Frederiksen responds to Trump's threat: "We will defend every inch of Greenland"

Special envoy to Ankara (Turkey)Denmark holds its ground against the United States. After U.S. President Donald Trump reiterated his threat against Greenland this Tuesday, Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen responded that her country is prepared to "defend every centimeter" of the Arctic island. "Greenland, of course, is not for sale. We hope everyone, including all allies, respects the Greenlandic people and their right to self-determination," remarked the social democratic leader at the entrance to the NATO summit this Wednesday in Ankara (Turkey).

The tone of NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte was very different. He almost ignored that the President of the United States has once again targeted Greenland and limited himself to responding that it is an issue he already discussed and resolved at the Davos Forum at the beginning of the year, when Trump stopped threatening to invade the Arctic island—at least temporarily. Thus, the leader of the Atlantic Alliance once again downplayed the fact that an ally of the organization threatens the sovereignty of another ally and even defended that the New York magnate "is right when he says that China and Russia are gaining access to the Arctic." "It is crucial that, as an alliance, and this is what we agreed at Davos, we work together to ensure that this does not happen," Rutte added.

In contrast, the NATO leader justified the "absolutely necessary" Pentagon attacks against Iran and emphasized that it is "fundamental" for U.S. troops to "react firmly" to Iran breaking the ceasefire. In fact, Rutte announced in statements to the media before the leaders' meeting that he will put the war in Iran on the table, even though the rest of the allies flatly refuse to get involved in the conflict initiated by Trump and the Atlantic Alliance is a defensive and not offensive military understanding.

These statements come after the President of the United States stated this Tuesday that "Greenland should be under the control of the United States and not Denmark." And, in fact, he pointed out that his "disappointment" with NATO began as a result of the clash he had at the beginning of the year with the European allies when he threatened to invade the Arctic island, even though he has constantly humiliated and threatened European leaders since the very moment he regained the White House.

The New York magnate linked the US military withdrawal from Europe to Greenland's sovereignty and stated that he "began to question" the resources allocated to European defense when European leaders flatly refused to cede the island. "We don't need to make this expense," Trump said he thought at the time. Furthermore, the far-right leader stated that "Europe is a very different place than it was twenty years ago" due to immigration and that, therefore, it makes sense to "withdraw all US soldiers" from the European continent. "If you don't manage immigration well, the Europe we know will no longer exist," he added.