Donald Trump has made it increasingly clear that he is serious about his intention to acquire Greenland for the US, but according to a new analysis from The Telegraph, a "full-scale invasion" of the island territory could be averted by giving the president something different as a victory.
In a piece published Tuesday, David Blair, the chief foreign affairs correspondent for The Telegraph, floated the possibility of converting the US military bases already in operation in Greenland to "sovereign base areas." These sorts of areas, Blair explained, would "legally speaking" be considered American territory, despite existing on an island claimed as an autonomous territory by Denmark. This could give Trump something to tout as a victory in his pursuit of Greenland, while avoiding any disastrous conflict with a NATO ally, and help assuage the president's stated national security concerns.
Blair used an example of a prominent British sovereign base area to get the idea across.
"Cyprus has hosted British military bases throughout its 65-year history as an independent state," he explained. "Today, RAF Akrotiri on the southern coast serves as Britain’s busiest overseas base, while GCHQ has a vital listening post in the eastern Dhekelia area. What makes these facilities different is that both are located on British sovereign territory. The Union Flag flies over Akrotiri and Dhekelia, whose 98 square miles – or 3 per cent of the island of Cyprus – are, legally speaking, just as British as Cornwall or Sussex."
Michael Clarke, a visiting professor at the Department of War Studies at King’s College London, agreed that the idea could be plausible.
“It might be a way of giving Trump the sort of victory that he wants, so it has a plausibility,” Clarke said.
Last month, Marc Jacobsen, an associate professor at the Royal Danish Defence College and an Arctic security expert, floated a similar possibility for appeasing Trump with an alternate sort of "victory." While the US currently has complete access to the waters around Greenland and has various bases in operation there, Jacobsen suggested that an updated defense agreement between the US, Greenland and Denmark could satisfy Trump and stand as something he could boast about.
“It might not be significantly different from the one already in place, but it could provide Trump with a visible outcome, which he could present as a victory,” Jacobsen explained.