The Absurd Greenland Obsession Won't Die

The president’s Greenland obsession is even more ridiculous because the U.S. in no way “needs” to control or own Greenland for the sake of our security or anyone else’s.

Trump was threatening to take over Greenland again in his recent interview with NBC News. He was asked if he would rule out the use of force in taking it over, and he said this:

I don’t rule it out. I don’t say I’m going to do it, but I don’t rule out anything. No, not there. We need Greenland very badly. Greenland is a very small amount of people, which we’ll take care of, and we’ll cherish them, and all of that. But we need that for international security. Do you know, we have Russian boats and we have Chinese boats, gun ships all over the place — aircraft carriers, gun ships — going up and down the coast of Greenland. We need that to be protected. Internationally we need it.

Trump’s refusal to rule out using force against our neighbor is despicable. Under the U.N. Charter, it is prohibited to use or threaten to use force against other countries. If there is one thing that every president should be able to rule out automatically, it is using force to seize control of a neighbor’s territory. It is out of the question, and the fact that Trump keeps floating it as a possibility is an outrage.

The president’s Greenland obsession is even more ridiculous because the U.S. in no way “needs” to control or own Greenland for the sake of our security or anyone else’s.