…and quicker than most of us thought it would. Trump wants Greenland.
And he is prepared to blackmail any country that stands in his way.
Of course, the claim that the USA needs Greenland for national security is nonsense. Under the 1951 Greenland Defence Treaty – which allowed the USA to have its base at what is now called Pituffik and used to be called Thule – the USA has the right to station as many troops and as much military equipment as it likes on the island.
And the claim that Russian and Chinese ships are ‘circling’ around Greenland is equally nonsensical. They are not.
The terms of his announcement that he is slapping sanctions on eight countries – eight of the USA’s close allies, all members of NATO – are significant. Sanctions will last until, in Trump’s words, “such time as a Deal is reached for the Complete and Total purchase.”
We are back to Trump the businessman. He sees an opportunity, a business opportunity.
He sees a chance to grab an enormous piece of real estate that is rich in minerals and rare earths and lots of other exploitable things. He smells the money.
His tariffs will hurt – there is no doubt about that – but this is the moment when the European members of NATO absolutely must stand together and act together. They must stand up to the orange-faced bully. They must make it clear to their electorates that doing so will hurt, that it will cause economic difficulties – for countries and for individuals – but it must be done.
Everybody must be brought to understand that this is about more than money. It is, of course, a moral issue. Trump has no right to annexe Greenland, even if his claim about national security were true. (Hitler, of course, gave national security as one of the reasons for Germany’s annexation of the Sudetenland in 1938.)
But it is also a severely practical issue. Accede to his demands over Greenland and Iceland will be next. Indeed, the idea has already surfaced – apparently as a joke, made by (and this is barely believable) the USA’s ambassador designate to Iceland. You really couldn’t make it up.
And if Europe does allow Trump to get away with Greenland, it will remove any logical reason to resist Russia in Ukraine. There will be no reason to oppose Xi Jinping taking Taiwan and the islands of the South China Sea. Argentina could invade the Falklands with impunity. Guatemala could seize Belize, which it has claimed since the middle of the 19th century. And so on.
So, Europe and its leaders must take a firm stand, regardless of economic or other threats. Even Keir Starmer, notably wobbly under pressure, must say ‘no’. Because there is actually a much bigger and longer-term risk than Greenland, Ukraine, Taiwan, and the other territorial disputes.
Trump has made several attempts to divide and weaken Europe. He has been consistently hostile to the European Union. Why? You might think he would see the EU as a potential ally against Russia and China. No. What he really wants is for Europe to crumple in the face of US pressure, to become so divided and so weakened that it has to call out for US support. He wants Europe to become so weak that it falls within the United States’ ‘sphere of influence’.
That’s an old-fashioned term. It’s a 19th century concept, but that is genuinely the direction in which we are heading. Backwards. If Europe folds, we are back in a 19th century scenario where the world is dominated by three great empires – Russia, China, and the United States. The UN will count for even less than it does at the moment.
Little countries, like the UK, will be pushed around by one of the big players (which, of course, is just what Britain did to little countries in the days of Empire). Might will be right and the idea – even now increasingly under threat – that there is a law-based international order will become completely untenable.
It may sound far-fetched. But it’s a very real threat. In a world dominated by three empires, democracy, free speech, economic freedom, and much else that we regard as normal, would quickly and simply disappear.
Greenland is the first test.
Editor: And then there’s this:
