Since World War II the US military have been present in Greenland. The original base layouts distributed on 14 sites on the coast from the far north to the southern tip of the island have been partly or completely demolished except for Thule air base, where the US have concentrated their present day military activities in Greenland. But the footprint left in form of machines, trucks and other military scrap scattered along the coast still tells the story of the islands strategic importance in the event of an atomic war between the competing ideologies of the West on one side and the former USSR on the other in the last half of the 20th century. From Greenland the US could prevent intercontinental ballistic missiles carrying nuclear war heads from reaching some of the most populated cities in America and initiate attacks against Russia themselves. In recent years the Arctic States have begun rearming in the far north giving Greenland renewed importance as geopolitical interests have drawn the focus of the world leaders north anew.
