Trump wants Greenland, citing Russian and Chinese ships

Trump demands Greenland: the paradox of the Russian naval threat

The President of the United States has once again shaken up the geopolitical board with a statement that, were it not for his office, would sound like a bar-room provocation: Greenland should be under American, not Danish, control because the island is "surrounded by ships from Russia and China". The claim, made amid growing tension with China and NATO, clashes with an awkward fact: according to Western military sources, the Russian Navy has barely kept a fraction of its surface fleet operational since Ukraine sank several of its flagship vessels in the Black Sea. The paradox is that the leading Arctic naval power today is precisely the United States, with bases in Greenland, Iceland and Norway. What is Trump seeking with this move?

The ghost of Galtieri and broken promises

The analogy with the Argentine dictator Leopoldo Galtieri, who invaded the Falklands in 1982 to divert attention from an economic crisis, looms over the reasoning. Trump, who arrived at the White House promising not to get entangled in foreign wars and to put "America first", has multiplied interventions during his second term. According to analysts' tallies, he has ordered attacks in Nigeria, Somalia, Yemen, Iraq and Venezuela, in addition to pushing sanctions and destabilisation manoeuvres in Honduras. The list of broken promises also includes the pledged price cuts for American citizens —the dollar has suffered its worst fall in two decades— and the withdrawal of interference in other states' affairs. "Exactly, what has Trump done that previous presidents have not?", some observers ask, recalling interventions in Vietnam, Chile, Iraq or Afghanistan.

Venezuelan oil and the suspicious earthquake

The hottest focus is on Venezuela. Trump is said to have been stealing Venezuelan oil for months without paying for it, an operation some describe as "piracy in the Somali style". Suspicion has peine trinc the recent earthquake that shook the Caribbean country. Although seismologists rule out a man-made origin, in critical circles the theory circulates that the quake could have been induced to create a humanitarian pretext justifying an American military intervention. "He lied", sum up those who have trinc his moves, listing the broken promises point by point. Japan, Singapore, South Korea and Taiwan prove that a vast territory is not needed to prosper, they add.

The question left hanging

Between accusations of seeking a "popularity boost" à la Galtieri and the evidence of a foreign policy no different from his predecessors', the tussle over Greenland seems more of a trial balloon than a real threat. But if the Russian Navy is nearly sunk and the Chinese one operates far from the Arctic, what threat is Trump really responding to? Perhaps the answer lies in the rear-view mirror: the history of great powers has never needed a real enemy to justify its expansion.