Summary
Danish King Frederik has redesigned the royal coat of arms to prominently feature symbols of Greenland and the Faroe Islands, replacing the historical three crowns, in an apparent rebuke to Donald Trump’s renewed interest in buying Greenland.
The change underscores Denmark’s commitment to maintaining its territorial integrity.
Greenland’s Prime Minister Múte Egede firmly rejected Trump’s suggestion, declaring, “Greenland is ours.”
This marks the fourth revision of Denmark’s coat of arms since 1819 and highlights Greenland’s century-long political and cultural ties to Denmark despite U.S. military presence on the island.
Obviously you’re meant to read between the lines. You’re reading too literally. And also, you are wrong about this needing Denmark’s blessing.
Greenlandic Independence
Since you want it spelled out, here is the process of what US ‘buying’ Greenland would look like:
Run a campaign announcing that the US wants to buy Greenland, and they’re willing to give each Greenland citizen $10 million in order to do it. Assuming the population could be made agreeable to it, the next steps proceed.
The Greenland parliament announces a referendum declaring full independence from Denmark, a right they already have under existing Danish law and that they can exercise at any time.
The people of Greenland approve the referendum. Greenland gains independence from Denmark.
The new independent nation of Greenland signs a treaty of annexation with the US. One of the terms of that treaty is that every current Greenlandic resident will receive a check for $10 million USD.
If you think “aktually, you can’t buy Greenland!!!” is a valid criticism to this idea, you’re just thinking way too literally. You can, in practice, actually buy Greenland if the people there were willing to go for it. You’re not literally buying Greenland down at the store. You’re making a huge cash payment to each citizen a term in a treaty of annexation.
If the US want to peacefully annex Greenland, they don’t have to convince Denmark of anything. Denmark has already given the citizens of Greenland the full right to choose their own fate. All you need to do is to convince the 50,000 or so Greenlanders that being annexed by the US is a good idea. And their numbers are small enough that, unlike ideas of annexing Canadian territory, it would be practical just to write massive checks to every citizen of Greenland.
“Buying Greenland” sounds like an incredibly ridiculous idea. But in terms of potential territorial expansions that Trump has floated, it’s actually the most practical by far.