Comments by US President Donald Trump about taking control of the Arctic island of Greenland have raised many concerns, mostly among US allies in Europe. These repeated statements, together with threats directed at Canada, Mexico and other states, and his tariff wars, have created consternation, fear, and anger. But the demand for what seems a land grab of Greenland is not a sudden or impulsive sentiment; it is based on years of agitation in US policy circles, and has long-term geopolitical and geoeconomic objectives that have a lot to do with what the US regards as the threats posed by China and Russia in the Arctic Circle.