Greenland Bases Forever

American Thinker ^ | 20 Sep, 2026 | Clarice Feldman

[MtnClimber]

Since at least 2019, Trump has publicly spoken out about the need to protect the Arctic corridor by replacing the 1951 Treaty. And he was reviled unfairly for the effort.

This week the U.S. entered into an agreement with both Denmark and Greenland which protects U.S. sovereignty, deters Russian and Chinese aggression, circles an increasingly fey and unreliable Canada with U.S. states and bases, and makes the U.S. exit from a sclerotic NATO more possible, if not more likely.

First, a little background. Contrary to the press and jokesters who ridiculed President Trump’s offer to buy Greenland, a territory of Denmark with about 56,000 inhabitants, we have long known its strategic importance. In 1951, we entered into an agreement with Denmark allowing us to establish a base at Thule. Article XIV of that Treaty states that “This Agreement, being in implementation of the North Atlantic Treaty, shall remain in effect for the duration of the North Atlantic Treaty.” If we left NATO or it otherwise ceased to exist, we had no clear right to maintain defenses there. Nor did we have exclusive rights to ban foreign investments which posed security threats to us. In time, the treaty was inadequate to protect our interests, as Russia now had ICBMs and Russian nuclear submarines were navigating Arctic waters. Moreover, the small population of Greenland was talking about independence, and Russian and Chinese governments were not averse to bribing them substantially in exchange for operating rights there. Our agreement was with Denmark, and it’s unclear it could bind an independent Greenland.

It could even mean an independent Greenland strongly under Chinese influence might be on the other side of the negotiating table.

In sum, for a number of reasons, that dated Cold War-era treaty needed to be supplanted by something better,

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TOPICS: Society
KEYWORDS: 1951; 2019; greenland; r; trump

[redinIllinois]

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[redinIllinois]

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[pierrem15]

My understanding is that the military agreement is permanent and binds even an independent Greenland government. In addition, the US needs only to inform Denmark and Greenland of base arrangements in Greenland (not ask permission), and has a veto over foreign investment in Greenland.

This effectively turns Greenland into an American protectorate. If the US went further and pushed for rights of extra-territoriality for its nationals and setup an independent civil administration for them, it would be almost identical to the French protectorate over Morocco.

[neverevergiveup]

I just want to Visit Cuba.

Maybe you can have some cake with Hyman Roth.

[Fury]

Shhh. You harsh the narrative some posters are trying to push.

[Albion Wilde]

bump

[The Duke]

"We’ve had military access to Greenland for decades, and in fact had over 50 installations at peak."

Well, we used to have a "DEW Line", too, but that's ancient history.

I was about to say something similar about OTH radars, but it looks like those are getting taken out of mothballs.