Greenland Security Deal Success

Austin Bay on Sep 23, 2026

So the Great Destructive Intra-NATO War Over Greenland Sovereignty leftish European and American media swore for over a year that President Donald Trump's aggressive January 2025 rhetoric would ignite has ...

... ultimately produced a very good security deal for all three primary parties (Greenland, the U.S., Denmark). NATO and -- for that matter -- every nation on Earth which relies on American military and economic strength for strategic stability will benefit as well.

That phrase in the previous sentence beginning with "every nation" covers a lot of planetary surface. From Japan and South Korea through Southeast Asia to Australia. The Pacific archipelagos. North America and South America. The Middle East. Let's include the subcontinent. U.S. diplomatic efforts halted the last Indo-Pakistani war. Free Europe -- from Iceland to Poland. North Africa. Yes, Africa's fragments are in misery. But all nations benefit from safe international maritime trade, and since 1945 the U.S. Navy has been the primary global champion promoting free and safe navigation.

I've said the following many times since the end of the Cold War: No matter the regional, bilateral or internal instability, the main aim of American diplomatic, economic and military power is to promote stability in 70% of the world's inhabited landmass. (Exempt Russia and China.)

On Sept. 22 at the U.N. in New York City, senior U.S., Denmark and Greenland representatives signed a defense and cooperation deal that essentially makes the 1951 U.S.-Denmark Greenland defense agreement permanent. What worked during World War II and the Cold War will guide Greenland's defense in perpetuity. The deal does add one additional 21st-century feature: the U.S. can deny countries the ability to make "sensitive investments" in Greenland. Translation: Washington is going to make sure 21st-century adversaries can't buy or steal Greenland's rare earths and valuable minerals.

1951 wasn't World War II. It was the Korean War and the Cold War. The U.S. was defending the island against Soviet subs and saboteurs, not Nazi subs and saboteurs.

The U.S. has been Greenland's defender since April 1940, when Nazi Germany invaded and occupied Denmark. In 1941, Danish diplomats and Greenland authorities essentially made Greenland an American protectorate. When the U.S. entered World War II, America established air and sea bases on the island. During the conflict, there were often more American military personnel on the island than there were native Greenlanders.

In January 2025, after President-elect Trump argued (Jan. 7) that the U.S. should buy Greenland and perhaps reacquire the Panama Canal, I wrote a column making that specific historical point. Uncle Sam had been defending Greenland for over eight decades.

In 2026, Denmark still can't defend the island. Copenhagen knows Danes and Greenlanders cannot defend the huge Arctic island against two adversaries that desire it: Vladimir Putin's Russia and Communist China.

China is an aspiring Arctic power. Beijing, being cannier than Moscow, wouldn't take Greenland with commandos. Chinese intel operatives disguised as investors would do it with cash -- buying politicians and political support in order to acquire mineral leases, fishing rights and even basing rights.

Beijing uses those techniques throughout the world, but cash, luxuries and beautiful women have been particularly effective in gaining access to minerals and ports in the small islands of the South and Western Pacific.

Look at the map. Greenland is a huge island. Its exclusive economic zone extends into the Arctic Ocean (think fish, minerals, perhaps oil). It is also one of three land areas that serve as primary positions for defending the North American continent from strategic attacks launched in the Northern Hemisphere.

The other two: Alaska and Hawaii. Think of Alaska as Greenland's polar bookend -- though its Aleutian Islands run all the way to Asia. Hawaii is small but in a perfect position for controlling and defending the central and South Pacific.

Ensuring the U.S. can use Greenland for surveillance, for anti-submarine operations and anti-air and anti-space weapons defense makes it much harder for an adversary to threaten the U.S. and Canada with nuclear attack.

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said as much after the deal was announced. Rubio wrote via his X account, "Greenland will forever be part of the strategic defense area of North America and exclude any adversary from it and the surrounding area."

Bottom line: Another major success for Trump administration Transactional Diplomacy Operations.

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To find out more about Austin Bay and read features by other Creators writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate webpage at www.creators.com.

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