“One way or the other,” the United States needs to “get” Greenland. These words from Donald Trump should be alarming to Americans but are most definitely beyond offensive to the people of Greenland – an integral part of the Kingdom of Denmark.

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Denmark is one of America’s most faithful allies – one of a handful of countries that sent troops to stand with us in Iraq and Afghanistan (and one that suffered many casualties in that fight). The people of Greenland have been committed to sovereignty and protecting their land since self-rule was established in 2009. In fact, it is against the law for anyone to privately own land there and the rights to its resources collectively belong to the people. To make these words far worse, how can we – when the president of the United States says things that suggest we can just seize Greenland “one way or the other” – possibly condemn Xi Jinping when he says China has the right to just seize Taiwan?

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The allure of Greenland is understandable at a time when there is a worldwide scramble for the Arctic, both economically and militarily. The world’s largest island, around three times the size of Texas, is located on the North American continent, to Canada’s northeast, and is situated between North America, Western Europe and Russia. It is positioned along what is known as the GIUK Gap, a Cold War term that indicates a critical point between Greenland, Iceland and Britain that can protect the North Atlantic from Russian ships and submarines.

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China and Russia – who have agreed to work together to develop new Arctic shipping routes – are clamoring to take advantage of the island’s position as global warming opens more trade routes (an estimated 11,000 square miles of Greenland’s ice sheets and glaciers have melted over the past thirty years). The location of Greenland is especially useful to China and its “Polar Silk Road,” as it creates shorter distances for China to ship goods via the Arctic and lets them avoid bottlenecks at the Suez Canal and the Malacca Strait.​ Melting ice will also bring more opportunities to drill for Greenland’s 17.5 billion untapped barrels of oil and 148.2 trillion cubic feet of natural gas and increase opportunities to mine its 1.5 million tons of reserves of rare-earth elements.​ From a national security perspective, the American military base located on Greenland, Pituffik Space Base, is strategically located for missile defense and space surveillance missions and includes a radar station that is part of our ballistic missile early-warning system… but we are far from alone in the Arctic.

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Russia has already reopened dozens of old Soviet military bases; its Northern Fleet and its main submarine base are headquartered on the Barents Sea near Murmansk; and its vessels operate freely in the North Atlantic. Russia is also playing Arctic wargames that include amphibious assaults in the glacial seas.