Greenland Is a Distraction—Epstein Island Is the Scandal That Still Haunts Trump Fedlan News | FN Newsroom
There is something deeply misaligned about the way Trump's outrage is being directed. Once again, Greenland has been dragged into a fevered political conversation— this time as a symbol of strength, security, and ambition. President Donald Trump has revived talk of acquiring the vast Arctic island, framing it as a strategic necessity. Yet while attention drifts north toward ice and geopolitics, a far more troubling piece of American history lies to the south, largely unexamined and unresolved. In 1917, Denmark sold the Danish West Indies to the United States for $25 million in gold. The deal was driven by wartime fears and strategic calculations. The islands—now known as the U.S. Virgin Islands—were seen as important to protecting shipping lanes and preventing German influence in the Caribbean during World War I. It was a straightforward transaction by the standards of empire, but it came with strings attached. As part of the agreement, the United States pledged it would not chall...