Nordic nations wanted the US to pay attention to the Arctic. Trump listened.

(Originally published Jan. 28 in “What in the World“) For all the Stürm und Drang over Greenland, there is a silver lining.

Trump’s focus on annexing it has drawn U.S. focus to an area that several U.S. allies in Europe say has long been overlooked: the Arctic. Russia has been beefing up its presence in the slowly warming region for the past two decades and now has 40 facilities along its Arctic coastline. In the past, the U.S. poo-poohed entreaties by NATO’s five Nordic members—Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, and Sweden to step up to Russia’s ice-bucket challenge. No more.

Since most of the region remains water and ice, the challenge in the Arctic is to block Russian submarines or missiles. Trump may covet annexing Greenland’s thawing mineral resources, but the island would also occupy an important position in his “Golden Dome” missile defense system. So, the Nordics are now just getting what they requested, only more. A reminder to be careful what you ask for. Especially with Trump, who demands the U.S. be paid for its alliances and military protection.

Already, NATO’s European members are ramping up military production in hopes of achieving reducing their longstanding reliance on Washington for security and instead achieving self-reliant defense. NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte has lambasted the effort as implausible. But Trump has set it in inexorable motion by demanding greater European defense spending, vacillating in support for Ukraine and sympathy for Russia, and now by threatening to use force to seize territory from a NATO member. As Carnegie Endowment for International Peace fellows Eric Ciaramella and Sophia Besch write in Foreign Affairs:

To become truly strategically self-reliant, the continent will need to develop the capacity to plan, command, and sustain operations at scale and to anchor Ukraine’s security in a long-term rearmament strategy that does not rely on the shifting preferences of Washington.

North Korea still really, really, really hates the Sea of Japan. The hermit dictatorship on Tuesday launched some more ballistic missiles into that body of water. But to Pyongyang, the Sea of Japan is but a proxy for all its enemies: South Korea, Japan, and the United States. Earlier this month, North Korean Supreme Leader Kim Jong-un personally attended test launches of long-range cruise missiles and new hypersonic missiles, while also ordering a tripling of anti-tank missile production.