If both were equally bad, then a US takeover would still come with a lot of violence and upheaval for absolutely no gain. If their relationship with the Danish has more or less settled into some arrangement (however fair or unfair it may be), uprooting it all and forcing them to readjust to their new overlords would just be a waste.
Edit: To add some more points from the actual article:
“We’ve been able to work together based on mutual respect. We’ve been able to maintain a zone of peace in the Arctic even through difficult times before,” she [Sara Olsvig, chair of the Inuit Circumpolar Council] said
If they have found a respectful working relationship where they have some measure of self-determination (albeit not as much as they’d wish), it seems very likely that the US would be the worse colonizer. That doesn’t make the Danes saints, but the chances of more self-determination certainly are better with them, given Denmark passed a law that allows them to become fully independent.
Laakkuluk Williamson, an Iqaluit resident who’s Greenlandic on her mother’s side of the family, said she fears Greenland becoming the Arctic equivalent of American Samoa or Puerto Rico: U.S. overseas territories where residents lack constitutional protections and representation in Congress.
As it stands now, Greenland sends representatives to the Danish Parliament and recently (2008/9) has won some important political concessions in governing themselves, including the legal process I mentioned for full independence their government can trigger. They also have an independent representation in the EU and the US.
If both were equally bad, then a US takeover would still come with a lot of violence and upheaval for absolutely no gain. If their relationship with the Danish has more or less settled into some arrangement (however fair or unfair it may be), uprooting it all and forcing them to readjust to their new overlords would just be a waste.
Edit: To add some more points from the actual article:
If they have found a respectful working relationship where they have some measure of self-determination (albeit not as much as they’d wish), it seems very likely that the US would be the worse colonizer. That doesn’t make the Danes saints, but the chances of more self-determination certainly are better with them, given Denmark passed a law that allows them to become fully independent.
As it stands now, Greenland sends representatives to the Danish Parliament and recently (2008/9) has won some important political concessions in governing themselves, including the legal process I mentioned for full independence their government can trigger. They also have an independent representation in the EU and the US.
Can you imagine Trump sustaining that status?
Neither can I.