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The view of two American giant planes Hercules dripping the bullet-proof cars on the Nuuk track has moved President Donald Trump’s obsession for Greenland in a new dangerous phase.
The American national security adviser, the wife of the vice-president, energy secretary and other officials, will ostensibly arrive later this week during a “private visit” to monitor the national leaflet competition on the geopolitically vital island. A trip to the American military base in the far north of Greenland is also likely.
This is an explanation that no one in Greenland or his current sovereign accepts. The amazement and perplexity of Trump’s repeated interest in this huge frozen Arctic land mass which houses only 57,000 people has given way to anger in Nuuk and Copenhagen – as well as fear.
“What is happening now is recalling the time before the annexation of Crimea,” said Claus Mathiesen, a former military attaché in Ukraine who is now a lecturer at the Royal Danish Defense College, referring to the furtive preparation of a Russian presence in the peninsula in 2014.
A Nordic diplomat added that the excuse of dog sledge has been the worst pretext for a trip since two Russians suspected of a poisoning attack in Salisbury said they had gone to the English city to visit its famous cathedral.
The double comparison with the recent Russian aggression could have looked like a hyperbole only months ago for the actions of the United States, an ally of NATO Denmark and Greenland. But Nordic officials say they are justified after Trump followed his threat to acquire Greenland, potentially by force, with a series of increasing provocations. “It’s more brutal than buying it,” said one.
Greenland is in a particularly sensitive period, making the visit all the more extraordinary. The autonomous island is trying to form a new coalition government and will organize local elections next week. Greenland officials have clearly indicated that there can be no meetings with the American delegation until they have trained a new government.
Anger could be felt in the comments Sunday evening by Múte Egede, the outgoing Prime Minister. “The very aggressive American pressure against Green Company is now so serious that the level cannot be high above,” he told the Sermitsiaq newspaper. He added that time was “finished” when Greenland could trust the United States due to good mutual relations and cooperation.
The public tone of Copenhagen was less thorny, but the subtext was the same. Lars Løkke Rasmussen, Denmark Minister of Foreign Affairs, said on Monday that the visit had shown a lack of respect and “inappropriate appetite” of the Americans.
In private, previous attempts to understand and open the American desire for more cooperation in the Arctic have been replaced by discomfort in the face of an administration that rolls Roughshod on diplomatic standards.
The fact that it is the main security guarantor of Denmark and Greenland, a military supplier and NATO ally makes him even more difficult to take. Many believe that Trump and the United States read the situation badly and expect the last visit to be filled with demonstrations.
For Copenhagen and Nuuk, they were ready to discuss everything – an increased American military presence in Greenland as well as investments in rare earths – except the only thing Trump wants above all: Earth.
Trump himself said on several occasions that he wanted Greenland for “national security”, citing an increased Russian and Chinese presence in the Arctic. “Maybe you will see more and more [US] The soldiers go there, “he sounded earlier this month at the White House, putting an American military presence in Greenland which has gone from a peak of 15,000 to around 200 currently.
The Greenlanders who initially thought that Trump’s interest could help their efforts to obtain the independence of Denmark, now see the dangers. Demokraatit, the surprise winner of the national elections this month in Greenland, could possibly want independence but at a much slower rate than some of his rivals. The leaders of the five parties currently in the Greenland Parliament have united their forces to condemn Trump and reiterate that they want to be neither American nor Danish but Greenland.
But as Egede pointed out, it is clear that Greenland needs the help of the outside to withstand the growing American pressure. Put Frederiksen, the Prime Minister of Denmark, may have posted a photo of her enjoying a comfortable dinner with other Nordic leaders after the previous openings of Trump, but there was little will on their part or other allies to denounce the United States.
“The fact that our other allies of the international community want to hide in a little corner and to whisper almost that they support us, has no effect,” added Egede. “If they do not talk about how the United States treats Greenland, the situation will degenerate day by day.”
Normally, a source of national pride, the Avannaata Qimussersu competition this year of this year gives anxiety to Greenland about its future.
