Keir Starmer has sent one single military officer to Greenland with the new European deployment there. The Danes have increased their footprint amid US president Trump’s threats to annex the Arctic island. Greenland is effectively governed by Denmark, but Trump wants to make it an American outpost for ‘security’ reasons.
The news comes after Danish Prime Minister Mette Fredriksen met Trump in Washington on 15 January. She said it was “not an easy meeting”.
In an attempt to convince the Americans they do not need to annex Greenland, the Danes have expanded their military presence. The French, Swedes, Dutch and Canadians are all joining a major military exercise too.
Fredriksen said:
that does not change the fact that there is a fundamental disagreement because the American ambition to take over Greenland is intact.
This is obviously serious and therefore we continue our efforts to prevent that scenario from becoming a reality.
However, Trump insists he will have Greenland by force if necessary:
IF WE DON’T, RUSSIA AND CHINA WILL, AND THAT IS NOT GOING TO HAPPEN!
He said Greenland was vital to his planned Golden Dome defence system. Ahead of the meeting a poll found just 17% of Americans supported Trump’s bid to take over Greenland.
NATO left panicking over Greenland
NATO states have been startled by Trump’s Greenland ambitions. Reuters European affairs editor Andrew Gray said:
NATO members have been scrambling for ideas to counter U.S. criticism that Greenland is under-protected as Russia and China take a greater interest in the Arctic and its mineral riches.
If Trump were to take the island by force, it would almost certainly destroy NATO as an alliance, constituting:
an unprecedented seizure of one NATO ally’s territory by another – the nuclear-armed superpower that is meant to provide the ultimate security guarantee for all members.
And Professor Sten Rynning of the University of Southern Denmark, a NATO expert, said:
I cannot think of other cases where NATO has been really on the line, and especially not where the culprit has been the United States.
NATO general secretary Mark Rutte insisted:
When it comes to the Arctic region, we have to work together as an alliance. And we are now putting more details to the next steps, to make sure that we indeed can do that as a collective alliance.
Supporters of NATO have always insisted it is a vital alliance for mutual defence. That doesn’t seem to hold up any longer. Trump has thrown established parameters into chaos. And neither Keir Starmer’s one soldier, nor the broader deployment, look likely to save the situation.
Featured image via the Canary
By Joe Glenton
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