Greenland and U.S. National Security: Strategic Imperatives in the Arctic

Abstract

The research serves to draw the attention to the geopolitical relevance of the melting ice for the USA in the context of national security policy in the Arctic. And then there's Greenland which "simply" happens to be in the middle of the Arctic Circle and has had an anchor in the North American defense since World War II when the U.S. opposed the island to preserve shipping lanes in the North Atlantic. It is a legal basis outlined in 1916 with Danish sovereignty, and further specified in the bilateral Defense Agreement of 1951, and which has been kept up until today for NATO missile warning and space/base missile defense and space surveillance operations, and with the cornerstone Pituffik Space Base. Held by Greenland, the route place GIUK Gap is also of great international strategic significance for monitoring Russian naval activities. The Arctic's frozen edge is turning into a battleground between great powers as its melting ice transforms the region from frozen periphery to an enticing prospectus for Russia and China's cold-weather modernization plans and China's mission to further develop its ‘Polar Silk Road'. The strategic interest of Greenland is enhanced by its raw material resources with a high concentration of rare earth elements, uranium, graphite and hydrocarbons. The two Trumps in 2019 and 2025 would have been responsible for sustaining the illusion that it was possible to get Greenland as a resource and as a security guarantee against Russia and China. According to this research, the goal of cooperation, rather than coercive acquisition, and alliance-based investment are the best ways to ensure air and missile defense of the United States' strategic interests without breaking the transatlantic unity and using existing legal mechanisms through transparent partnership working.