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A former national security adviser to Donald Trump has finally acknowledged the existence of climate change, unlike his former boss, to justify a takeover of Greenland, as threatened by the president-elect.
Robert O’Brien appeared on Sunday Morning Futures on Fox News, suggesting that the U.S. could limit its use of the Panama Canal “as the climate gets warmer” and turn instead to opening waterways in the Arctic along Greenland.
“Greenland is a highway from the Arctic all the way to North America, to the United States,” O’Brien said. “It’s strategically very important to the Arctic, which is going to be the critical battleground of the future because as the climate gets warmer, the Arctic is going to be a pathway that maybe cuts down on the usage of the Panama Canal.”
He added: “The Russians and the Chinese are all over the Arctic. Now the Danes … own Greenland. And they’ve got an obligation to defend Greenland, and so President Trump said ‘If you don’t defend Greenland, we’ll buy it and we’ll defend it, but we’re not going to defend it for free and let you not develop Greenland and not extract the minerals and oil and resources of Greenland.’”
O’Brien went on to say that Denmark is “on the frontlines of the war against Russia and China.”
“They’re like the Baltic states, they’re like Poland because of their vast territory in Greenland,” he argued. “And so they’ve got to defend Greenland, and if they can’t defend it, we’re going to have to, and we’re not gonna do it for free.”
In the weeks after winning the election, Trump has suggested making Canada the 51st U.S. state and he has said he is prepared to take over the Panama Canal.
Trump has also threatened America’s closest neighbors with trade wars, and to take over Greenland, which has been part of the Kingdom of Denmark for 600 years. Trump claimed American ownership of Greenland was an “absolute necessity” for world “security” and “freedom.”. This threats come despite Trump’s vow to end foreign wars and despite that he made “peace through strength” a central part of his campaign.
But his threat is unlikely to lead to any major changes as leader after leader of the areas in question has staunchly rejected Trump’s advances. José Raúl Mulino, the president of Panama, shot back: “Every square meter of the Panama Canal and its adjacent zone belongs to Panama and will remain so.”
Meanwhile, Prime Minister Múte Egede said, “Greenland is ours. We are not for sale and will never be for sale. We must not lose our long struggle for freedom.”
