Axios reported yesterday (12/22/2024) that President-elect Trump nominated PayPal Co-Founder, Ken Howery, to be the next U.S. ambassador to Denmark. The appointment was announced in a post on Truth Social, in which Trump stated that “[f]or purposes of National Security and Freedom throughout the World, the United States of America feels that the ownership and control of Greenland is an absolute necessity.”
The United States has considered or attempted to purchase Greenland on several occasions since 1867, which is the world’s largest island and part of the North American Continent.
Greenland has its own government, but it remains part of the Kingdom of Denmark.
The Axios reports may be read in full HERE.
In 2019, an article by Time (Magazine) discussed the similarities between the United States’ purchase of Alaska from the Russian Empire in 1867 for a sum of $7.2 million and (then) President Trump’s interest in the purchase of Greenland. In fact, the United States secretly offered Denmark $100 million in gold bars for the Danish autonomous territory in 1946, as Greenland was considered to be a “military necessity.”
Credit: R.M.Chapin, Jr. / Time [time.com]
A January 27, 1947 Time article discusses the strategic military potential and importance of having a forward operating location, especially during the Cold War.
Trump’s interests in 2019, and to this day, likely include the fact that the once-icebound Arctic is rapidly emerging as a potential new sea route for trade vessels and warships due to the rapidly receding Arctic ice – slashing the time it takes to travel between Asia and the West by as much as 20 days. President Trump’s (then) Secretary of State, Mike Pompeo, said that the Arctic sea lanes “could [become] the 21st century Suez and Panama Canals.”
The 2019 Time (Magazine) article may be read in full HERE.
According to information available on Wikipedia, Greenland is still important to American and NATO security.
Walter Berbrick of the U.S. Naval War College, stated in 2019 that “[w]hoever holds Greenland will hold the Arctic.”
Wikipedia reports that in October 2020, REUTERS described Greenland as “a security black hole” for the United States and its allies, and that its 27,000 miles of coastline was difficult to monitor, with several instances since 2006 of foreign vessels turning up unexpectedly or without the necessary protocols in waters that NATO-member Denmark aims to defend.
Detection of foreign vessels, including a Russian submarine, have often been accidental, with security concerns including the presence of Russian ships that may have the capability to map the ocean floor and deploy robots to tap or sever undersea cables during a conflict.
The Wikipedia information regarding potential U.S. purchase of Greenland may be found HERE.
My brothers and sisters, it may be a topic of ridicule for some when President-elect Trump (and others in the past) have suggested the purchase of Greenland, but during WWII, Denmark eventually authorized the U.S. to establish forward military bases or operations on the island, as Denmark was not able to effectively protect a land mass that was several times larger than the entire country of Denmark.
Beyond military strategic importance and highly-efficient future trade routes, there is another similarity with the U.S. purchase of Alaska from Russia, which is that valuable minerals and other natural resources (e.g., oil and gas) may be plentiful, making a reasonable offer for the island a wise move on several fronts for the United States.
My brothers and sisters, let’s pray for God’s will to be done in this matter. Let’s pray that our leaders, including President-elect Trump, would seek the wisdom of God in his decisions and proceed accordingly – so that God’s favor would rest upon our land and that our citizens would trust in You, and not in the wisdom of this world. Father, may our nation repent before You, that You would heal, guide and bless this land. We ask these things in Jesus’ name. Amen!
Let’s remember what the Bible has to say about the importance of godly wisdom and repenting for our sin, as a nation and as individuals:
Proverbs 3:13 (ESV)
Blessed Is the One Who Finds Wisdom
“Blessed is the one who finds wisdom, and the one who gets understanding…”.
1 Corinthians 3:18-19 (NKJV)
“Let no one deceive himself. If anyone among you seems to be wise in this age, let him become a fool that he may become wise. For the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God. For it is written, ‘He catches the wise in their own craftiness…’”.
2 Chronicles 7:14 (NKJV)
“…if My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land.”