4 months ago
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European countries, and Denmark successful particular, are scrambling to respond to threats from U.S. officials implicit the aboriginal of Greenland.
Having successfully taken retired the enactment of Venezuela successful a raid connected January 3, an emboldened U.S. authorities is talking astir simply taking Greenland for itself.
Various European leaders person expressed their interest but haven’t been capable to formulate a coherent effect to the betrayal by a expected ally.
Since the September 11 attacks successful 2001, Danish governments person willingly participated successful U.S.-led invasions of Afghanistan (2001-2021) and Iraq (2003-2007). The rightward question crossed the Danish governmental spectrum had led to Denmark rejecting immoderate Nordic and EU practice successful favour of pro-U.S. transatlanticism.
However, the 2022 Russian penetration of Ukraine led to a rethink of Danish overseas policy. The state joined the EU’s communal information and defence argumentation and tightened practice with caller Nato members Finland and Sweden.
And erstwhile Donald Trump came to powerfulness [U.S. President] for the 2nd time, the chaotic rightward plaything of U.S. overseas argumentation near Denmark reaching retired for enactment from its EU colleagues implicit the situation to Greenland.
Trump says U.S. needs to ain Greenland to deter Russia, China
While a subordinate of the European Union, Denmark has placed itself astatine the bloc’s periphery since copying the U.K. successful opting retired of the euro and from practice successful justness and location affairs. But immoderate U.S. penetration of Greenland is apt to interruption Denmark’s fixed speech complaint argumentation with the euro (and earlier that the deutschmark) that has been successful spot since 1982. So determination are economical implications arsenic good arsenic territorial implications.
The fallout from the U.S.’ threats, and surely immoderate U.S. involution successful Greenland, goes overmuch further than Denmark. While the EU tried to enactment successful measurement with the U.S. successful its enactment of Ukraine during Joe Biden’s presidency, since the re-election of Mr. Trump, EU subordinate states person precise overmuch fallen retired with the U.S. During 2025, the U.S. and EU clashed implicit commercialized and tariffs, societal media regulation, situation and agriculture policies.
But the latest developments show that Mr. Trump’s U.S. tin nary longer beryllium trusted arsenic a semipermanent state – to Greenland and Denmark, the EU and Europe.
This is simply a situation engulfing galore countries and triggered by galore drivers. In bid to recognize this analyzable situation, we tin usage 4 antithetic analytical approaches from world thinking. These tin assistance america contextualise not conscionable the Greenland case, but besides the emerging multipolar satellite of “might makes right”.
Trump weighs subject enactment to get Greenland
1. Realism
Currently, the astir fashionable attack comes from wrong the blimpish contented of “realism”. This predicts that each authorities volition enactment successful their ain nationalist interest.
In this framing, Mr. Trump’s actions are portion of the emergence of a multipolar world, successful which the large powers are the U.S., China, India and Russia. In this world, it makes consciousness for Russia to invade Ukraine to antagonistic the U.S., for the U.S. to prehend assets successful Venezuela and Greenland to antagonistic China, and for China to invade Taiwan to antagonistic the U.S.
2. The caller elites
Many deliberation that to recognize the events of the past fewer years, including Mr. Trump’s instrumentality and Russian President Vladimir Putin’s overseas policies, you request to look beyond blimpish oregon wide explanations to question retired who holds powerfulness and power successful the planetary superpowers. That means the affluent families, corporations and oligarchs who exert power implicit the authorities of the ruling elite done media and run powerfulness and finance.
In the cases of Venezuela and Greenland, determination are 2 factors astatine enactment – the U.S. rejection of the regularisation of instrumentality and the tendency for idiosyncratic wealthiness via vigor resources. But the timing is besides important. The cognition successful Venezuela has been the lone communicative to eclipse the Epstein files successful the quality successful galore months.
3. The diminution of the wide order
Many world explanations spot these caller events successful the discourse of the diminution of a “liberal order” dominated by the U.S., Europe, the “developed world” and the U.N. In this view, the actions of Mr. Putin and Mr. Trump are seen arsenic the past days of planetary law, the value of the U.N., and what Western nations spot arsenic a strategy based connected multilateralism.
However, this attack tends to place the continued dominance of the planetary northbound successful these systems. The deficiency of enactment for the U.S. and EU’s defence of Ukraine has been repeatedly demonstrated successful the unwillingness of galore countries, including China and India, to condemn the Russian penetration successful the U.N. General Assembly. It would beryllium absorbing to spot however specified voting would play retired if it related to a U.S. penetration of Greenland.
Greenland acquisition an progressive discussion, Trump is committed to NATO: White House
4. The planetary approach
The last – and astir important – presumption is recovered successful the planetary authorities approach. This attack is based connected the elemental reflection that truthful galore planetary crises, specified arsenic planetary heating, wide extinctions of wildlife, clime refugees, rising autocracy and the instrumentality of planetary struggle are profoundly interrelated and truthful tin lone beryllium understood erstwhile considered together.
From this perspective, it is Greenland’s sustainability and Greenlanders’ lives that indispensable signifier the knowing of Denmark’s and different European responses to Mr. Trump’s claims. It is done acknowledging the heavy narration that indigenous radical person to their ecology that solutions tin beryllium found.
And Greenlanders person already expressed their imaginativeness for the future. Living connected the frontline of the clime crisis, they privation an system built connected resilience – not connected ego-driven governmental drama.
While it’s speedy and casual to justice the events successful Venezuela oregon Greenland successful presumption of the regular quality cycle, the 4 perspectives acceptable retired present unit radical to deliberation for themselves astir however champion to recognize analyzable planetary crises.
There is, however, a last reflection to emphasise. Only 1 of these perspectives is apt to bring immoderate mode of reasoning ourselves retired of our planetary governmental crisis.
Ian Manners is professor, Department of Political Science, Lund University. This nonfiction is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original nonfiction here.
