Sometimes resource hunting can even break big alliances like the NATO.
The title might as well sound bizarre and strange to you, but let me get to the roots of this.
NATO has officially seen probably one of its least favourite eras with the incumbent President Trump’s second arrival into the White House. The president certainly loves to mess around and collect control over places for strategic reasons like he is in an episode of Pokemon.
When one thinks of Greenland, they remember glaciers; as an area with very little population. Geopolitically speaking, Greenland is a key strategic checkpoint in the Arctic region. It stands right between Europe and North America acting as a bridge for contact and intelligence. In a map, Greenland may appear farther up to the north, but in reality, the fastest air route between these two continents, especially for countries like Russia and USA, is the one that passes through Greenland skies. Recently in the NATO summit held in Ankara, Mr. Trump spoke on how crucial it was for Greenland to be owned by the USA rather than the Kingdom of Denmark. The President also blamed Denmark for failing at investing and developing Greenland’s defence as Russia and China are actively seeking influence in the area.
What could be the reason behind these decisions? One may ask.
Firstly, glaciers are melting. The Arctic ocean, with more than half of its area covered by ice during winter and slightly less than half during summers, stands as one of the only oceans other than the Pacific that borders both the United States as well as Russia. These glaciers act as a reflector to extreme heat and UV rays that fall on the surface of Earth as a little refrigerator of her own. However, the temperatures are rising rapidly since the past decade, more than enough to melt the reflecting glaciers significantly leading to the rise of sea levels. But, this also means something else…
When glaciers melt, the ocean becomes extremely accessible to travel in. This means that trade routes and military activities will automatically increase in the region. This labels Greenland as a region in very high demand due to its geography. Additionally, Greenland has many deposits of Copper, Diamond, Nickel, Gold, Tungsten and other Rare Earth minerals. Its rocks date back to more than 3.8 Billion years back from the present. Melting glaciers give a pathway to extract these minerals. This summarizes it-
Whichever country owns Greenland will win a fortune that had been concealed for ages.
Most importantly, in terms of military, Greenland has always been welcome to USA owned military bases. At present, however, the only existing base is the Pituffik Space Base, which was formerly called the Thule Air Base, already getting short on staff.
According to agreements between Denmark and the USA (1951 and 2004), no additional military expansion can be held without the permit from Denmark. In the Ankara summit, Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederisken strongly retaliated and claimed that Greenland is ‘not for sale’. Even Greenland’s Prime Minister Jens-Fredrik Nielsen rejected USA’s notion of control over the territory as a ‘fantasy’.
If you have read till now, congratulations! Why?
Because you have reached the most confusing part of this story.
It sounds totally contradictory and rightfully so. The weirdest part of this story is that Denmark purchased USA-made weapons to install inside Greenland, in order to protect itself from any threats which by all means is only from the United States, the only state that tried buying this island multiple times in the past and still failed against a ‘small’ Denmark.
Talk about paying the wolf to guard the sheep. A paradox indeed.
Denmark has purchased the P-8 Poseidon along with the MQ-4C Triton, highly advanced maritime patrolling and intelligence gathering aircrafts, both hailing from the US Defense market. On the other hand, Trump’s former advisor claimed that all this act was done because Mr. Trump wanted to ‘drive people crazy.’ Yes, the same man who invented his own country, ‘The Islamic Republic of Japan’ sparking multiple memes from the actual Japan which, in contrast, exists on the globe.
To sum it all up, the USA has always and only had interest in resource-rich and strategic locations. Not as an ally; but as an owner. NATO was run in the invisible ultra-leadership of the USA. At present, NATO is proving it wrong and is pressing down the ‘leader’ as just another member like everyone else by keeping it accountable to its actions. Europe even ended up protecting the island from USA-acquisition threats. Well maybe, the line between protecting and possessing a region becomes surprisingly thin when the geography is too valuable for America to ignore. Whether it is the truth or a hoax to drive people crazy is a totally different debate altogether. However, NATO and the issue regarding Greenland stands as a testament to the reducing power of the once-Superpower nation USA in the world of multipolar powers.
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