Denmark’s leader has told President Donald Trump to back off after he once again demanded that the United States take over the territory.
Speaking a day after the US captured Venezuela’s president Nicolas Maduro, Trump told The Atlantic: ‘We do need Greenland, absolutely. We need it for defence.’
The US leader has made no secret of his desire to get his hands on the mineral and oil-rich island, which is a self-governing Danish territory,
However Denmark’s prime minister re-iterated once again that was out of the question.
(Picture: Katie Miller)
In a statement released on Sunday, Mette Frederiksen said: ‘It makes absolutely no sense to talk about the US needing to take over Greenland.
‘The US has no right to annex any of the three countries in the Danish Kingdom.”
Ms Frederiksen continued: ‘I would therefore strongly urge the US to stop the threats against a historically close ally and against another country and another people, who have very clearly said that they are not for sale.’
Greenland’s PM Jens-Frederik Nielsen also labelled Trump’s comments ‘disrespectful’.
He added: ‘When the President of the United States says that “we need Greenland” and links us to Venezuela and military intervention, it’s not just wrong. It’s disrespectful.’
But Trump has refused to rule out using force to take over the region, sparking fears he could repeat his audacious raid on Venezuela, which saw President Maduro taken from his bedroom and transported back to the US.
To add fuel to the fire, a former Trump administration official, Katie Miller, posted a map of Greenland in the colours of the US flag, with the caption: ‘SOON.’
Why does Donald Trump want Greenland?
Although the world’s largest island is home to just 57,000 people, mostly the indigenous Inuit, its natural resources and geographic position make it increasingly alluring for global powers.
‘I think Greenland is going to be something that maybe is in our future,’ Trump recently said. He has refused to rule out using military force.
Trump has been eyeing up the island since 2019, but he’s not the first US President to want it.
The United States tried to buy it in 1846, and again in 1946 – that time for a price equivalent to £970million in modern value – when the Cold War was gathering pace.
Both times they were knocked back, but Greenland was seen as having such strategic importance in countering the Soviet Union that the US kept a military presence there anyway.
With Denmark’s agreement, the US operate Thule Air Base to be capable of sending American bombers across the Arctic to strike the Soviet Union and detecting missiles coming the other way.
There was another base, a secret one, buried in a glacier 150 miles away.
Supposedly a research facility, Camp Century was actually supposed to house nuclear weapons able to launch through the ice sheet.
They were never put there in the end, and this outpost has since been abandoned.
While Thule still exists – albeit now called Pituffik Space Base – the fact Camp Century was lost 100 feet below the surface, until a team of Nasa scientists found it again last year, says something about changing international relations.
Even as the Cold War ebbed and flowed, maintaining nuclear weapons this far north was not seen as vital.
But now the ice sheets are melting, making the surrounding waterways more navigable, and easing access to resources – such as uranium, iron and fossil fuels – hidden beneath.
However, Professor Mikkel Vedby Rasmussen, a political science expert at the University of Copenhagen, sound more appealing on paper but are hard to access in reality.
He told Metro: ‘There is plenty of everything. From oil, to uranium to rare earth minerals.
‘But it is winter 10 months a year and Greenland hardly has any paved roads.
‘If you want to create a mine somewhere you would need to build a harbor as well.
‘It means that it is very expensive to extract those raw materials. It isn’t viable in economic terms.’
Meanwhile, tensions with Russia are higher than any time since the Cold War, and China – the USA’s new main rival – is seeking to invest in Greenland too.
Prof Rasmussen explained why this was such a threat, adding: ‘Greenland’s potential is endless. What if the Chinese controlled all of this?
‘In that case, they would perhaps control 80 per cent of the world’s iron production.’
JD Vance has previously said: ‘A lot of other countries have threatened Greenland, have threatened to use its territories and waterways to threaten the United States, to threaten Canada and of course to threaten the people of Greenland.
‘Unfortunately, leaders in both America and in Denmark I think ignored Greenland for far too long.
‘That’s been bad for Greenland, it’s also been bad for the security of the entire world.’
Could Greenland be the next Venezuela?
The answer is that if Trump wanted it to be, it would be hard for Denmark to stop him, militarily speaking.
That is because there is a huge discrepancy in power between the United States and Denmark, according to Prof Rasmussen.
The Nordic nation has been particularly slow to ramp up military preparedness in the arctic in recent years.
Prof Rasmussen said: ‘Invading Greenland is not all that complicated.
‘The population is very small and placed in a few population centers which would be easy to control. Controlling that area militarily would not be difficult.
‘If it came to it, Denmark would be able to hold Nuuk and the surrounding areas for a bit
‘But in the long run, it would be obvious the US would have the upper hand.’
(Picture: REUTERS)
The question is will Trump actually do the ‘unimaginable’ and attack a key NATO ally?
