Amid all the chaos and speculation brought about by Donald Trump’s obsession with taking Greenland, the standpoints of other global superpowers has perhaps taken a temporary backseat.
Trump has been extremely vocal concerning his desire to make Greenland – a Danish territory – part of the United States, in spite of resistance from Denmark and other members of NATO, not to mention fierce opposition within the U.S. political sphere.
Trump’s second term in office has thus far been more eventful than the vast majority of people could have possibly envisaged. In an unexpected turn, the 79-year-old made clear his wish to annex Greenland shortly after returning to the White House last January, though the urgency and doggedness with which he is pursuing the plan has come as a shock to the rest of the world.
The president has repeatedly made the claim that the assimilation of Greenland is a strategic aim of both Russia and China, thereby making it a matter of national security that the United States get there first.
In a significant escalation of tensions at a time where world peace appears to be teetering on a knife’s edge, Trump last week said: “Countries have to have ownership and you defend ownership, you don’t defend leases. And we’ll have to defend Greenland.”
He added: “We will do it ‘the easy way’ or ‘the hard way’.”
Yesterday U.S. Vice President JD Vance hosted ministers from Denmark and Greenland to discuss the territory’s future, with representatives from Denmark later warning of the meeting being marred by a “fundamental disagreement”.
Several European countries have declared their support for Denmark in relation to the matter, with NATO states including France, Sweden, and Germany sending military personnel to Greenland.
And if the previously unthinkable prospect of war between the U.S. and its European allies over an Artic territory wasn’t terrifying enough, Russian officials have now weighed in on the matter, expressing their belief that Trump is aiming to place nuclear strike forces on Greenland to gain superiority over the U.S.’s greatest rivals.
Trump has previously proposed the creation of a multi-layer missile defense system for the United States named the Golden Dome, and the POTUS believes the U.S. owning Greenland is “vital” to that plan coming to fruition.
“The United States needs Greenland for the purpose of National Security. It is vital for the Golden Dome that we are building,” Trump wrote on social media.
Former deputy prime minister of Russia Dmitry Rogozin currently serves as a senator for part of occupied Ukraine. Describing Trump as “eccentric”, he had stark words of warning regarding the U.S.’s apparent goal of making Greenland its 51st state.
Speaking of Trump’s desire to built the aforementioned Golden Dome missile defense system, Rogozin said: “Orbital sensors, ground interceptors, decision-making algorithms – all this requires advantageous geography.
“Greenland, with its Arctic position, proximity to Russia, and convenience for northern ICBM trajectories, fits perfectly into this architecture.”
He also claimed the US wants “to seize Greenland by force and turn it into a platform for deploying means of both nuclear attack and missile defence interception” of Russian missiles, adding that “this is the dismantling of the entire system of strategic stability in the world that has prevented the use of nuclear weapons since 1945.”
In an unequivocally frightening warning where he opined that the U.S. being “led by an eccentric” might lead them to believe that taking over Greenland would result in “nuclear superiority over Russia and China”, Rogozin said: “This will be the beginning of the end of the world.”
The Russia senator is said to have been involved in the development of Russia’s new 208-ton inter-continental silo-launched 15,880mph nuclear missile, known as Sarmat or Satan-2.
Describing the apocalyptic capabilities of the purported 14-storey-tall weapon, he said: “In real life, this can only be tested once, but it is not certain that anyone will be left to prepare reports afterwards.”
It should be noted that there is already a U.S. military presence on Greenland which once consisted of multiple facilities.
Currently only Pituffik Space Base, in the north of the Arctic territory, is manned by U.S. personnel, but Rasmus Sinding Søndergaard, an analyst on ties between Denmark and the U.S., told Newsweek that Trump could instead rejuvenate its old Cold War bases to meet America’s security needs, thereby eliminating the need for any sort of purchase or, God forbid, a hostile takeover.
