World leaders surely breathed a sigh of relief late this week when President Donald Trump said the United States wouldn’t have to “take” Greenland after all, having been granted permission to establish more military bases instead.
Greenland, being mostly covered in ice, might not seem like an obvious target for Trump, other than its relative proximity to the U.S. on a map. He’s said controlling the Danish territory, which is 90 percent Inuit and a model of Indigenous self-governance, is essential for national security. But even though the president has insisted that climate change is a “hoax,” security experts said, warming temperatures have actually made the island nation more desirable from a geopolitical standpoint.
Melting ice sheets open up land and sea that were previously inaccessible, presenting new — albeit dangerous — opportunities. (Never mind that as Greenland’s meltwater flows into the ocean, it could raise sea levels by up to 10.6 inches by the end of this century.)
“The fact that it’s more access... Read more
