Mike Baker

The last time much of the world was talking about Greenland was, well, probably when Eric the Red landed on the island over a thousand years ago and decided it would be a fairly swell place for a Norse settlement.

Ahead of his arrival in Switzerland, President Trump said he had agreed to a meeting focused on Greenland, following what he described as a, quote, very good call with NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte.

And just before boarding his plane, the president summed it up this way.

It is going to be a very interesting Davos.

That's what he said.

That's how he summed it up.

Now, let's talk about the substance behind all of this, such as it is.

To date, the president's core argument for American ownership of Greenland has centered on national security.

And on that front, well, there is a serious case to be made that Greenland matters a great deal to U.S.

strategic interests.

Greenland occupies a critical position in the Arctic, sitting astride the shortest flight paths between North America and Europe.

That geography makes it a key vantage point for monitoring potential missile, bomber, and even hypersonic threats originating from, oh, let's say, Russia.

It's not theoretical.

Those routes do matter.

The U.S.

already operates Bidufik Space Base.

That's what it's called, Bidufik.

It's formerly known as Thule Air Base, which was a lot easier to say.

which hosts advanced early warning radar systems essential for detecting ballistic missile launches and tracking activity in space over the Arctic.

That facility is a quiet but vital piece of America's homeland defense architecture.