Colin Woodard, writing for The Christian Science Monitor, has an interesting article entitled As a land thaws, so do Greenland’s aspirations for independence. Greenland is a mostly self-ruled colony of Denmark. (CIA World Factbook entry on Greenland). Negotiations are underway between Greenland and Denmark as to their relationship, but those have recently stalled on questions over ownership of the island’s oil and mineral wealth. Global warming is making these resources increasingly accessible and the world market for those resources is increasing. Denmark wants to maintain its current right to 50% of the royalties. Greenland wants a bigger share.
Apparently the United States’ voracious appetite for oil is making Greenland inclined to keep close ties of one sort or another with Denmark:
“As everyone else gets more and more desperate for this commodity, you don’t want to have it and be a very, very small, very, very independent country, very, very far from anything else,” he says. “My personal view is if Greenland finds oil, that is the end of the idea of independence.”
Aqqaluk Lynge, head of the Inuit Circumpolar Council’s Greenland chapter, agrees. “We are afraid that the United States will take over Greenland if the Danes get out,” he says. “If Americans can take Iraq, then why not Greenland?”
Indeed, sources say that even if Greenland becomes independent – an event supporters see as at least a decade away – it will keep very close ties to Denmark, in large part out of fears of US hegemony.
. . .
Svend Auken, a veteran Danish politician and former energy minister, says the Greenlanders are right to be concerned. “In the long run, the ideal would be for them to be recognized as an independent state in the United Nations, but in close contact with Denmark,” retaining the Danish queen, currency, and defense cooperation, he says. Otherwise, “they will be very dependent on the Americans and they know the welfare society and wages wouldn’t be on the same Scandinavian level.”
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