“Greenlanders are Related to the Inuit in Alaska”
Ulrik Pram Gad, senior researcher for Arctic Identity, Diplomacy and Security at the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) in Denmark, has told Sol de Medianoche that ‘many Americans have learned that Greenland is under the Crown of Denmark when Donald Trump claimed its sovereignty, because until now they thought it was Canadian or American territory’ and that ”Greenlanders are related to the Inuit in Canada, Alaska and Chukotka.”Trump’s aspirations for Greenland, “have made most Greenlanders less inclined to be close to the United States and prefer to be a Danish commonwealth,” according to Ulrik Pram Gad. The territory “is important for the defense of the North.” From the Pituffik Space Base, nuclear missiles that could be launched to the West from the Kola Peninsula and the rest of Eurasia are monitored.
Under the 1951 Defense Agreement, accepted by the Greenland Government in 2004, “the U.S. is allowed almost anything conceivable in terms of military installations,” says Pram Gad. “In addition, the Greenlandic government is open to free access for U.S. mining companies in Greenland. So, it’s strange that Trump wants to expand U.S. territory like it did in the 19th century.” There are three scenarios for U.S. control of Greenland: 1.- That the U.S. perpetuates a military invasion and armed violence (which “makes no sense,” according to Ulrik Pram Gad). 2.- That the U.S. buys the island from Denmark, as it did with Alaska when it belonged to Russia (“Denmark cannot sell the territory, because the Greenlandic people have the right to self-determination, according to international law”). And 3.- That the United States supports self-determination in a referendum so that, afterwards, it can become a Commonwealth of the United States, like Puerto Rico. To the latter, the researcher of the IISS assures that “almost all politicians and the Greenlandic electorate have been working for independence for decades. A small minority party wants to use Trump’s interests as leverage to speed up the process, but Trump’s influence campaign in Greenland has so far only made most Greenlanders less inclined to be too close to the United States.” “Many Greenlandic politicians really want sovereignty plus free association. But they would rather have this agreement with Denmark (...) The latter could lead to an updated defense and security agreement with the United States,” the IISS researcher concludes. |