For the strongest American defense – and Israel’s – don’t pursue Greenland
The worst thing the United States could do right now, for itself and staunch allies like Israel, is to pursue Greenland.
That’s not because Greenland lacks strategic value. The Arctic is a major geopolitical theater in which Greenland anchors missile early-warning systems and protects NATO’s northern flank. American military planners have understood Greenland’s importance since World War II. None of this is in dispute.
What is in dispute is the idea America needs to own Greenland to benefit from it.
Since 1951, the United States and Denmark have been parties to a defense agreement that already gives Washington broad rights to operate militarily on the island. Under that pact, the US maintains Pituffik Space Base, among the most strategically important installations in the Arctic.
The agreement allows the United States to construct, operate and improve military facilities in designated defense areas, to station personnel, and to control military movements within those zones. At the same time, the treaty recognizes Danish sovereignty and requires respect for Danish and Greenlandic authorities.
In other words, the legal framework is already in place. The authority, access and infrastructure exist. The system works.
Some context about where I’m coming from: I’m a liberal on social policy and a liberal on economic policy. But on national security, I’ve always been a Scoop Jackson-John McCain internationalist. I’m a former Democratic counsel to the US House and Senate who believes in American power and a strong military. Heck, I want the United States to finish the job to free Iran.
In other words, I am no knee-jerk partisan critic. I have supported President Trump when he has been right — in supporting Israel, confronting Iran, and taking on Antisemitism when too many others would not. After a lifetime as a Democratic activist, I left the party last year because it passed the tipping point of anti-Israel radicalism.
I don’t criticize Trump because he’s Trump. I criticize him when he’s wrong. On Greenland, he is profoundly wrong.
His push for Greenland isn’t bold leadership. It’s strategic malpractice.
Acquiring Greenland would add nothing to American security. What it would do is destroy NATO and embolden America’s enemies.
If America can take Greenland, why can’t Russia take Ukraine, and why would Russia stop there? Why not keep pushing into Eastern Europe? We would be validating the worldview of Vladimir Putin to justify his invasion and his imperial ambitions.
The signal to Beijing would be just as dangerous.
If great powers can absorb territory they deem strategically essential, what’s to stop China from seizing Taiwan? What’s to prevent President Xi from declaring: This is our Greenland. This is our sphere.
Putin and Xi don’t need to defeat NATO in battle. They need America to defeat it. Every Trump insult to an ally, every discarded treaty, and every impulsive threat corrodes trust. And once trust erodes, deterrence erodes with it.
Don’t get me wrong: As a passionate Zionist, I have held several European nations in contempt since October 7, 2023 for their equivocation and cowardice in refusing to support Israel’s right to defend itself. But a disappointing Europe is still better than a shattered one replaced by the rehanging of the Iron Curtain.
The consequences would be disastrous for Israel. A fractured West means less coordinated pressure on Iran’s nuclear program, more Russian diplomatic cover for Tehran at the United Nations, more Chinese economic lifelines to Israel’s enemies, and more weapons flowing to Hezbollah and Hamas.
In a collapsed world order in which the United States has no European allies upon which to exercise American leverage, Antisemitism would become policy, Holocaust distortion would spread, Jewish communities would lose protection, and Israel could become a bargaining chip in superpower deals.
Greenland already contributes to American security. Denmark already stands with us. NATO already gives us unmatched collective strength.
Moscow is watching. Beijing is watching. Tehran is watching. They all long for the schism between the United States and NATO that an American acquisition of NATO would make permanent.
The greatest threat to American defense right now isn’t a lack of bases or weapons or technology.
It’s the lack of Presidential judgment over Greenland.
