After the successful operation in Venezuela, during which the country’s leader was captured, US President Donald Trump continued the course he had taken and deployed aggressive rhetoric towards Greenland; even after promising not to use military force, the trust of allies has been undermined, writes the BBC.
In the past week, threats have been made to take over the autonomous territory of Greenland by force, and anyone who opposed Greenland’s annexation to the US has been promised increased customs tariffs. Now it seems that the US is backing down from its wildest ideas.
NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte may have some credit for this, having managed to talk the US president into thinking things over. The foundation for this could have been laid last week, when Danish and Greenlandic officials arrived in Washington for talks. The visit ended with an agreement to form a working group to work on the Greenland issue. It also seems that Rutte managed to smooth over a situation that threatened to disrupt or at least seriously shake NATO.
The details of the agreement are unknown, but the question arises why the two-week brawl was necessary. Denmark has long indicated that it would only welcome a larger US military presence in Greenland. If NATO now decides to increase its presence in and around the Arctic island,
it could be a way to show Trump that the alliance is finally paying due attention to Greenland.
The New York Times cites anonymous officials who said that one of the ideas discussed is Denmark giving up small parts of Greenland where the US could build military bases – a similar agreement exists in Cyprus, where Britain maintains sovereign military bases.
Trump has said that the agreement would also include access to Greenland’s minerals. Neither NATO nor Denmark has confirmed this or any other information. NATO said the discussions would focus on strengthening joint security in the Arctic, particularly involving the United States, Canada, Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Finland and Iceland, and efforts to prevent the strengthening of Russian and Chinese influence in Greenland.
It is clear that more details will soon be publicly available. However, the allies will not forget that Trump caused a couple of weeks of uproar and a sense of existential crisis within NATO ranks. Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney called it a division and said that the old order would not return. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen spoke of a shattering change and called for Europe to become more independent.
Read also: Norwegian Defense Minister: NATO situation is difficult; attention should be paid to Russia