{"id":27953,"date":"2026-01-10T05:38:18","date_gmt":"2026-01-10T05:38:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/gsrra.com\/?p=27953"},"modified":"2026-01-10T05:39:56","modified_gmt":"2026-01-10T05:39:56","slug":"europe-should-prepare-for-greenlands-annexation-and-the-end-of-nato-experts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gsrra.com\/?p=27953","title":{"rendered":"Europe should prepare for Greenland\u2019s annexation and the end of NATO: Experts"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

US and Russian ideologies would be in perfect alignment, leaving Europe as an island of liberalism, according to analysts.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"FILE
US Vice President JD Vance tours the US military’s Pituffik Space Base in Greenland on March 28, 2025 [Jim Watson\/Pool via Reuters]<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

<\/a>US President Donald Trump\u2019s abduction of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro on January 3 has emboldened him to proceed with the annexation of Greenland, a Danish-owned, self-governed territory, spelling the effective end of NATO and furthering Russia\u2019s war aims in Ukraine, experts tell Al Jazeera.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The day after Maduro\u2019s kidnapping by US forces, Trump made Europe fretful \u2013 a sport of which he never seems to tire \u2013 when he told The Atlantic, \u201cWe do need Greenland, absolutely. We need it for defence.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller said, \u201cIt has been the formal position of the US government since the beginning of this administration \u2026  that Greenland should be part of the United States.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe move on Venezuela illustrates the Trump administration\u2019s determination to dominate the Western Hemisphere \u2013 of which Greenland geographically is a part,\u201d said Anna Wieslander, Northern Europe director for the Atlantic Council, a think tank.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"INTERACTIVE-NATO-MEMEBERS-DISPUTES-TIMELINE-1767962265\"
(Al Jazeera)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

\u201cSince the successful intervention in Venezuela was immediately followed by threats of using force against Greenland, among others in the hemisphere, it has, in the short run, made it more likely,\u201d she told Al Jazeera.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cUnfortunately, I think the American president should be taken seriously when he says he wants Greenland,\u201d Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen told Denmark\u2019s public broadcaster on January 4.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But she predicted it would spell death for the NATO alliance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIf the United States decides to attack another NATO country, then everything would stop \u2013 that includes NATO and therefore post-World War II security,\u201d Frederiksen said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Advertisement<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Wieslander agreed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cShould the darkest hour come and the United States uses military force to annex Greenland, the essence of Article 5 and collective defence within NATO would lose its meaning,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Article 5 is NATO\u2019s mutual defence clause, committing allies to come to each other\u2019s aid.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018NATO would be a shadow of itself.\u2019<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYou could argue that if you marry what\u2019s happening in Ukraine to a possible invasion of Greenland, one could make the argument that it could be a deadly one-two combination that would basically ruin the alliance,\u201d said Chicago University history professor John Mearsheimer. \u201cNATO would be a shadow of itself. It would effectively be wrecked.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yet when Europe\u2019s leaders met White House officials in Paris to design security guarantees for Ukraine, they said nothing in public about Venezuela or Greenland.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe priority is Ukraine, European defence and European security, and keeping the Americans in,\u201d international affairs professor Konstantinos Filis at the American College of Greece told Al Jazeera.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But Europeans see the writing on the wall, and are merely buying time, believed Keir Giles, Eurasia expert for Chatham House, a think tank.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe pandering to Trump has been an element of our strategy over the last year, leaving observers hoping, but not entirely trusting, that another element of the strategy is preparing urgently for the final rupture with the United States,\u201d Giles said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The moral hazard for Europe<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Giles told Al Jazeera that Europe\u2019s best option was to place a military deterrent on Greenland now, believing that putting allied troops in the Baltic States and Poland after 2017 deterred a Russian attack there.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe principle for deterring the United States from military miscalculation should be precisely the same as the one that was available, but not applied for deterring Putin from invading Ukraine in February 2022,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A US armed invasion of Greenland would be doubly bad for Europe by playing into Putin\u2019s hands in Ukraine, Giles said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe idea that larger powers can have a free hand in what they regard as their own back yard is very much to Russia\u2019s taste,\u201d he said. Invading Greenland, he believed, would amount to \u201cpotentially handing Moscow the greatest gift to the Trump administration has yet offered\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier told a symposium this week that the loss of common NATO values weakened the world order.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt\u2019s about preventing the world from turning into a den of robbers, where the most unscrupulous take whatever they want, where regions or entire countries are treated as the property of a few great powers,\u201d Steinmeier said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Seeing these possibilities, European officials have been discussing military options.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"INTERACTIVE-Where
[Al Jazeera]<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

