Mr Stephen Miller recently asked, "By what right does Denmark assert control over Greenland?"

One obvious answer is that Danish sovereignty there is recognized by all and sundry (perhaps other than Mr Miller and a few of his associates), most interestingly including the formal recognition by the US government. So the main reason the US ought not to "take" Greenland is that they irrevocably promised not to:
stthomassource.com - Lansing Dec

Since this was agreed as part of the treaty for the acquisition of the Danish West Indies, creating the US Virgin Islands, undoing that guarantee risks unwinding that deal and justifies selling the USVI back to Denmark at the same price.

With or without the USVI treaty implications, the lesson seems clear - trust the written guarantee of the American government at your peril. It's a duplicitous place that has never seemed to have the knack of knowing which wars to get into, even having so often written the history after the fact.

Suggested reading, Major General Smedley Butler.
en.wikipedia.org - War Is a Racket
plus ça change...

Jim

I wonder how many folks know much about the forced labour during the 19 year US occupation of Haiti.