The Daily Populous Wednesday December 25th, 2024 morning edition
Authored by bbc.com and submitted by Class_of_22

Denmark boosts Greenland defence after Trump repeats desire for US control

Reuters Greenland has major mineral reserves

The Danish government has announced a huge boost in defence spending for Greenland, hours after US President-elect Donald Trump repeated his desire to purchase the Arctic territory. Danish Defence Minister Troels Lund Poulsen said the package was a "double digit billion amount" in krone, or at least $1.5bn (£1.2bn). He described the timing of the announcement as an "irony of fate". On Monday Trump said ownership and control of the huge island was an "absolute necessity" for the US. Greenland, an autonomous Danish territory, is home to a large US space facility and is strategically important for the US, lying on the shortest route from North America to Europe. It has major mineral reserves.

Poulsen said the package would allow for the purchase of two new inspection ships, two new long-range drones and two extra dog sled teams. It would also include funding for increased staffing at Arctic Command in the capital Nuuk and an upgrade for one of Greenland's three main civilian airports to handle F-35 supersonic fighter aircraft. "We have not invested enough in the Arctic for many years, now we are planning a stronger presence," he said. The defence minister did not give an exact figure for the package, but Danish media estimated it would be around 12-15bn krone. The announcement came a day after Trump said on his social media platform Truth Social: "For purposes of National Security and Freedom throughout the World, the United States of America feels that the ownership and control of Greenland is an absolute necessity." Greenland's Prime Minister Mute Egede responded to Trump's comments, saying "we are not for sale". But he added that Greenlanders should continue to be open for cooperation and trade, especially with their neighbours.

ArcticPod on December 25th, 2024 at 01:27 UTC »

This is just rhetoric that Trump pushes to seem strong to his base, despite a bunch of articles claiming that "this time it's serious" I have a hard time believing it until we see more serious and concrete steps taken.

Besides all parties here being a part of NATO, the US literally has had a military presence in Greenland since 1943 at the Thule Air Base , now known as the Pituffik Space Base. There's literally no real reason for the US to invade, as it already has access to the territory, and the negative press from the conflict would heavily outweigh any benefits that controlling it would bring.

Never say never, but it's highly unlikely.

grumpygrenouille on December 25th, 2024 at 01:09 UTC »

Every time France pushes the "strategic autonomy" of Europe (that they have preached for the past 70 years) it is being taxed as disingenuine or unreliable, and those countries keep buying US military equipment and subcontract their security to the US... Until a strongman with imperialist views come into power in the US and sh*t hits the fan...

VastUnique on December 25th, 2024 at 00:57 UTC »

Denmark is concerned about Russia not the US, despite the clickbait title. As the article notes, this has been planned for a while. Sadly, people are already attributing this as a victory for Trump, suggesting this was Trump's intention all along.