President Trump’s renewed interest in annexation, citing national security, sparked alarm among European allies.
Photo: Sean Gallup/Getty Images
Copenhagen:Â Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen warned Monday that any attempt by the United States to take Greenland by force would dismantle the NATO alliance and destroy eight decades of transatlantic security.
The sharp rebuke follows renewed assertions from President Donald Trump that the United States intends to annex the autonomous territory. Fears of American intervention in the Arctic have intensified among European allies following the weekend’s U.S. military operation in Caracas that deposed and captured Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro.
“If the United States decides to military attack another NATO country, then everything would stop, that includes NATO and therefore post-World War II security,” Frederiksen told the TV2 network.
Trump, speaking to reporters on Sunday, framed the acquisition as a matter of urgent defence. “We need Greenland from the standpoint of national security, and Denmark is not going to be able to do it,” he said. He later joked that while Venezuela remains the immediate focus, “we’ll worry about Greenland in about two months.”
The rhetoric drew a blunt response from Greenland’s Prime Minister Jens-Frederik Nielsen, who urged the U.S. president to abandon his “fantasies of annexation.”
“That’s enough now. No more pressure. No more insinuations,” Nielsen posted on social media. “We are open to dialogue… but this must happen through the proper channels and with respect for international law.”
The diplomatic firestorm was further ignited by a social media post from Katie Miller, wife of top Trump adviser Stephen Miller, which featured an image of Greenland draped in the American flag with the caption “SOON.” Nielsen labelled the post “disrespectful,” asserting that “our country is not for sale.”
In Washington, Stephen Miller doubled down on the administration’s stance during a CNN interview, questioning Denmark’s right to hold Greenland as a “colony.”
“The United States should have Greenland as part of the United States,” Miller said, dismissing the need to discuss military options because “nobody’s going to fight the United States militarily over the future of Greenland.”
The European Union and leaders from the United Kingdom, France, and Norway have rallied behind Denmark, emphasising the inviolability of borders and the principle of national sovereignty. Despite the tension, Nielsen called for a return to “good cooperation,” urging his citizens in Nuuk not to panic.
With inputs from AFP
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