Recently Trump made splashes across Denmark, Europe and Broader world with his desire to acquire Greenland for the US. Many dismissed these claims as Trump's frivolity, but he actually has a point.
Greenland is very large, and its population is very small, too small to effectively control the island themselves. Significant parts of the island are completely uninhabited. All population is concentrated in a few small towns. On one hand these people deserve to have a say in their future and their fate should not be decided by the US and Denmark. However, that does not mean they should have a say over the whole island, uninhabited areas should be offered to the US, EU, Norway, Canada, UK and EU as a whole.
Denmark has no resources to effectively control, defend and use the island. Denmark is a very small country, and its population is only about 5 million. Already Americans provide security on the island with their two military bases. However more needs to be done to make sure island is really secure and Russia, China or stateless terrorists cannot make use of this near uncontrolled land. The US and many others can and willing to do more, but why should they do the hard lifting for Denmark exclusive benefit?
Denmark's biggest interest in the island is the potential mineral wealth underneath it. Even if that is the case Denmark has no means to extract it on their own. The US likely knows more and has equipment and expertise to mine the island profitably. However, they do not want to do it solely for Denmark's benefit. The standstill benefits no one and prevents humanity as a whole from benefiting from potential mineral wealth of this island. I am not saying that Denmark should not be compensated for value of the island. An arrangement that Denmark gets certain percentage of profits from all resource mining on the island would be appropriate. That will benefit Denmark a lot more than island they do not know what to do with.
US should not be the only country to control Greenland. Norway once had a settlement on the island until Denmark forced them to leave. There are people who are willing and capable of developing the island, but Danes just stubbornly hog it all for themselves. Norwegian and other claims and interests to the island should be considered. EU opposes Trump because they will not get anything if Trump and the US gets all the island for themselves. However, island is large, and EU and the US can easily split it between themselves. Norway too should get its settlement back. UK, Canada and Netherlands should be offered a piece if they wish to stake personal claim. Final divisions can be something like 35% for the US, 10% for Canada, 15% for natives under Danish sovereignty, 10% to UK, 10 to Norway% and 30% for EU as a whole.
Greenland's situation provides great opportunity for humanity to exploit the island for the benefit of everyone. Opportunity too great for Denmark to just sit on it and do nothing about it. Because of that a workable solution that considers everyone's interests and benefits everyone should be negotiated, agreed on and then implemented. Hopefully we will see this solution soon enough. What I outlined in this article can be basis for such solution.
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