Trump’s Greenland plans unlawful, but not out of question

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The military don’t start wars. Politicians do.

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History is littered with proof of that. Old men, with political power, start a war, and young men with no power are sent to fight them. It’s an infinite cycle.

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So, does Donald Trump, the oldest-ever president of the United States and now in his 80th year, really plan to wage war on Greenland, an ally of America and the West? He says he can and will.

Here are some of things Trump has said. They are direct quotes.

– “We are going to do something on Greenland whether they like it or not.”
– “I would like to make a deal the easy way, but if we don’t do it the easy way we’re going to do it the hard way.”
– “One way or the other, we’re going to have Greenland.”
– “If we don’t (take over), Russia or China will take over Greenland. And we’re not going to have Russia or China as a neighbor.”

Trump has a very loose acquaintance with truth, so all of this could be fake news, to use the president’s preferred put-down. But it isn’t just Trump who has said these things. His White Office has issued this official statement: “The president and his team are discussing a range of options to pursue this important foreign policy goal, and of course, utilising the U.S. military is always an option at the commander-in-chief’s disposal.”

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‘Greenland should be part of the U.S.’

And Trump’s Gollum-like Homeland Security Advisor, Stephen Miller, has been even more direct. Speaking to CNN a few days ago, Miller said that “the formal position of the U.S. government that Greenland should be part of the U.S.” And, on whether that might lead to war, Miller said: “Nobody’s going to fight the U.S. over the future of Greenland.”

The Europeans beg to differ. Seven of them issued an extraordinary joint statement last week, saying “Greenland belongs to its people. It is for Denmark and Greenland, and them only, to decide on matters concerning Denmark and Greenland.” Denmark, a longtime U.S. military ally, itself said it is “ready to defend” Greenland.

The country’s Defence Committee chair added that Trump’s stated goals “means war” and that Danish troops “would fight back.” Germany, for its part, has sent a warship to the area. And some European leaders are speaking openly of military confrontation, shutting down U.S. military bases in Europe, and cutting off trade.

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Trump’s manifest against the rules

It is worrying, of course. More significantly, however, Trump’s manifest destiny madness is against the rules and against common sense. Two reasons — one well-known, the other not so much.

One, the NATO treaty, article five. The U.S. and Denmark are parties to it.

That provision reads: “The Parties agree that an armed attack against one or more of them in Europe or North America shall be considered an attack against them all.” If a member state is attacked — as the US was in the Sept. 11, 2001 terror attacks — then NATO will “assist the Party or Parties so attacked by taking forthwith, individually and in concert with the other Parties, such action as it deems necessary, including the use of armed force.”

“Including the use of armed force.” So, there will be conflict between NATO states — and it will mean the end of the military alliance itself. Both are inevitable if Trump makes good on his threats against a longtime friend of his country. Denmark, in fact, has arguably been a more reliable American ally than Canada: it has sent troops to fight alongside America in every recent conflict: Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, and the anti-ISIS coalition.

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The NATO treaty creates the most successful military alliance in history. America using force to seize Greenland would end NATO, and likely lead to world war.

Two, the 1951 Greenland Defence Agreement.

Under that agreement, the United States already possesses unprecedented military to access to Greenland. The agreement gives the U.S. the power to “construct, install, maintain, and operate” military bases in Greenland, to “house personnel” and to “control landings, takeoffs, anchorages, moorings, movements, and operation of ships, aircraft, and waterborne craft.”

That’s not all: the Americans already have a military base at Pittufik in Greenland, right now. It mainly tracks missiles aimed at North America. The Americans don’t have many troops there — somewhere between 150 and 650, according to estimates — but they have the power to add many more.

Bottom line? Trump’s stated plan is completely unlawful and totally unnecessary. It will lead to a world that is unsafe and unstable. That much is clear.

So who is going to change his mind?

The answer to that question remains very unclear.

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