Denmark Says US Attack On Greenland Would Mean End Of NATO

Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen said that if Donald Trump were to attack the Danish island of Greenland that would mean the end of the NATO alliance. 

“I believe one should take the American president seriously when he says that he wants Greenland,” Frederiksen said in an interview with Danish broadcaster TV2. “But I will also make it clear that if the US chooses to attack another NATO country militarily, then everything stops, including NATO and thus the security that has been established since the end of the Second World War.”

Officials in Copenhagen have been alarmed by the US president's insistence on taking control of Greenland for security reasons following the raid on Caracas this weekend during which US forces arrested Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro.

Trump has long argued that the US must control Greenland to ensure its own security, but on Sunday, speaking to reporters aboard Air Force One, he put a timeline on the situation.

“We’ll worry about Greenland in about two months,” Trump said. “Let’s talk about Greenland in 20 days.”

Frederiksen has responded forcefully to Trump’s renewed campaign, urging him to stop his threats. Across Europe, officials have pledged their support for Greenland, which is part of the Danish kingdom and therefore also a member of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. 

Trump first put forward the idea of buying Greenland in 2019, during his first term as president. Since returning to the White House, he’s stepped up his rhetoric. In December, a Danish intelligence agency for the first time described the US as a potential security risk. 

For Europe and NATO, the stakes are immense. A military move in Greenland would strike at the foundation of an alliance based on the principle of collective defense, in which an attack on one member is considered an attack against all. No NATO country has ever fought a war with another member, and the prospect of Washington using force against an ally could destabilize the entire Western security order.

Frederiksen told TV2 she’s “not a nervous person, nor am I naive, so I am keeping an eye on all movements on the map right now,” adding that she believes Trump “means it seriously.” 

Greenland’s Prime Minister Jens-Frederik Nielsen urged his people not to panic in a social media post on Sunday and later called Trump’s rhetoric “disrespectful.”

Trump has argued that controlling Greenland is necessary for US national security. The island is already home to the US’s northernmost air base and a radar station that’s used for detecting missile threats and monitoring space.

Frederiksen said she spoke to Trump “some time ago,” declining to be more specific. Denmark has “always been a good ally to the US” and wishes for that to continue, she said. 

“But we will of course not accept and not tolerate a situation in which we and Greenland are threatened in this way,” she said. “Greenland has stated very clearly that it wants to define its own future. That future must not be defined by others.”