Stephen Miller Warps International ‘Law’ To Justify Greenland Annexation: ‘To Control a Territory, You Have To Be Able to Defend a Territory’ 

White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller invented a new principle of international relations on Friday, stating that under the “law,” nation-states are not entitled to their territory unless they can defend it.

President Donald Trump has ramped up talk about acquiring Greenland, the mostly autonomous territory that is part of Denmark, a NATO ally of the U.S. Greenlandic and Danish officials have said the country is not for sale and that the 56,000 residents of the large island do not want to be part of the U.S. Trump has insisted the U.S. needs Greenland for “national security” purposes, even though the U.S. already maintains a military base there. However, the president has made clear he wants the U.S. to own the island.

Several NATO countries have deployed military elements to Greenland to participate in exercises under Denmark’s Operation Arctic Endurance.

Miller appeared on Friday’s edition of Hannity on Fox News, where he said that because Denmark “cannot control the territory of Greenland,” the island should not belong to the Scandinavian country:

Greenland is essential for America’s national security. The new domain of international competition is going to be polar competition. That is where more and more resources are being spent by our nation’s adversaries and rivals. The ability to control movement, navigation back lanes of travel in the polar and arctic regions.

Greenland is 25% larger than Alaska. Greenland is the size of one-fourth the continental United States. With respect to Denmark, Denmark is a tiny country with a tiny economy, and a tiny military. They cannot defend Greenland. They cannot control the territory of Greenland. Under every understanding of law that has existed about territorial control for 500 years, to control a territory you have to be able to defend a territory, improve territory, inhabit a territory. Denmark has failed on every single one of these tests.

Miller’s claim that “every understanding of law” requires nation-states to be able to defend their territory or risk losing it turns international law and international relations on their heads. The use of force against sovereign nations is illegal under international law, unless the force is being deployed in self-defense or if the U.N. Security Council has authorized it.

The principle that nation-states should respect each other’s territorial sovereignty is not new, and was famously expressed in the 1648 Treaty of Westphalia, which ended the Thirty Years’ War.

On Wednesday, Danish Foreign Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen said he does not think the U.S. will take Greenland by force.

“At least, I do not hope so because that would be the end of NATO,” he said.

Watch above via Fox News.