The US aid package to Greenland marks a new chapter...

[TomVilmer]

There are multiple ways to seek to understand what a new aid package from the U.S. to Greenland means. In announcing the deal, U.S. Ambassador Carla Sands presented the U.S. aid package to Greenland as a direct result of a shift in U.S. Arctic policy:

“While Greenland stands on the cusp of a new era of productivity, governments who operate by different standards are looking to exploit opportunities to bring their authoritarian set of values to the future development and governance of the region,” she wrote.

“Russia’s pattern of aggressive behavior and increasing militarization in the Arctic is a looming global concern,” the ambassador wrote, still saving steam for a blast at China, which eventually stood out as her main target.
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It is worth remembering that the U.S. promised substantial support for Greenland already in 2004 in the so called Igaliku Accords in Greenland. The accords secured a green light for further upgrading of the U.S. Air Force’s military radar at Thule Air Base in the north of Greenland.

Greenland in return became a formal part of future negotiations on U.S. military activities in Greenland and received a promise of: “broad economic and technical cooperation” in the fields of “research, technology and energy cooperation, environmental issues, education, development, tourism, air traffic planning and trade.”

But serious disappointment followed this announcement, and promises went unfulfilled. A famous contract on maintenance at Thule Air Base, which Greenland benefitted from for decades, was lost to an American contractor in 2014.

We may soon know if the U.S. aid-package comes with other strings attached or if the U.S. will attempt to guide more firmly for instance Greenland’s policies towards China. Greenland recently announced plans to open a diplomatic office in Asia. Most expect it to be located in Beijing.

https://www.arctictoday.com/the-us-aid-package-to-greenland-is-a-new-chapter-in-a-long-complex-relationship/