As talks about the U.S. buying Greenland gain momentum, a historical footnote has resurfaced linking a 1917 land deal to modern scandal and geopolitical strategy. The Treaty of the Danish West Indies saw the U.S. pay Denmark $25 million for the U.S. Virgin Islands, a territory that included Little St. James—later purchased by Jeffrey Epstein, who called the islands “perfect” for their isolation, a characterization echoed by the attorney-general of the U.S. Virgin Islands, who described it as “the perfect hideaway and haven for trafficking young women and underage girls for sexual servitude, child abuse and sexual assault.”
The 1917 agreement also required the U.S. to recognize Danish sovereignty over Greenland, a clause now under scrutiny as President Donald Trump renews efforts to acquire the Arctic island for its strategic and mineral resources, with one X user noting, “The 1917 deal was a disaster… Now we’re stuck with the legacy of Little Saint James while China/Russia eye the Arctic. Buy it now or lose it forever.”