The Daily Populous Tuesday January 6th, 2026 morning edition
Authored by theguardian.com and submitted by Bob_Spud

An attack by the United States on a Nato ally would mean the end of both the military alliance and “post-second world war security”, Denmark’s leader has warned, after Donald Trump threatened again to take over Greenland.

Fresh from his military operation in Venezuela, the US president said on Sunday the US needed Greenland “very badly” – renewing fears of a US invasion of the largely autonomous island, which is a former Danish colony and remains part of the Danish kingdom. Greenland’s foreign and security policy continues to be controlled by Copenhagen.

Mette Frederiksen, the Danish prime minister, warned on Monday that any US attack on a Nato ally would be the end of “everything”.

“If the United States decides to militarily attack another Nato country, then everything would stop – that includes Nato and therefore post-second world war security,” Frederiksen told Danish television network TV2.

Greenland’s strategic location between Europe and North America makes it a critical site for the US ballistic missile defence system. The island’s significant mineral resources also align with Washington’s ambition to reduce dependence on Chinese exports.

Frederiksen’s comments came after Greenland’s prime minister, Jens-Frederik Nielsen, made a bracingly direct statement in which he urged Trump to give up his “fantasies about annexation” and accused the US of “completely and utterly unacceptable” rhetoric, declaring: “Enough is enough.”

“Threats, pressure and talk of annexation have no place between friends,” said Nielsen in a social media post. “That is not how you speak to a people who have shown responsibility, stability and loyalty time and again. Enough is enough. No more pressure. No more innuendo. No more fantasies about annexation.”

Speaking later at a press conference in the capital Nuuk, Nielsen sought to allay fears of an imminent US takeover.

“We are not in the situation where we are thinking that a takeover of the country might happen overnight,” Nielsen said, speaking via a translator. “You cannot compare Greenland to Venezuela. We are a democratic country.”

Frederiksen said her government was doing all that was possible to prevent an attack on Greenland and accused the US of applying “unacceptable pressure”, describing it as an “unreasonable attack on the world community”.

“You cannot go in and take over part of another country’s territory,” she told Danish broadcaster DR, adding: “If the US chooses to attack another Nato country, everything will stop.

“I have said from the beginning that I unfortunately believe the American president is serious about this. I have also made it very clear where Denmark stands. And Greenland has repeatedly said that it does not want to be part of the USA.”

She had been “very clear” to Trump, in public and private, said Frederiksen, adding that she would “do everything … to fight for the fundamental democratic values and the international community we have built.”

Nielsen and Frederiksen were backed by the EU, which on Monday said it would not stop defending the principle of territorial integrity, particularly when it came to a member of the 27-member bloc.

“The EU will continue to uphold the principles of national sovereignty, territorial integrity and the inviolability of borders,” the EU’s lead foreign policy spokesperson, Anitta Hipper, told reporters. “These are universal principles, and we will not stop defending them, all the more so if the territorial integrity of a member state of the European Union is questioned.”

But pressure is growing on Frederiksen, who faces a general election this year, to go beyond diplomacy and lay out more concrete plans for how Denmark would respond if Greenland were invaded.

Aaja Chemnitz, a Greenlandic member of the Danish parliament and representative of the Inuit Ataqatigiit party, said although she did not believe an invasion was imminent, Greenlanders should “prepare for the worst”.

“We should hope for the best and prepare for the worst. That’s the way I see it right now. We are in a situation that is concerning.” Chemnitz said Trump’s latest remarks were “the worst and most serious” of his threats to Greenland and marked the emergence of a “new world order”.

“Just a few months ago many of us were seeing the political world as we used to see it, which is that you can have a dialogue, you can have collaboration … and so on,” she said. “But the way that the US is talking about Greenland and trying to ‘collaborate with Greenland’, it’s a totally new world order that we are looking at.”

Chemnitz added: “The future of Greenland is completely up to us. I understand that he [Trump] might be interested in having Greenland, but Greenland is not interested in being part of the US.”

After refusing to rule out military intervention to gain control of Greenland last year, Trump has been relatively quiet on the subject in recent months.

View image in fullscreen The US president, Donald Trump, speaks to reporters onboard Air Force One on Sunday. Photograph: Jonathan Ernst/Reuters

But the US bombardment of Venezuela to capture its president, Nicolás Maduro, and Trump’s comments over the weekend have renewed fears that he may act on his threats.

Speaking on Air Force One, Trump refused to answer a question about whether he expected to take action in Greenland, saying he would revisit the subject “in 20 days” before going on to mock Danish defence efforts.

“Right now, Greenland is full of Chinese and Russian ships everywhere. We need Greenland for national security reasons. Denmark will not be able to handle the task,” Trump said.

Pele Broberg, the leader of Greenland’s pro-independence opposition party Naleraq, said he was not concerned by Trump’s comments.

“I am quite confident the US will protect Greenland as an independent nation when we want to become one,” he said, adding that the Greenlandic government should be in dialogue with the Trump administration. “Besides, the US can’t do anything to us that Denmark hasn’t done already.”

Last month, Danish intelligence services accused the US of using its economic power to “assert its will” and threatening military force against its allies. It comes against the backdrop of increasing tensions in the Arctic as three global superpowers – the US, China and Russia – fight for dominance over minerals and other geopolitical assets in the region as the ice melts.

Nordic neighbours Sweden, Norway and Finland have all expressed their support for Denmark. The Swedish prime minister, Ulf Kristersson, said: “Only Denmark and Greenland have the right to decide on issues concerning Denmark and Greenland. Sweden fully supports our neighbouring country.”

Other European allies, such as the UK and Germany, have emphasised that the island’s future lies in the hands of its people.

“Greenland and the Kingdom of Denmark must determine the future of Greenland and nobody else,” the British prime minister, Keir Starmer, said on Monday.

The German foreign minister, Johann Wadephul, suggested Nato could discuss strengthening Greenland’s protection, while the EU reiterated its commitment to the principle of national sovereignty.

Jodid0 on January 5th, 2026 at 21:14 UTC »

Now who on earth would benefit the most from NATO being fractured and cut up? Especially when it's the US breaking off from the rest. Who stands to gain the most from an invasion of Greenland? Then ask yourself who has President Trump rolled out the red carpet for in both terms?

Grime_Fandango_ on January 5th, 2026 at 20:07 UTC »

The issue is - the US doesn't care. It can look after itself without NATO. The end of NATO doesn't threaten them - it threatens Eastern Europe.

Soft-Ingenuity2262 on January 5th, 2026 at 20:05 UTC »

Yeah, no shit. That’s best case scenario if the takeover actually happens. What’s next is the issue. A weakened EU with militaristic autocrats on the east and the west.