New Delhi [India], January 21 (ANI): There is no practical military, diplomatic or strategic requirement for the United States to take Greenland and there are downsides for its alliance and for America itself, former US Army Officer and Foreign Policy Expert Daniel L Davis has said.
In an interview with ANI, Daniel Davis said that there is no justification for US President Donald Trump’s claims over Greenland.
Answering a query over Trump’s plans to take Greenland, which has irked European allies of the United States, Daniel Davis said it is a “really challenging question, a big problem, a problem that doesn’t need to exist”.
“It is very unclear what is driving President Trump. I mean, we just have to, first of all, just look at what’s being claimed and the justification that he’s playing, and then look at that on the ground and see if it’s valid or not. And when you do that, you’ll see there is no substance at all for what he’s claiming. Let’s just look at a few,” he said.
“First of all, he said, well, ‘I’m not going to have China or Russia be a partner, a neighbor in our hemisphere’. He said, ‘we’re not going to do that’. And he said, ‘if we don’t take Greenland, Russia or China will take over Greenland’. There is no military capacity for either of these countries to do that, even Russia, as close as it is geographically and on the map, etc. But they would not even have the interest in doing so, much less the capacity, because they already have a massive Arctic presence. So they don’t need to take over Greenland to have access into the Arctic. They don’t have the ability to project power that far, on the oceans to get even to Greenland and then to try and do anything with it…”
“…China, even less so because they don’t have an Arctic presence with their border. So they would have to traverse literally almost halfway around the globe to get there just period. I mean, just in terms of the route itself, but to be able to project power that far, that’s enough to even risk and put it, the violent possibility of, of taking over Greenland is just, it’s, it’s nonsensical. It’s laughable,” he added.
Davis noted that China would have to pass through Taiwan, South Korea, Japan and other places to get to Greenland, and the US has its bases in the region.
“Consider that the 100 miles across the Taiwan Strait, many commentators are saying that would be a road too hard to go, that China probably couldn’t successfully navigate that. I don’t agree with that term. I think they could do it, but it would come at great cost. That’s 100 miles where all of their naval bases are. To get to Greenland, they would have to traverse all the way around in one route. They would have to pass our naval bases in South Korea, pass our naval bases in Japan, where obviously there’s allied powers there, and then traverse all the way around past Alaska, then to traverse the Arctic to even get to Greenland,” he said.
“Obviously, we would be able to just decimate that thousands of miles before they ever got close. So that’s nonsensical. The other direction is almost as bad. It’s even longer. They just do not have the capacity to project power that far. So there is no possibility of that. That’s the most important thing to understand right off the bat,” he added.
Davis, who retired as a Lieutenant Colonel after 21 years of service and is a noted Podcaster, referred to Article 5 of North Atlantic Treaty which speaks of collective defence in case of an attack.
“Then there’s the issue of if that theoretically possible, taking over Greenland doesn’t mitigate that threat. It doesn’t do anything to help it because we already have Article 5 provisions for it. Trump has said, ‘well, Denmark can’t protect Greenland’. Well, no kidding. They can’t. Just like Lithuania can’t defend itself by itself against the Russian invasion. They’re a small country. That’s why they have Article 5 agreements, and that’s why they were so interested in joining NATO, which is completely understandable because they realize they can’t. Well, those same protections apply to Greenland,” he said.
Article 5 of the North Atlantic Treaty states that an armed attack against one NATO member shall be considered an attack against them all.
Davis said that if Trump wants to expand military presence, he is free to do so without owning Greenland.
“I think it’s the 1951 agreement that the US signed that gives us the ability to expand our military bases in the event that we say, we have to have this because of potential for this Golden Dome, which Trump has cited, etc. There’s provisions for that. We can just expand our military base, and there’s reasons to think that Greenland and Denmark would both be amenable to that. They have an agreement to do so,” he said.
“But to suggest that you have to own Greenland in order to do that is ridiculous and just completely contrary to obvious common sense. So any way you want to look at this, I don’t see any practical military diplomatic or strategic requirement to take Greenland – I see all downsides for the alliance and for the America itself,” he added.
Davis said that the US taking Greenland by force could give justification to Russia for its “annexation of Crimea”.
“That if you’re doing something like this and seizing another country by force and actually have legislation in your parliament that you’re going to potentially annex it, you don’t have to be very smart to say, well, that’s exactly what Russia did. They annexed Crimea. They have annexed these four provinces in Crimea. And we’re saying that’s against international law. You can’t do that, et cetera. And then, of course, we’re looking over to China, Taiwan, as you just mentioned,” he said.
“There were many commentators and members of the Congress in the US that brashly went on television and boldly proclaimed there is no rule of law. There is only the rule of the jungle, and we’re the lion. And what that signals to everyone out there is, okay, there is no more rule of law, so don’t even worry about it. China, don’t even worry about it with Taiwan. If you think you can militarily take it, that’s the only thing that matters. Russia, you’re fine if you can militarily take it, and you have already taken it. then I guess that’s the new standard. And then others who have maybe been restrained by the potential for, well, that’s not the international law, that’s not what, you know, the international relations and how we can get along with other people in a chaotic world,” he added.
Davis said might makes right is a wrong concept and could, at some point lead, to a global conflict which will be bad for humanity.
“Well, if that’s no longer the case, then a whole range of things become possible here and they’re all bad because now then you genuinely have might makes right. If you have the power to do something and your opponent doesn’t have the power to prevent you, take it. And that is a violent place for the world to go, and the countries that don’t have, and everybody who’s on the weaker side of that has every reason to fear. And that is a recipe, I’m just gonna be honest, for a global conflict at some point, and it’s bad for all of humanity,” he said.
Trump has in the past linked his administration’s desire to take Greenland with the proposed Golden Dome missile defence concept, projecting it as a national security requirement.
“The United States needs Greenland for the purpose of National Security. It is vital for the Golden Dome that we are building,” Trump wrote on Truth Social on January 14. “Nato becomes far more formidable and effective with Greenland in the hands of the UNITED STATES. Anything less than that is unacceptable.”
Trump has also announced a tariff plan targeting several key US allies over Greenland. Beginning February 1, imports from Denmark, Norway, Sweden, France, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands and Finland will face a 10 per cent duty. Trump has warned that if negotiations do not progress, the tariffs would rise to 25 per cent from June 1 and remain in effect until Washington secures control of Greenland.
Trump has repeatedly argued that Greenland’s geographic position makes it central to US defence planning, citing the existing US military footprint on the island.
The US already has a long-standing military presence in Greenland. Under a 1951 defence agreement with Denmark, Washington operates the Pituffik Space Base (formerly Thule Air Base) in northern Greenland, which supports missile warning and space surveillance, including the AN/FPS-132 radar system, feeding tracking inputs into wider US defence networks.
In another social media post, Trump stated: “The United States needs Greenland for National Security. It is vital for the Golden Dome we are building. NATO should lead the way for us to secure it. IF WE DON’T, RUSSIA OR CHINA WILL, AND THAT IS NOT GOING TO HAPPEN!”
Davis also said having a fool-proof integrated air and missile defense system in the form of Golden Dome for continental United States is a fantasy given “hypersonics and other technology”.
He said whatever one may envision technology-wise in the distant future as a shield, the missile technology will also advance beyond that. (ANI)