A few days after the US military ousted Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro from power, US President Donald Trump has issued further statements regarding the Danish island of Greenland.
The American president has repeatedly said that the US needs Greenland to be part of it and has not even ruled out the possibility of taking this island by force.
But why Greenland? The analytical site that studies and monitors geopolitical developments has provided a clearer answer to this question.
Because Moscow has placed almost all of its strategic military assets on the Kola Peninsula, near Finland. That's where Russia's long-range ballistic missile (ICBM) silos, submarine bases, and strategic bombers are located.
If you look at the flight path of these missiles towards most of the continental United States, they pass over Greenland. So Greenland is the main theater where any strategic exchange between Washington and Moscow is contested.
To intercept a ballistic missile, the best spot is at its apogee, at the top of its trajectory. The shortest path for an interceptor to reach this point passes right over Greenland. That's why the Trump administration considers the country so important to national security.
Another important development is the opening of the Northern Passage through the Arctic. Soon, Chinese cargo ships will be able to sail through this corridor to Rotterdam, bypassing Suez and the Suezmax ship size restrictions. This will significantly accelerate trade between China and the EU. At the same time, Chinese submarines could operate under the Arctic to the North Atlantic, if they do not already do so.
For this reason, the northeast coast of Greenland has two critical objectives for US national security, surveillance of Russian missiles and control of the new Arctic shipping route.
Finally, it is important to understand that the Mercator global map does not accurately reflect the real position of countries. Anyone who thinks there are other “secret reasons” for Trump’s interest in Greenland simply does not understand global strategy.
