President Donald Trump’s obsession with Greenland is tearing at America’s
strategic alliances.
Denmark’s foreign
minister summoned its U.S. diplomat for talks Wednesday after news broke that several
individuals with ties to Trump had been conducting an influence campaign in
Greenland.
At least three Americans
connected to the White House are involved in the campaign, according to unnamed
government and security forces cited by Danish
public broadcaster DR. It is not clear if the Americans are acting independently or on
orders from the Trump administration.
One of the Americans
reportedly compiled a list of denizens friendly to the U.S., collected the
names of people who oppose Trump, and has conducted reconnaissance on
narratives that could potentially frame Denmark in a bad light for sympathetic
American media. The other two Americans have been cozying up to politicians,
businesspeople, and locals, reported DR.
“We are aware that
foreign actors continue to show an interest in Greenland and its position in
the Kingdom of Denmark,” Danish Foreign Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen said in a
statement. “It is therefore not surprising if we experience outside attempts to
influence the future of the Kingdom in the time ahead.”
“Any attempt to
interfere in the internal affairs of the Kingdom will, of course, be
unacceptable,” Løkke Rasmussen continued.
Trump’s quest to conquer
Greenland has become increasingly serious since he returned to the White House.
In May, the president refused to rule out the possibility of taking Greenland
by force. That same month, the Wall
Street Journal
reported that the U.S. intelligence community was conducting a spy campaign on the island, a directive that came from several high-ranking
officials under Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard.
Greenlanders have not
taken kindly to Trump and his associates’ sudden interest in acquiring their
land. After months of heavy pressure from the Trump family, including an embarrassing
stunt in which Donald Trump
Jr. reportedly convinced homeless residents to wear MAGA merchandise in
exchange for food, and an effort in the U.S. Congress to rename
the territory to “Red, White, and
Blueland,” Greenland’s various political parties set aside their differences in
March to unite
under a singular goal: opposing U.S. aggression.
“This [latest
development] shows that the problem has by no means disappeared, and that it is
still very much something that must be addressed,” Mikkel Runge Olesen, a
senior researcher at the Danish Institute for International Studies (DIIS) who
focuses on transatlantic relations, told DR Wednesday. “It is very worrying.”
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