US, Denmark and Greenland sign open-ended defense pact expanding US military access

Reported: The White House published the text of an agreement, signed on 22 September in New York on the UN General Assembly sidelines, amending the 1951 US-Denmark defense agreement on Greenland (text; Al Jazeera). It authorizes expansion of Pituffik Space Base and new defense areas at Narsarsuaq and Mestersvig, gives US forces free movement by land, air and sea, bars any non-NATO state from installations or a "persistent presence", has "no end date", and binds an independent Greenland. The text reaffirms Danish sovereignty.

What it changes: Washington gets most of the military substance it sought from annexation threats without a sovereignty transfer, and a durable veto over Chinese or Russian presence. For Copenhagen, it trades long-term US access for ending a crisis inside NATO. For Nuuk, it narrows future independence options: any sovereign Greenland inherits these obligations. My inference: the coercive "Greenland question" is now largely closed, freeing US leverage for other fronts.