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Why Greenland Is of Growing Strategic Significance

Donald Trump seems more insistent than ever on controlling Greenland, but regardless of his controversial intentions, the island is of real strategic importance

Google Earth As we’ve explored in the past, the current relationship dates back to the early years of the Cold War, driven by the standoff between the United States and the Soviet Union and the enduring military significance of Greenland. Public domain No nuclear detonations resulted, but the surrounding area was nonetheless covered with radioactive materials, while burning fuel and explosives melted the ice sheet, meaning that significant quantities of debris fell to the ocean floor. If anything, the strategic importance of the Arctic region as a whole has the potential to be a good deal greater than it was during the decades of superpower standoff, driven by climate change opening up new shipping routes as well as providing access to natural resources that were previously inaccessible, or at least much harder to exploit.

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