At a chaotic Teams meeting, a rift arose between Nuuk and Copenhagen: The Greenlanders were furious, the Danes were shaken
https://www.dr.dk/nyheder/politik/paa-et-kaotisk-teams-moede-opstod-splid-mellem-nuuk-og-koebenhavn-groenlaenderne-var-rasende
Posted by mods4mods
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TRANSLATION
It flew with accusations of Danish neo-colonialism and Greenlandic recklessness at a meeting that several participants fear the Americans may have been listening in on.
From their respective screens, a group of Danish and Greenlandic politicians logged on Tuesday afternoon to an emergency Teams meeting. A meeting that would develop into something both highly critical and confrontational.
And which, in the worst case, the Americans may have listened in on, because—as several meeting participants point out—it was held as a not particularly secure Teams meeting.
The reason was, of course, the renewed American pressure on the Realm Community. And the hope—at least from the Danish side—was to avoid the Americans creating renewed discord between Nuuk and Copenhagen.
But a large number of participants now describe how precisely the opposite happened. DR has spoken with several politicians from both Denmark and Greenland and can on that basis report from the closed crisis meeting, where the Danes felt the Greenlandic frustrations.
During the meeting, voices were raised and capital letters used, as the Danes were accused of having a neo-colonialist approach to the entire process. And where the Greenlanders argued that they now want to seek dialogue with the USA themselves—without Denmark.
The meeting left a number of Danish members of parliament deeply shaken. And Greenlandic members of parliament, if possible, even angrier. Completely contrary to the intention.
“It is a neo-colonialist way of excluding us”
The man behind the meeting invitation is Christian Friis Bach, who is chairman of the Danish Parliament’s Foreign Policy Committee.
He did not hide his goal: to ensure that Greenlandic and Danish elected representatives share the information they have in the highly tense diplomatic crisis. Based on the principle: Nothing about Greenland without Greenlanders.
Therefore, members of the Foreign Policy Committee and their colleagues in Greenland’s Foreign and Security Policy Committee were invited to a joint meeting on Tuesday at 3 p.m.
But even before the meeting, frustrations were great among some of the Greenlandic participants.
Christian Friis Bach’s Greenlandic counterpart, the chair of Greenland’s Foreign and Security Policy Committee, Pipaluk Lynge from the governing party IA, was—to put it mildly—furious.
She criticized the Danish Parliament for not being invited to another emergency meeting, scheduled to take place three hours later on Tuesday evening; namely at 6 p.m., when the Foreign Policy Committee held an extraordinary meeting on “the Kingdom of Denmark’s relations with the USA”.
A meeting where the Danish committee members and the two Greenlandic members of the Danish Parliament, in a specially secured room at Christiansborg, received a briefing from Foreign Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen (M) and Defence Minister Troels Lund Poulsen (V).
> “They are holding a meeting about us—a historic meeting about us—without us. It is frustrating to sit here in Greenland and have to ask to participate in such an extraordinary meeting when it concerns us,” said Pipaluk Lynge ahead of the meeting, adding:
> “It is a neo-colonialist way of excluding us.”
It is a neo-colonialist way of excluding us.
Pipaluk Lynge, Chair of Greenland’s Foreign and Security Policy Committee
And Pipaluk Lynge had not become more conciliatory when the Teams meeting began.
Several other participants recount how they could see her on screen walking angrily back and forth in the room. When she herself had the floor, she again accused Denmark of breaking the mantra of always involving Greenlanders in matters concerning Greenland.
During the meeting, several Danish members of parliament tried to assure that the Greenlandic government is in close dialogue with the Danish government—and that it is precisely the Greenlandic government that must brief the Greenlandic parliament. Just as it is the Danish government that briefs the Danish Parliament. And that one must be physically present for the highly secure meetings of the Foreign Policy Committee.
Several also pointed out how problematic it was to have such blunt exchanges of opinion on an unsecured channel—where one must assume that Americans and others interested in the internal dynamics of the Realm Community could potentially be listening in.
A particular exchange between Pipaluk Lynge and Karsten Hønge (SF) led her afterwards to declare that she was “tired of” being treated as if she were stupid.
Greenlanders want to speak directly with the USA—without Denmark
During the meeting, a Greenlandic proposal also caused several Danish members of parliament to widen their eyes. A proposal that Greenland should establish a dialogue directly between Nuuk and Washington—without Denmark.
This runs counter to the Constitution, which states that it is the Danish government that conducts foreign policy for the Realm Community. In practice, this means that Greenland’s foreign minister cannot meet with his or her American counterpart without the Danish foreign minister being present.
But Juno Berthelsen, a member of the opposition party Naleraq, proposed that Greenlandic politicians should go on a “dialogue trip” to the USA. He confirms this himself in an interview with DR today:
> “From Naleraq’s side, we proposed that the committee undertake a dialogue trip to the USA at parliamentary level, so that we have direct contact with American politicians, so we can talk about what the thinking from the USA is. And at the same time tell them what we would like in Greenland. So that we have communication that is direct.”
Without a Danish “overcoat,” that is.
