Greenland And The Art Of The Deal? – OpEd |
The Greenland drama is over. I wrote this sentence and asked myself, was it a drama or a comedy? Probably both are correct, depending on the angle of view. So, what was that? What we were watching was not grand strategy at all. In a nutshell, it was the theater of coercion performed against friends, in pursuit of what the treaty text already provides, followed by an inevitable retreat when allies refuse to play the victim.
To substantiate this conclusion, let us start with the legal and historical baseline. In 1951, the United States and Denmark signed an agreement, pursuant to NATO defense planning, that explicitly preserved Danish sovereignty while giving Washington broad operational authority inside agreed defense areas. The agreement says that, without prejudice to Denmark’s sovereignty and the natural right of Danish authorities to free movement throughout Greenland, the United States is entitled within a defense area to fit it for military use, build and operate facilities, station personnel, provide internal security, and control landings, takeoffs, and movements of ships and aircraft, along with related infrastructure improvements. In addition, the agreement recognizes free access and movement between defense areas through Greenland, by land, air, and sea, under mutually agreed rules, and explicitly allows the making and furnishing of surveys,........