Evening star., 1951-05-01
Agreement on Greenland

Logic and common sense, as well as close
friendship, have dictated the terms of the new
Danish-American agreement on Greenland. For
this largest of the worlds islands, though ice
covers four -f1fths of it, is Of major Importance
to the security of the Western Hemisphere and
the entire North Atlantic area. Certainly, in view
of its location in relation to the Arctic as
whole-which has acquired high strategic sig
nifcance in the air age-itS very nature marks
it as one of the key links in the defensive system
we and our Allies are building against the threat
of Soviet aggression.
The new agreement-thoughb broader in the
sense of being an instrument of the Atlantic
Pact-is essentially the same as the one worked
out ten years ago to counter the menace of Na1
Germany. That earlier pact was signed here In
Washington by Henrik de Kaufmann then the
Danish Minister and now the Ambassador. At
that time, Denmark had already been occupied
by Hitler and the Copenhagen government
under the occupier's preSsure-went through the
tongue-in-cheek formality of repudiating the
accord Later, after the countrys liberation, this
repudiation was itself repudiated, but in May,
1947, the Danes opened negotiations to terminate
the special wartime rights that they had granted
to us in Greenland-rights enabling us, among
other things, to set up and maintain weather
stations and air and naval facilities.
that the smashed Nad threat had been sup
planted by the threat of direct and indirect Red
aggression Accordingly the Danish initiated
negotiations moved at very slow pace and were
suspended altogether when proposals for the
North Atlantic Treaty Organization began to take
shape. And now, with that organization going
concern, Denmark, as one OF the allies in it,
has in effect renewed the 1941 agreement as a
measure designed to bolster the common defense
of all the members of NATO. To that end, the
new accord provides that the Danes and our
selves will work together in Greenland in estab-
fishing or maintaining joint defense areas whose
facilities will be used by NATO's armed forces to
strengthen the security of the free Western
world
OF course, the agreement which is to remain
in force for 20 years or as long as the Atlantic
Pact is in operation-recognizes Denmark'S full
sovereignty over Greenland, and in keeping with
that fact a Danish officer is to have supreme
command of the dependencys local defense. But
the United States-through military personnel
working in close command association with the
Danes-will be able to do everything that is
necessary to make the island a bastion of sorts
in NATO's overall system of security. There
can be no doubt that naval and air facilities
there, wholly apart from stations reporting val
liable weather data, can do much to safeguard
the free West from things like hostile submarines
or Arctic aerial thrusts.
The Greenland pact thus deserves to be hailed
as another important advance in the great effort
to deter the Kremlin from further aggression, or
to overcome such aggression il it cannot be
deferred Denmark is a small country almost
within shouting distance of the Russians in
Germany. But as faithful and resolute member
of the Western community, it has shown by this
agreement that Soviet proximity will not cause
it to waver. -