US refuses to rule out military force to take control. This is why an attack on Nato ally would end alliance. And what do Greenlanders think?
Soon after Donald Trump’s removal of Venezuela’s president, Nicolás Maduro, last weekend, he quickly moved on to the subject of Greenland, renewing calls for a US takeover of the Arctic territory.
The US president said on Sunday that he needed Greenland “very badly”, prompting a ramping up of tensions between the US, Greenland and Denmark.
Greenland is part of the Danish kingdom. Denmark formerly ruled it as a colony and today still controls its foreign and security policy.
Mette Frederiksen, the Danish prime minister, has said that an attack by the US on a Nato ally – in this case Greenland as part of Denmark – would mean the end of the alliance. Greenland’s prime minister, Jens-Frederik Nielsen, has urged Trump to give up his “fantasies about annexation”. European leaders have also given Denmark and Greenland their backing, saying “Greenland belongs to its people”.