When Trump mentioned his Greenlandic aspirations last year, France sent a nuclear submarine off Canada\u2019s shores to put him on notice that the islands of St Pierre and Miquelon off Newfoundland are French sovereign territories.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This week, French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot said, \u201cWe want \u200bto take action, but we want to do so together with our European partners,\u201d and was due to discuss plans with Germany and Poland.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul told journalists, \u201dSince Denmark belongs to NATO, Greenland will in principle also be defended by NATO.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Will there be a military intervention?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Experts were divided on what method Trump would use to acquire Greenland.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Marco Rubio told journalists on Wednesday that he would meet the Danish government next week in the coming days, but refused to take military options against Greenland off the table.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIf the president identifies a threat to the national security of the United States, every president retains the option to address it through military means \u2026 we always preferred to settle it in different ways, which included in Venezuela,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mearsheimer believed Trump\u2019s track record of attacking Iran last June, Nigeria in December and Venezuela now elevated the chances.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIf you look at Trump\u2019s pattern of behaviour, how willing he is to use military force when you can do it on the cheap and get away with it \u2026 the fact that \u2026 it could be portrayed as another pinprick operation, tells you there\u2019s a really good chance that he could take Greenland,\u201d he told political scientist Glenn Diesen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Others disagreed. \u201cTrump may want to strengthen the autonomy movement within Greenland and get them to ask for US help,\u201d said Filis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The leader of Greenland\u2019s main opposition party on Thursday said Copenhagen should get out of the way and allow Greenland to come to an arrangement directly with the US.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe encourage our current [Greenlandic] government actually to have a dialogue with the US government without Denmark,\u201d said Pele Broberg, the leader of Naleraq. \u201cBecause Denmark is antagonising both Greenland and the US with their mediation.\u201d Naleraq won 25 percent of the national vote last year, doubling its previous showing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Giles agreed that \u201ccoercion, pressure, blackmail, direct or indirect subversive activities or extortion,\u201d would be Trump\u2019s opening moves.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Trump is considering bribing Greenlanders with a per capita sum between $10,000 and $100,000 to join the US, Reuters reported on Friday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Why does Trump want it?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

At the end of the day, though, Trump\u2019s policy still amounts to pushing Europe out of what he sees as his hemisphere. Why?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Trump, Rubio, and Stephens all cited security, but Denmark gave the US full permission to establish military bases, bring in equipment and personnel, fly aircraf,t and sail ships in and out of Greenland in a 1953 treaty. The US operates a radar station in Pituffik, providing early warning of ballistic missiles flying over the North Pole from Russia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A year ago, Trump told reporters that the US should absorb Greenland and resume control of Panama, because \u201cwe need them for economic security.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt\u2019s to do with new sea routes as the Arctic opens up, and of course, security,\u201d said Filis. \u201cThe Arctic Circle is going to be an area of competition among the great powers.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Arctic sea ice has been melting, allowing the volume of commercial shipping across the North Pole to increase ninefold over the past decade, according to Putin. That leaves open the possibility that military shipping could also increase, especially with Russia and China holding more joint exercises at sea.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Panama, too, is a vital sea passage between the Atlantic and the Pacific.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Along with Sweden and Greece, Greenland is also considered one of the European Union\u2019s most promising sources of rare mineral resources.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Reference Link:- https:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/news\/2026\/1\/9\/europe-should-prepare-for-greenlands-annexation-and-end-of-nato-experts<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

US and Russian ideologies would be in perfect alignment, leaving Europe as an island of liberalism, according to analysts. US President Donald Trump\u2019s abduction of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro on January 3 has emboldened him to proceed with the annexation of Greenland, a Danish-owned, self-governed territory, spelling the effective end of NATO and furthering Russia\u2019s […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"aside","meta":{"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[2],"tags":[26126,26127,1565,360,10209,26125,26128,24349,23972,26124],"class_list":["post-27953","post","type-post","status-publish","format-aside","hentry","category-sample-category","tag-abundance-of-oil-gas","tag-annexation-of-green-lands","tag-eu-2","tag-europe-2","tag-green-land","tag-imense-critical-minerals","tag-nato-3","tag-natural-resources-2","tag-president-trump-3","tag-rich-in-rare-earth-metals","post_format-post-format-aside"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gsrra.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27953","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gsrra.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gsrra.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gsrra.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gsrra.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=27953"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/gsrra.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27953\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":27956,"href":"https:\/\/gsrra.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27953\/revisions\/27956"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gsrra.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=27953"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gsrra.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=27953"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gsrra.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=27953"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}