Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen has warned that if the United States forcibly annexes Greenland, it would result in the collapse of the American-led NATO military alliance.
The aim of the United States to take control of the Arctic island of Greenland, which has been an on-again-off-again goal of Washington since the middle of the 19th century and has recently been reiterated by President Donald Trump, has come into fresh focus following the remarkable U.S. military operation, which saw the toppling and capture of former Venezuelan socialist dictator Nicolás Maduro, demonstrating the willingness of the White House to take bold actions to achieve its goals on the world stage.
In comments reported by POLITICO, Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen, whose country currently owns the self-governing island, said that President Trump should be taken “seriously when he says that he wants Greenland.”
“But I will also make it clear that if the U.S. chooses to attack another NATO country militarily, then everything stops, including NATO and thus the security that has been established since the end of the Second World War,” she said.
President Trump has argued that Greenland is of vital national security importance to the United States due to its strategic location and large-scale mineral deposits, and therefore has so far refused to rule out using American military might to simply seize the territory from the Danes.
However, on Monday evening, White House Deputy Chief of Staff for Policy, Stephen Miller, downplayed the notion that the U.S. would need to resort to force to take control of the territory.
