India, Jan. 11 -- The notion of a possible U. S. attempt at seizing Greenland through force sounds unlikely at best, but recent statements have brought the topic from the fringes of policy discussions to the heart of contemporary debate. As a self-ruling area of Denmark, effectively part of the NATO area of influence, a possible effort at forceful persuasion would challenge the validity of formal legal norms and the political will of the transatlantic partnership. A challenge to Arctic regional security amid a rise in great power contention brings the topic of Greenland to the forefront.

Greenland has NATO protection because Denmark is one of the founding members of NATO. In the 1949 North Atlantic Treaty, it was made clear that any atta...