Richard Fontaine gives a point by point response to Trump's Greenland arguments

"Most foreign policy issues are difficult and complicated. Greenland isn’t one of them. Let’s have a look at seven points:


1. The U.S. needs Greenland for its own defense - Golden Dome, radars, basing. 

▶️ The United States can do virtually anything it'd like in Greenland, security-wise, without taking possession of it. The 1951 Greenland Defense Agreement, which was renewed in 2004, allows the United States to build bases there, station troops, and more. 


2. Greenland is about to fall into the hands of Russia and China, and the U.S. can’t let that happen.

▶️ The U.S. once had 10,000 U.S. troops in Greenland; now there are around 200. If there is an imminent threat of Chinese or Russian takeover (there isn’t), perhaps start by increasing that number? 


3. Russian and Chinese ships are swarming Greenland and the Danes can’t fend them off.

▶️ If Russian and Chinese ships are really menacing the island, the U.S. Navy could sail around it right now en masse. It isn’t. 


4. The U.S. needs to own Greenland because "you don't defend leases." Even if Denmark allows full access, there’s a difference between owning and renting.

▶️ This is the No One Washes a Rental Car theory of international relations. In reality, the United States is committed to defending many allies whose territory it does not own. Trump himself defended Israel just last year. The whole point of alliances is mutual defense of one another's territory. That doesn't require seizing it. 


5. The Danes are bad allies, so they should hand over Greenland.

▶️ Denmark has been a model ally. Not so long ago, Danes fought for America’s defense rather than the other way around. Among 40-plus allies and partners in Afghanistan, Denmark lost the most soldiers as a percentage of its population. Our allies defended the U.S., which, by the way, none of them owns. 


6. This is the new Manifest Destiny. We’re an expansionist, frontier people. Greenland should, one way or the other, join the ever-growing Republic. 

▶️ The post-1945 order is predicated a prohibition against conquest. Countries don’t acquire the territory of another without their consent. Iraq doesn’t get Kuwait, Russia can’t have Ukraine, Canada won’t be the 51st state, and the U.S. doesn’t compel Greenland to join. We’ve seen a world before in which conquest abounds. It’s the law of the jungle.


7. This isn’t real, just some fun administration trolling of the ever-nervous Europeans.


▶️ It is at a minimum a major distraction from real issues the transatlantic allies should focus on: Russia, Ukraine, Iran, China. Prodding allies to distrust our word and intentions does not amount to good policy. 


Most foreign policy issues are difficult and complicated. Greenland isn’t one of them. The sooner this manufactured crisis fades, the better."


Richard Fontaine, CEO of the Center for a New American Security. Former State Dept, NSC, SFRC, SASC, and advisor to Sen. John McCain.

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