Ed Turzanski - National Security Expert Joins Houston's Morning News

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
I can so.

Speaker 2 (00:01):
I guess they're big enough to have a song. Five
point fifty two is our time here in Houston's morning news.
A right, President Trump's sparking some concerns with some people.
I guess after floating a desire to control Greenland. Well,
Greenland does have some strategic importance. It's not very green,
it's pretty white. It is actually it's part of the

(00:23):
Kingdom of Denmark. They have their own language there, they
speak Greenlandic. Their currency is the Danish Krone. They are
an autonomous territory, and they are the world's largest island.
That's about all I know. Edgarwsanski joins US national security
expert What else do we need to know about Greenland? Ed?
Why would Greenland be important to President Trump?

Speaker 1 (00:45):
Well, it's three times the size of Texas. Eighty percent
of it is covered by an ice sheet. It's got
fifty seven thousand residents, making it the least sparsely populated
place on Earth, and it has lots of strategic significance

(01:06):
to the United States. The shortest distance between Europe and
North America in terms of movement by sea, but with
changes in climate, more and more minerals are now accessible
to development, especially rare earth minerals, which is what we

(01:30):
need to fuel the economy in terms of high tech.
But also there is a gold rush, if you will,
and not just gold, but all sorts of strategic minerals
between the United States, Russia, and China right now, and

(01:54):
the chances are that you're going to be able to
have travel off the Arctic in a commercially viable way.
We have a major space facility in Greenland, and for
a very long time we have been complaining to Denmark

(02:17):
that they are not spending the kind of money they
need to in terms of securing the island from Russian
and Chinese intervention. And with Trump coming in and saying
again I want to buy the place, all of a sudden,
Greenland has said, well, we're going to spend one point

(02:39):
three five billion dollars on defense, which is just to
put it in perspective, Jimmy, it's less than the tenth
of the cost of a new aircraft carrier, so lots
of years of under investment in national security defense spending.
THEES especially are very aggressive about exploring that region for

(03:07):
natural resources, and I think Trump has eyes forward, doesn't
mean he's going to get it but he has certainly
gotten the attention of the government in Denmark and more
but not oh, he certainly is Look, this isn't This
is a man who can spot value, and he isn't

(03:30):
always the most diplomatic or tactful in how he pursues things.
But Greenland first came to the notice of the United
States government in eighteen sixty seven. Truman tried to buy
it and Denmark said no. And quite frankly, we're going

(03:51):
to have to break some eggs and offend some people
as we express our national security interests. And it's just
not for our benefit, but also for Europe.

Speaker 2 (04:01):
Sure, we're also we only have a few seconds left here,
and I'm sorry to give you a short shift here
on answering the question. But we're also have that same
level of interest right now, do we not? In the
Panama Canal, we do.

Speaker 1 (04:14):
And God bless them and rest of soul. Jimmy Carter,
I think mistakenly gave it away. China is very aggressive
in looking for choke points to keep us on our
side of the Pacific, and it has ambitions that go
well beyond their own neighborhood. So again it's become a

(04:39):
much smaller, much more complex world, and I think Trump
is recognizing it and speaking about it in a way
that Americans quite frankly, have not been exposed to for
a very long time.

Speaker 2 (04:52):
And thank goodness, he is ed. Thank you so much.
National security expert Ed Tarzanski joining US is five fifty
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