Global Security Problem in the Arctic Zone

Abstract

The American repeated offers to purchase Greenland has several times placed the world's biggest island at the heart of world affairs. However, as Greenland is actively seeking independence from Denmark, the future of Greenlandic defence has become crucial to understanding its independence aspirations. The threats against Denmark are very complex and are in a wider perspective the most unpredictable since the end of the Cold War. This is based not least on the aggressive behaviour of Russia, massive cyberattacks, China's economic aggressiveness, and the sustained terrorist threat against Europe and Denmark. This chapter examines the complexed international security situation in the Arctic zone. It focuses, especially, on the role of Greenland, de facto a demilitarized area in the northern hemisphere. What are the military and economic roles of Denmark, Russia, USA, Greenland, China, and further actors in the area? And what are the political, economic, military, and strategic consequences of the climate change in of the hot spots of security zones in the 2020s and in the future?