Retired US Army Lieutenant Colonel Daniel Davis said neither Russia nor China needs Greenland. He argued that Russia already has its own part of the Arctic, while China does not have the capability to annex the island.

At the same time, Davis said the United States, by projecting power onto Danish territory, risks breaking up NATO and losing allies. He said Donald Trump is directly signaling that he would use force if necessary, and that by «necessary» he means a situation where others refuse to give him what he wants regarding Greenland. Davis said that if troops are deployed there, a clash is entirely possible, and even the idea that this could happen is shocking.

Davis also said Europe is used to obeying the United States, and that it would be madness for Europeans to enter into a conflict with Washington because they cannot win. He said such a scenario would literally destroy NATO, and that no one would trust the United States anymore.

He also said China’s navy would not be able to reach Greenland, because it would be destroyed by strikes from US bases along the way. Davis added that even Russia, despite being geographically closer to Greenland, has neither the interest nor the capability, because it already has a large presence in the Arctic and does not need to seize Greenland to gain access to the region.

In Davis’s view, Russia cannot project power across such distances to reach Greenland and act there, and China has even less ability because it has no Arctic borders. He said China would have to cross almost half the globe, passing US naval bases and allied forces in South Korea and Japan, then moving past Alaska and through the Arctic to reach Greenland. Davis said the United States would destroy Chinese forces thousands of miles before they could approach US territory.