There was an air of optimism at the beginning of the latest NATO summit, but according to Politico, allied leaders have “soured” after President Donald Trump used the occasion to revive his fixation with acquiring Greenland.
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A minor curiosity during his first term, Trump’s desire to annex Greenland as a U.S. territory exploded into a full-blown obsession during his second term, claiming that the acquisition is necessary for vague “national security” reasons and, at one point, refusing to rule out the use of military force to seize the island. The issue peaked early this year, with European allies staunchly refusing to support that idea, and warning that military action against Greenland, a sovereign territory of member nation Denmark, could cause NATO to implode for good.
During his visit to the ongoing NATO summit in Ankara, Turkey, Trump reiterated his desire to annex Greenland, despite previous reports that an understanding had been reached to bring about an end to the issue.
“Greenland … should be controlled by the United States, not by Denmark,” Trump remarked as the summit kicked off, later adding, “I’m not happy with NATO because of what they did with Greenland.”
Initially, visiting leaders expressed optimism about the summit, with Polish President Karol Nawrocki saying, “I’m sure that we will solve the problems around the many international issues,” and NATO chief Mark Rutte stressing, “When it comes to Denmark and Greenland itself, we have a good process in place.”
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The U.S. president’s comments appeared to blow up those good feelings, however, with Politico noting that leaders are now “sending a clear signal for Trump to back off.”
“We are ready to defend every inch of NATO, including our own territory,” Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen told the press upon her arrival at the summit. “One of the reasons why we built NATO many, many years ago is if anything happens to one of us then everybody should stand up for each other.”
“That type of statement, that type of claim, Norway distances itself from,” Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre said. “We support Denmark, and we support stability in the Nordics.”
“The lines in the sand are clear: Greenland belongs to the people of Greenland,” Icelandic premier Kristrún Frostadóttir told reporters.
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