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Well, that author is an idiot.

My take?

First off, Denmark heavily subsidizes Greenland, and supplies a minimal defense.* Self-supported, unless Greenland really ramps up energy exports, it’s standard of living would decrease dramatically as an independent country. Their PM knows this, so he is just spouting for some of the locals.

*Denmark is stepping up the defense end a bit, but, really, Greenland is quite vulnerable without the US to defend it. It’s just way too big, and Denmark too small. Connected to Denmark, yes, NATO is theoretically a backup, but, in particular in terms of navies, Europe in general is VERY badly stretched at this time.

On its own, the defense situation for Greenland is even worse. It would HAVE to apply for membership to NATO, and Trump could play hardball.

So far, what we have heard from Greenlanders and the Danes indicates a tremendous amount of “normalcy bias” and inability to think “outside the box”. At the same time, Trump’s statement about the importance of Greenland to US defense / security gives a not much recognized but VERY crucial insight as to what Trump really thinks of Pooty, not what Trump’s political opponents (and some supporters) tell you to think about what Trump thinks of Pooty. Trump is right too... Meanwhile, the same sort of thinking that left Europe unable to deter Pooty (they even laughed at Trump telling them they darn well needed to beef up their defenses) fogs the minds of the gov’ts of Denmark and Greenland, when it comes to Greenland.

I mean, look. In a nice world, I’d be all for Greenland being independent, and then I guess it’d be up to them whether they want to be poor or not, although they might want to consider if they have some responsibility to sell needed resources to the rest of humanity. Nobody minds much if Greenland makes some money doing so. 🙂

But... That’s not realistic. It is NOT a nice world. Not one damn bit. Among major military powers, the US has been about as benevolent as it gets, the last few generations, and we are the country that nuked Japan and helped firebomb Dresden (at the top of the list of “tough” things the US has done.) But at least we’ve not murdered millions of our own for political purposes, and we’ve not done much of the “conquer and brutally rule for generations” bit, for the last several decades.

Think clearly and realistically: In a too often nasty world, what is Greenland’s least bad choice?