The current USA–Denmark conflict over Greenland is wider than it seems at first. It has to do with spheres of influence. The USA wants to have more direct influence and power over larger geographic areas in its neighbourhood. Greenland is close to the USA, the world superpower, yet it is actually closer to Canada, and also to the European countries of Iceland, Denmark, Norway, and the other Nordic countries.

Russia is relatively close to Greenland and its sphere of influence, indeed outside the sphere of influence of the West. Greenland is important to the USA and the West precisely in the competition with the great powers of Russia and China. Yet Greenland is already part of the West and the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO); thus one could argue that there would in principle be little geopolitical change if Greenland were transferred from Danish rule to US rule, and finally gaining full independence, which the USA probably would be less willing to grant Greenland than Denmark is.

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My article today is a continuation of last week’s article. I shall give some further details about Greenland’s past and present, and why it will become strategically more important in the future, as a key part of the West’s sphere of influence. From that perspective, it is logical that the USA shows increased interest in Greenland. However, the USA’s way of approaching it under President Trump is wrong, indeed if international law is set aside and undue pressure and force are used. Yet the current dispute between the USA and Denmark over Greenland, including NATO and the EU, has placed Greenland and the Arctic region higher on the international agenda, which in the long run may well be an advantage to the West and NATO on the northern flank of Europe near Russia.

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Let me now present some historical data as background to showing why Greenland indeed is a part of the........

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