Greenland Purchase a Century too Late

By Henry Srebrnik, [Fredericton, NB] Daily Gleaner 

A component part of the Kingdom of Denmark, with a mostly Inuit population of 56,000, the island of Greenland doesn’t often make the news.

But “Kalaallit Nunaat,” its Inuit name in Kalaallisut or West Greenlandic, has suddenly captured the world’s attention, thanks to U.S. President Donald Trump, who earlier this month suggested that Washington buy the island from the Danes.

His idea was immediately ridiculed by the mainstream American media, always ready to mock Trump. They considered it outlandish, and some even thought he was trying to make it his personal property. 

It also angered Copenhagen. Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen called the notion “absurd.” Trump in turn canceled a trip to Denmark.

But was it really that foolish? This wasn’t just a personal whim on the part of Trump, nor was it as ridiculous as it appeared at first glance, because Greenland is of immense economic and geopolitical value.

Most of the world’s largest island is covered in ice, but as it continues to thaw due to global warming, its mineral and energy resources -- including iron ore, lead, copper, zinc, diamonds, gold, uranium and oil -- are becoming more accessible.

Rare earth elements such as terbium, dysprosium, neodymium and praseodymium are also found on Greenland. Many of these are an essential component of smartphones, computers and tablets, as well as many industrial, defence and energy applications, including wind turbines.

Since only a small fraction of this massive island has been properly explored, no one yet knows its full potential.

Greenland’s growing strategic value is linked to new North Atlantic shipping lanes, due to the melting polar ice cap. This is dramatically decreasing maritime travel times between North America and Eurasia, and the island lies astride these routes, which will become a new northwest passage.

The U.S. maintains its northernmost missile-warning, space surveillance and deepwater seaport at the Thule Air Base, which has operated since 1943 on the island.

To boot, other countries have also cast their eyes on Greenland. China proposed building airports and mining facilities there in 2018 but was rebuffed.

There are precedents for the United States acquiring territories from other countries. The 1803 Louisiana Purchase from France nearly doubled the size of the country.

In 1867 Alaska was purchased from tsarist Russia, and 50 years later the American Virgin Islands in the Caribbean were bought from the Danes.

Nor is Trump the first president to think of buying Greenland. Harry Truman offered $100 million for it in 1946. 

Nonetheless, this movement is destined to go nowhere. The days of buying territories and their populations are over.

Maybe Trump doesn’t realize it, but Greenland is virtually a sovereign entity. It was granted home rule in 1979, and today the Nuuk government is responsible for everything except foreign affairs and defence. (The island, unlike Denmark, is not in the EU.) 

Copenhagen couldn’t unilaterally sell the island to the United States even if it wanted to.

Indeed, the political establishment in Greenland has made natural resource extraction a central part of its plans to become economically self-sufficient, and ultimately politically independent, from Denmark.

Bottom line: it was a silly proposal mainly because, in an age of self-determination, it came a century too late.