MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency
Trump wants Greenland at any cost
If buying Greenland does not work, the military option is still on the table US President Donald Trump insisted on Friday that his administration needed to take effective control of Greenland because otherwise Moscow or Beijing would do it. “By hook or by crook,” Washington needs to prevent it from falling under the influence of Russia or China, Trump explained to reporters at the White House.
The Republican leader framed the acquisition as a non-negotiable national security imperative and rejected the current diplomatic arrangement, which allows the US to operate the Pituffik Space Base under a long-standing agreement with Denmark. He argued that “leases are not enough” to guarantee American security in the face of increasing Russian and Chinese presence in the region.
“We are going to do something on Greenland, whether they like it or not, because if we don't do it, Russia or China will take over Greenland,” Trump stressed. “I would like to make a deal the easy way, but if not, we are going to do it the hard way.”
“If you take a look at outside of Greenland right now, there are Russian destroyers, Chinese destroyers... There are Russian submarines all over the place. We’re not going to have Russia or China occupy Greenland,” he added while questioning Denmark’s historical control over the autonomous territory, suggesting that modern strategic needs supersede colonial-era claims.
“I’m a fan of Denmark... but the fact that they had a boat land there 500 years ago doesn't mean that they own the land. We had lots of boats go there also,” he further argued. “Countries have to have ownership. And you defend ownership, you don't defend leases.”
Despite his aggressive rhetoric, Trump insisted his stance was not anti-NATO. “I saved NATO. If it weren't for me, they wouldn't have NATO right now.”
While the White House has proposed a diplomatic purchase for between US$12.5 and US$90 billion, military options remain “on the table.”
Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen warned that a US attack on a NATO ally would be the end of “everything” post-WWII. Danish troops are reportedly under standing orders to “shoot first and ask questions later” if sovereign territory is invaded.
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Read all commentsThere is a problem. Trump cannot be seen to back down if he is to retain support amongst his MAGA voting base. Most of Europe has declared annexation of Greenland by another state as a hostile act and a potential red-line. It may pay to declare the existing US. facility as U.S. Sovereign Base Territory, and allow them (the U.S.) to develop additional support facilities as required. I believe this would likely avert invasion, but would still cause fracture lines in NATO, which will encourage Putin.
Posted 13 hours ago 0The UK needs at least 4 years to regain a modicum of military capability. Likewise Europe. so we are playing for time here as we face this new threat from the West. Unsettling times for us all.
The hubris is beyond belief. The US once offered to purchase the Danish caribbean islands (Virgin Islands), but the offer was rejected at first, but eventually negotiated as part of WW1 geopolitical moves. Under the Treaty of the Danish West Indies the US acknowledged Danish control of Greenland and now the US acts to abrogate our contract and ignore the will and wishes of the resident population, akin to the treatment of the Chagossians of Diego Garcia. I am currently with visitors from Iceland and they report extreme alarm regarding this posturing and they declare that the very existence of NATO is indeed in peril. A unilateral, especially martial, takeover may very well result in a significant degradation of US North Atlantic security in the long term.
Posted 12 hours ago 0Even if they can ‘do a deal’ over this, Europe and Canada now know exactly what they are dealing with in Trump and that the NATO treaty isn’t worth the paper it’s written on.
Posted 8 hours ago 0The US is rapidly turning friends into countries hostile to the US, which won’t bother Trump but will affect the US going forward, isolation always has a cost.
Veteran
Agreed, this is now about buying time whilst rebuilding military capabilities, without using any new US kit. We are in a new reality, a post Pax Americana world.
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