Trump has a 'Golden Dome' vision for Greenland

He cites the territory’s strategic location in the event of a nuclear attack from overseas.

- JOHN LEICESTER

PRESIDENT TRUMP pushed insistently for U.S. ownership of Greenland before seeming to back off.

ALEX BRANDON Associated Press

In a hypothetical nuclear war involving Russia, China and the United States, the island of Greenland would be in the middle of Armageddon.

The strategic importance of the Arctic territory -under the flight paths that nuclear-armed missiles from China and Russia could take on their way to incinerating targets in the United States, and vice versa is one of the reasons President Trump has cited in his disruptive campaign to wrest control of Greenland from Denmark, alarming Greenlanders and longtime allies in Europe alike.

Trump has argued that U.S. ownership of Greenland is vital for his "Golden Dome" a multibillion-dollar missile defense system that he says will be operational before his term ends in 2029.

"Because of The Golden Dome, and Modern Day Weapons Systems, both Offensive and Defensive, the need to ACQUIRE is especially important," Trump said in a Truth Social post this month.

That ushered in another roller-coaster week involving the semi-autonomous Danish territory, where Trump again pushed for U.S. ownership before seemingly backing off, announcing last week the "framework of a future deal" on Arctic security that's unlikely to be the final word.

Here's a closer look at Greenland's position at a crossroads for nuclear defense.

ICBM flight paths

Intercontinental ballistic missiles, or ICBMs, that nuclear adversaries would fire at each other - if it ever came to that tend to take the shortest direct route, on a ballistic trajectory into space and down again, from their silos or launchers to targets. The shortest flight paths from China or Russia to the United States - and the other way would take many of them over the Arctic region.