Rather than repeat Venezuela, the foreign policy expert believes Trump may use his strikes on Caracas to intimidate Denmark in any future negotiations.
He explained: ‘The US has clearly demonstrated they are not afraid of violating international law and they are not afraid of using military force to get their way.
‘That [threat] would be on the negotiating table. It’s like sitting down and place a gun on the table before they start talking.’
No crisis talks have taken place as of yet, despite the diplomatic spat.
While he has a ‘hard time imagining’ Trump would ever invade, he thinks NATO ‘would not survive’ any conflict of that scale within the alliance.
Instead of let that happen, he theorised that other European powers might ‘put pressure on Denmark to give in to US demands’.
So far, however, European countries have backed their neighbour.
Sir Keir Starmer told Sky News on Monday he ‘stands’ with Denmark, adding: ‘reenland and the Kingdom of Denmark are to decide the future of Greenland, and only Greenland and the Kingdom of Denmark.’
Nick Melvin, the director of international security at the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI) think tank, told Metro: ‘There can now be little doubt the Trump team is planning to incorporate Greenland within the United States.
‘There can now be little doubt the Trump team is planning to incorporate Greenland within the United States, and this is seen by Trump himself as one of the key legacies of his presidency.’
However there is one key difference, which is that Maduro’s ‘abduction’ was justified by Trump’s accusation that he was involved in running an international drug cartel.
Without a similar justification, Melvin argues the US ‘may find annexation of Greenland more complex’.
He explained: ‘It would likely face considerable domestic opposition in the US, possibly even within the Republican movement.
‘The Trump Administration will need to make a strong political and economic case to Greenland for annexation, possibly involving a referendum.’
What happened in Venezuela?
The swift operation began early on Saturday morning when explosions were heard at several sites around the capital Caracas.
Dubbed ‘Operation Absolute Resolve’, the US first cut the power across Caracas.
US troops made their way into Caracas and arrived at Maduro’s hideout at 2.01am local time.
Elite Delta Force soldiers flooded in and caught up to Maduro just as he was trying to get into a safe room.
He was extradited on drug trafficking charges and landed in Manhattan by helicopter in New York on Saturday evening.
Maduro and his wife Cilia Flores are now in custody at Brooklyn’s Metropolitan Detention Center.
Who owns Greenland?
Trump might be keen to run Greenland – just as he vowed ‘we’ll run Venezuela’ – the people of Greenland aren’t so keen.
Roughly 85% oppose joining the USA, with nearly half seeing Trump’s interest as a threat.
‘What is the national security adviser doing in Greenland’, Prime Minister Múte Egede said in relation to US National Security Adviser Mike Waltz joining the Vance visit in March.
‘The only purpose is to demonstrate power over us. His mere presence in Greenland will no doubt fuel American belief in Trump’s mission – and the pressure will increase’
His party lost the election in March, but his successor as the country’s prime minister Jens-Frederik Nielsen agreed.
Nielsen said: ‘The fact that the Americans know very well that we are still in a negotiating situation and that the municipal elections have not yet concluded, they still capitalize on the moment to come to Greenland, once again, which shows a lack of respect for the Greenlandic population.’
Although Greenlanders are largely united in their opposition to US interference, they aren’t the only ones with a say.
Greenland has been ruled by Denmark – nearly 3,000km away – since several waves of colonisation in the 1700s.
Now a largely automous self-governing territory with representation in Denmark’s national parliament, Greenland has controlled its own internal affairs for decades.
But foreign relations are still overseen by Denmark, despite recent pushes for Greenlandic independence,
Denmark then, is likely to have some say in Greenland’s future. According to Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen, that future appears not to be with the US.
‘Greenland is not for sale’, she said in a TV interview. ‘I want to make it very clear, that seen with the eyes of the Danish government, Greenland is for the Greenlandic people.
‘It is a very proud people, a language and culture, it is a people that is their own.’
Is Greenland part of Nato?
Yes. Greenland is a part of NATO, because it is a part of Denmark – which is a NATO member.
This means if Trump were to ‘not rule out military action’, as he’s previously said, and take Greenland by force, it could spark a war.
Article Five of the NATO treaty says if a member state is attacked, it’s considered an attack on all members – who will then assist the attacked member in the fight.
Is there a US base in Greenland?
Yes. Previously known as Thule Air Base, the US-operated Pituffik Space Base is one of the most remote US military bases and the only one in Greenland.
With 150 Air Force and Space Force personnel permanently stationed here, it has radar capable of detecting ballistic missiles almost as soon as they have taken off.
Sat on the northwest of Greenland, where temperatures drop below -34°C in winter, the closest settlement is 70 miles away in Qaanaaq, home to no more than 650 people.
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