One thing is that Naleraq, as Greenland’s only opposition party and the strongest advocates of independence, proposes this. More striking is that Pipaluk Lynge from the governing party IA supports it.
> “We are adults in Greenland. We have a parliament. We have ministers who can perfectly well speak on our behalf. And that was basically what I said: that we can easily talk with other countries ourselves without holding hands with Danish ministers,” she says today in an interview with DR in Nuuk.
The meeting ends with a clear Greenlandic rejection
The Teams meeting was scheduled to last one hour. But it drags on. One by one, more and more Danish members of parliament drop off. Several have been passive participants throughout, with their cameras turned off, and now they disappear entirely.
But the two committee chairs—Christian Friis Bach and Pipaluk Lynge—remain present, both with video on. He addresses her directly and says that he has time to continue the conversation later that evening in a follow-up meeting between the two of them.
Some participants claim that Pipaluk Lynge is not aware that her microphone is on when she responds to her Danish colleague. Others believe she knew perfectly well when her clear rejection came: she certainly cannot—she has to be with her children.
And then the meeting ends. Without any conclusions being drawn. Instead, several Danish members of parliament leave deeply shaken.
Hot take: it was a grave mistake to coddle basic anti-colonialist discourse with no strings attached. Not everyone engaged in that in good faith and with real bonafide criticism of European colonialism.
As Paulo Freire once said, “when education is not liberating, the dream of the oppressed is to become the oppressor”. Some of the anti-colonialists were just upset that they were not the ones exploiting their own people.
Some of us thought it was bad enough when kleptocratic autocrats in Africa demanded compensation for European colonialism in the continent (as if the schmoozing scheme wasn’t obvious), but the reality is that it has also been weaponised for geopolitical purposes.
Europe allowed the very valid regret over horrible past abuses give way to a tyranny that risks being worse not only for the people who’ve suffered on our hands but also for us. We were too naive.
Reverse White Men’s Burden talk is still White Men’s Burden talk.
Niger, Mali, DRC, other large swathes of Africa, Chavez’ and Maduro’s “Por que no te callas” to the Spanish king back in the day, Greenland, the list goes on.
Greenland basically is setting themselves up to play a live reenactment of East Timor’s Declaration of Independence from Portugal only for them to be invaded (and victim to a genocide in East Timor’s case – it can always be worse) by Indonesia within months.
> Greenlanders want to speak directly with the USA—without Denmark
Yeah, this is going to go well. There is a growing rift between Greenland and Denmark that won’t end well. And why are they using Teams? Are there no better alternatives?
It’s not really a secret that the Greenlandic people want to be independent, they have said it again and again. But they cannot exist on their own. So of course they want to hear what the Americans are purposing and represent themselves, this is a pretty understandable position.
However, Denmark and Greenland are intertwined and Denmark represents their foreign policy interests. It’s the agreement we have and it should also be taken into account.
I haven’t seen it mentioned this “round” of America takes Greenland is Denmark provides, doctors, teachers, and police to Greenland as well as around half a billion Euros every year. Not to mention Greenlandic people have access to healthcare and can study at Danish universities for free. Will the Americans make a similar offer? The other territories of America aren’t in great shape if you ask me.
Well, well. What a twist.
So, the Danes are caught in a logical trap: they don’t want to give up the island to the US, but the Greenlanders themselves want to negotiate without the Danes and their opinion.
What’s the next step? Will the Greenlanders host a bidding war between Denmark and the US to see who promises them more subsidies?
So we are at the point where negotiations are proposed for Greenland to become a US dependency?
This ought to have been treated as a joke for day one.
How can they be so selfish and stupid to think that Greenland by itself can negotatiate with Trump?
The US has a history of treating indigenous people of any country they ingest extraordinarily well. Or am I mistaken here?
Ok so another confirmation that Greenland is a done deal. No military needed. People will be bought or have been already.
Is Greenland not educated on the history of Pacific and Caribbean islands about what happens when you have resources that are valuable to colonialist empires, are far away from everyone else and have no allies? On how little value a naive form of independence actually holds in those circumstances?
The ironic fact is that if Greenland becomes independent which Denmark has again and again said they have any right to be Denmark (an Faroese islands – the third member in the kingdom) would suddenly no longer have any problems with Trump and the US.
Greenland would still have all the problems.
There is a risk the Danish electorate which is by now very solidary with Greenland in this surreal pressure from Trump would at some point say: Ok, then do it yourself. If that is your wish.
Goodbye and thanks for now. And goodbye to the king of Denmark (which is immensely popular in Greenland by the way)
If Greenlanders want to know what American prosperity waits just go talk to the native Alaskans. They also live in a largely undeveloped vast territory and continue to be poorer, than their white counterparts and live in less developed communities.
That same Greenland that’s relying on Danish welfare and EU freedoms and regulations is ready to throw that away for… *checks notes* privatized healthcare, social Darwinism and depletion of their resources by an orange demented fascist. Nielsen is a traitor if he sells out the Greenlanders. Greenland should be independent but not when there’s a ravenous tyrant knocking on the door. Boggles my mind how stupid this is from him, jesus.
