The United States needs access to Greenland to protect American interests, according to Victor Davis Hanson, a senior fellow at the Hoover Institution.
The visit last week by Vice President JD Vance, shows the need for an American presence in the area, Hanson told Newsmax. President Trump has raised this concern many times as well.
“So there has to be some kind of compromise where we have access to protect the West from its enemies. But I don't think anybody wants to take it over and colonize it as they've accused us of,” Hanson said.
Greenland’s proximity to the United States logically leads to the notion that an American presence makes sense, Hanson said, especially from a national security standpoint.
“It's a North American territory. So China and Russia are active in its airspace and its maritime zones and we need somebody to keep them out and keep it Western. And he (Trump) says that requires a greater presence than we have.”
“I mean, it's North America. It's closer to New York than it is to Denmark. Denmark is always lecturing everybody on postmodern anti-colonialism. But it's a colonial relic,” Hanson continued.
Despite leftist criticism, JD and First Lady Usha Vance visited Greenland anyway. They were joined by National Security Adviser Mike Waltz, Energy Secretary Chris Wright, and Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT) for a tour of Pituffik Space Base.
The vice president spoke to members of the military and discussed the island’s importance to the U.S. and its national security implications.
“I think a lot of Americans wonder, ‘Well, why does Greenland matter so much? Why does the mission of this base matter so much to the American people? And I learned a lot about that today myself. Of course, you can read about it in a book, but I saw it up close and personal. And if, God forbid … if a missile was from an enemy country or an enemy submarine into the United States, it is the people here before us who would give notice to our brave men and women farther south in the United States to let people know what was coming, and God willing, to try to shoot it down and prepare for it,” Vance said.
We know that Russia and China and other nations are taking an extraordinary interest in Arctic passageways, Arctic naval routes, and, indeed, in the minerals of the Arctic territories. We need to ensure America is leading in the Arctic,” Vance added.
Even though the vice president maintained that Greenlanders will maintain their “self-determination,” “[W]e hope that they choose to partner with the United States because we’re the only nation on Earth that will respect their sovereignty and respect their security because their security is very much our security,” Vance stated.
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