Greenland's leader speaks out as US envoy arrives amid 'take over' threats
Topics: Greenland, Donald Trump, Politics
William Morgan
Featured Image Credit: Brendan SMIALOWSKI / AFP via Getty Images
Topics: Greenland, Donald Trump, Politics
Leading figures in Greenland are growing concerned that Donald Trump's threats to take the territory by force could still come to pass, with some expecting a potential military move within the next month.
Details of President Trump's month's long secret negotiations with Danish and local officials over the world's largest island, population 56,000, have emerged in the past week, causing fresh concerns that America could still make a move to take the territory.
Threats from the Oval Office to take over Greenland 'the hard way' appeared to have been put on the back burner following the break out of the US-Israeli war against Iran, but new details of closed-door talks have now been released.
Demands being made in these confidential negotiations have caused concern among Greenlanders and the Danes, the EU and NATO nation to whom the island belongs, with fears that Trump's imperialist gaze could fall on them next.
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The terms of these diplomatic discussions have been uncovered by a New York Times investigation, after spending months interviewing officials on both sides of the Atlantic about the demands being made by Trump's negotiator.
Investigators discovered that the US is not just demanding an expansion to its armed presence on the island, which the current treaty already allows for, and despite American military planners deciding to reduce their presence on the island from 17 bases to one over the past half a century
Trump's team are demanding a new treaty that allows US troops to remain stationed on Greenland indefinitely, basically adding a 'forever' clause to their existing agreement. They also want permanent veto rights over investments from China or Russia.
In a clear sign of the negotiators' non-military priorities for the vast territory, the administration is also trying to wrestle control over Greenland's bountiful natural resources, including uranium, oil, and rare earth minerals.
With these demands representing an existential threat for the island nation's sovereignty and independence, officials in Greenland are deeply concerned about what any deal could mean for their future.
A member of their parliament, Justus Hansen, said the deal would leave islanders without any 'real independence', telling the Times that 'we might as well raise our own flag halfway,' if the deal is forced upon them.
While initial rhetoric from President Trump indicated that a military takeover was being considered, the forceful capture of the island has not been a subject of discussion during the talks, with US negotiators instead being directed to find a way to purchase the sovereign island.
The Prime Minister of Greenland, Jens-Frederik Nielsen, has signalled that he would not accept the sale of his nation, telling the media that it is 'not for sale', though many experts believe that some deal will ultimately done between the sparsely-populated island and its neighboring superpower.
A handful of face-to-face meetings have been held since the president fired up his rhetoric at the start of the year, with Denmark, Greenland, and American officials likely to agree on a matter of common defence.
That is, primarily, the threat posed by Russian and Chinese ships in the important area of the Atlantic between the US, Greenland, Iceland, and the UK, which could be turned into a chokepoint for the NATO alliance
But with more bases to monitor this threat being of benefit to all-involved, speaking to the BBC, one American advisor asked: "Why threaten an ally with a military operation or invasion when what you want is something that could be negotiated quite easily?"