Subject: Re: war with Denmark or Panama??
And one more post on why Greenland is important. Any fans of Tom Clancy will recognize what the G-I-UK line is. The "G" stands for "Greenland":
https://ukdefencejournal.org.u...

The GIUK Gap remains relevant as a chokepoint for the Russian Navy
However, as the war in Ukraine shows, NATO has to remain vigilant, and the era of the Peace Dividend is long over in Europe. According to the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS), the alleged potency of modern Russian submarines has increased significantly while Western advantages in relative detection ranges have narrowed. Concomitantly, the Alliance’s ASW has been suffering a direct consequence of the decline in the numbers of operational submarines and other ASW-oriented vessels: the “erosion of operator skills”.

Therefore, as the IISS argues, one of the changes since the Cold War era is that rather than focusing on large numbers of enemy submarines dashing across the GIUK Gap, the current scenario is marked by “small numbers of high-capability assets seeking a strategic advantage”.

Moreover, despite several challenges, Russia continues seeking a “blue-water” naval capacity, meaning that the GIUK Gap will remain relevant despite the growing capabilities of long-range precision strike weapons. Another point contributing to the continued relevance of NATO’s Northern Flank and GIUK Gap is the disposition of the Russian Navy.

Based on the Kola Peninsula, the Northern Fleet is the most capable Russian naval formation, bearing the assets considered the pride of the Navy, especially within the submarine force. Thus, the Gap remains a crucial chokepoint as long as the Russian Navy tries to venture outside the Barents and White seas.

Russians are one thing. In any broader conflict, you'll see Chinese subs start to operate out of the Barents Sea and/or start to get good at transiting the polar ice cap on their way to interdict shipping in the North Atlantic.