The Greenlanders don’t realize their current happiness. When the predators have devoured everything, they’ll be left with nothing but tears, and a Europe that has turned its back on them. History repeats itself; the same things produce the same effects. The Native Americans learned this the hard way.
One day, Greenlanders will wake up to Imperial March playing and think wtf is going on outside?
If they did it over teams the Americans watched every frame of it.
In the end, if Greenlanders want to sell-out to the US, there is nothing stopping them. They can declare independence form Denmark, according according to the current rules as far as I know. It is their decision in the end but if they do so, they also own the outcome. The US has a track record of selling glass pearls to native populations.
The story reads to me actually as if this is a rather internal Greenlandic conflict, between, parts of, the parliament and the government. It appears that absurdly enough the opposition party, that works towards full independence is the driving force here.
If they want to be the Puerto Rico of the North they’re not as smart as I thought they were. That’s if they’re not all relocated to Alaska after Greenland is declared a military reservation.
Greenland can’t go it alone. It’s incredibly naive to think so
The Greenlanders should speak with native Hawaiians about what is lost when joining the US. Or Greenlanders should ask Native American tribes how the US has treated them and honored contracts.
Well, truth be told, Danes have a dark past in Greenland. A past they are not all to eager to talk about.
In 1953, Denmark formally incorporated Greenland as an “amt” (county) in order to circumvent United Nations decolonization demands. This led to a period of brutal social experimentation on the Greenlandic population.
During this time, the horrifying experiment known as “The Little Danes” also took place, in which the state abducted Greenlandic children and transported them to Denmark to mold them into a Danish-speaking elite. This caused lifelong trauma. At the same time, thousands of Inuit were forcibly relocated from their traditional hunting grounds into concrete apartment blocks in order to centralize a labor force for factories under Danish control, destroying traditional family and kinship structures.
Between 1966 and 1970, Danish authorities went even further in violating Indigenous rights by secretly inserting IUDs into more than 4,500 Inuit women and girls — some only 12 years old — without consent, with the aim of reducing population growth.
To this day, Greenland remains a territory under the Danish crown, and various international organizations continue to pressure Denmark to confront its colonial legacy of blatant racial injustice.
So these braindead assholes are just delivering an invasion pretext to the US on a silver platter. “We must liberate the people of Greenland from Danish oppression”, and “We were formally asked to assist by members of the Greenlandic government”.
Wtf is happening
So they also send cash with the special emisary last time
Honestly, our healthcare system should be enough to scare Greenland away
It’s a trap anyway
Why do every people in this world not seem to understand who they’re dealing with… Greenlanders are going to lose their rights if they’re under US rule.
I can’t believe they’re pressing Denmark because of money.
At least if it’s because they’re afraid to become a fighting ground I would understand.
Shaken and stirred, like a G&T
>Along the way, raised voices and capital letters were spoken with when the Danes were accused of having a neo-colonial approach to the whole process. And where the Greenlanders argued that they will now seek a dialogue with the United States – bypassing Denmark.
I think the Greenlanders should go talk to the USA, and beg to join and be absorbed by the USA. They will be so happy! It will totally improve their communities. They’ll get free education, high quality public schools, free college and university (or extremely low cost and affordable in any case), and free healthcare for all. There will be a great pension system for the old age, and pensioners will get great healthcare benefits too. There’s SO MUCH MORE but they’ll figure that out. No need for me to type it all out.
Also – people will get the government/society they deserve.
As usual, nobody reads the article. Here’s some context
But Juno Berthelsen, a member of the opposition party Naleraq, suggested that Greenlandic politicians should go on a “dialogue trip” to the United States.
…
the Chairman of Greenland’s Foreign and Security Policy Committee, Pipaluk Lynge from the governing party IA…She criticized the Folketing for not having been invited to another urgently convened meeting, which was to take place three hours later on Tuesday evening; namely at 6 p.m., where the Foreign Policy Committee held an extraordinary meeting on “the Kingdom’s relationship with the USA”.
…
Greenlandic member of parliament Aaja Chemnitz, who is a party colleague of Pipaluk Lynge, participated in both the Teams meeting and the subsequent meeting of the Foreign Policy Committee. She will not comment on either meeting. But she emphasizes the importance of Denmark and Greenland not appearing divided and that neither country “makes a mistake”:
– We must get any disagreements under control very quickly. And that we also have a relatively large degree of agreement and a fairly firm stance on some of the most important issues, she says.
There’s more, I don’t have any knowledge of Danish or Greenland’s political parties, so go check it yourself
So do Greenlanders get to decide what they want or are they a colony?
I mean, at the end of the day it is and should be their choice. My only hope is, that Puerto Rico rings a bell for the people of Greenland, because that is what they will get. All the drawbacks and none of the benefits. Just a territory, never a state. I’ll go out on a limp and say Denmark should offer them independence and the EU should offer them a quick ascension.
Basically our government promised those greenlanders some delusional fantasies and they gonna see it soon.