Greenland's strategic significance ignites US security interests
Greenland is important for the United States' national security, said future US National Security Advisor Mike Waltz on Thursday. Keith Kellogg, who is set to become the US special envoy for Ukraine and Russia, noted that Washington has long sought to expand its presence in the Arctic.
"You have Russia that is trying to become king of the Arctic, with 60-plus ice breakers, some of them nuclear power," Waltz said in an interview with Fox News, adding that the US significantly lags behind in this regard. Moreover, American icebreakers are managed by the US Coast Guard, not the Department of Defense.
Waltz also emphasized that Greenland is important from the perspective of resources. "This is about critical minerals. This is about natural resources. This is about, as the polar ice caps pullback, the Chinese are now cranking out ice breakers and pushing up there as well. So it's oil and gas. It's our national security," stressed Trump's advisor.
Speaking on Fox News, retired General Kellogg emphasized that discussions about Greenland potentially belonging to the United States have historical roots. He pointed out that President Andrew Johnson attempted to purchase the island during his term from 1865 to 1869, and later, at the end of World War II, President Harry Truman offered $100 million for it. Kellogg noted that this longstanding idea has recently resurfaced.
On Tuesday, Trump said that the United States needs Greenland "for its national security". He added that he does not rule out the use of force to achieve this goal, which met with a strong reaction from the EU.
Greenland has attracted international attention due to its strategic location in the Arctic. Its area can be used to track missiles launched towards the United States, for example, by Russia. In the northwestern part of the island, the United States has the Pituffik space base, which, in the past, under the ancient name Thule, served the US Air Force. With climate change and melting glaciers, Greenland’s economic significance is increasing due to deposits of oil, natural gas, and rare earth metals.
