argue against self-determination.All the people in Greenland could fit in a single Division I football stadium, so the island is not in line for statehood. But then neither was Alaska in 1867. In fact, Greenland’s population is about the same as Alaska’s was at its first census in 1880. In the near term, Greenland would likely have a status similar to Guam’s, as a territory of the United States, with its residents instantly becoming citizens.
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