On Tuesday, Greenland’s Parliament voted to ban foreign and anonymous political donations. The move comes as President Donald Trump has indicated his interest in annexing the arctic island, refusing to rule out the use of military force to do so. In a news conference in January before taking office, Trump promised that he would “tariff Denmark at a very high level” if it did not give Greenland to the United States. Greenland is a semi-autonomous territory of Denmark, a NATO ally of the United States.
“Given the geopolitical interest in Greenland and the current situation — where representatives of an allied great power have expressed interest in acquiring and controlling Greenland — the country is particularly vulnerable to attempts to influence its elections and political decision-making processes,” the legislation reads.
While the majority of the Parliament’s legislators would prefer to gain independence from Denmark, the idea of leaving the Northern European country’s rule for the United States is a non-starter by comparison. A poll commissioned by Danish and Greenlander news outlets of the island’s residents found that 85 percent of respondents were opposed to such a move, while 9 percent were undecided and only 6 percent were in favor.
The United States controls the Pituffik Air Base on the Northwest coast of the island, which operates a Ballistic Missile Early Warning System to detect and track ICBMs bound for North America. The base is also the northernmost deepwater port in the U.S. military, allowing for the docking of large vessels and submarines. Greenland will likely be the site of increased global strategic interest going forward, as melting glaciers on the island will open sea lanes for military and commercial purposes, and will also make underlying mineral wealth more readily available for mining.
Whatever grievances Greenlanders may have with its current arrangements under Danish rule, Greenland’s Prime Minister Mute B. Egede is focusing on gathering support in the face of Trump’s threats of aggression, calling for new elections on March 11th. “We are in the midst of a serious time,” the leader of the leftist Inuit Ataqatigiit party said on Facebook Tuesday. “A time that we have never experienced in our country. The time is not for internal division but for cooperation and unity for our country.”
