Virendra Pandit
New Delhi: To shield Denmark’s overseas territory, Greenland, from its likely ‘annexation’ by the United States, the European Union, which recently floated the idea to raise a 100,000-strong joint army, sent less than 30 “soldiers” for initial deployment on the Arctic island, the media reported.
France, which even warned the US, said the two-day mission is a way to show that EU troops can be quickly deployed if needed.
But no EU member wants to antagonize US President Donald Trump.
While France and Germany sent only 15 and 13 troops respectively, the United Kingdom sent only one, as a symbolic gesture! Norway and Sweden may also participate to bolster security on Arctic Island.
As of now, Denmark, a member of the US-led Nato, is planning a ‘larger, more permanent’ Nato presence on the semi-autonomous Greenland which Trump is trying to acquire by all means, claiming the island is vital to the US security.
According to media reports, European countries sent small numbers of military personnel to Greenland on Thursday as Denmark said it was pressing on with plans for a “larger and more permanent” Nato presence to secure the island coveted by Trump.
The modest European deployments, meant to help Denmark prepare military exercises, sent a message of support a day after a meeting of officials from the US, Denmark, and Greenland failed to reach any breakthrough on the impasse.
Soldiers from France, Germany and other European countries reached Greenland to help boost the Arctic island’s security after talks involving Denmark, Greenland and the United States highlighted “fundamental disagreement” between Trump’s administration and its European allies.
The mission has been described as a recognition-of-the-territory exercise with troops to plant the European Union’s flag on Greenland as a symbolic act.
“The first French military elements are already en route”, and “others will follow”, French President Emmanuel Macron said on Wednesday as his officials said soldiers from the country’s mountain infantry unit were already in Nuuk, Greenland’s capital.
Meanwhile, Germany’s Ministry of Defence said it was deploying a reconnaissance team of 13 personnel to Greenland on Thursday.
Reports said there was a “sense of urgency” among European nations, “particularly after the US’s actions in Venezuela, a sense that when Trump says something, he actually means it. “And that is why we’ve seen a number of European countries sending troops.”
Denmark announced its plans to increase its own military presence in Greenland on Wednesday as the Danish and Greenlandic foreign ministers met with White House representatives in Washington, DC, to discuss Trump’s intentions to take over the semiautonomous Danish territory to tap its mineral resources amid rising Russian and Chinese interest.
But the two foreign ministers emerged from their meeting with Vice-President JD Vance and US Secretary of State Marco Rubio having made little progress in dissuading Washington from seeking to take over Greenland.
“We didn’t manage to change the American position,” Danish Foreign Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen told reporters. “It’s clear that the President has this wish of conquering over Greenland.”
His Greenlandic counterpart, Vivian Motzfeldt, called for cooperation with the US but said that does not mean the country wants to be “owned by the United States.”
They announced their intent to establish a working group to continue to address concerns about control over Greenland and security in the Arctic.
White House spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt told reporters in Washington after the meeting that the military missions to Greenland by Denmark’s European allies would likely not make a difference to President Trump’s plans for the territory.
“I don’t think troops in Europe impact the President’s decision-making process, nor does it impact his goal of the acquisition of Greenland at all,” Leavitt said.
Trump told reporters in the Oval Office on Wednesday that “we really need it (Greenland).”
“If we don’t go in, Russia is going to go in, and China is going to go in. And there’s not a thing Denmark can do about it, but we can do everything about it,” he said.
Reports said Denmark has two aims. “To convince Trump that Denmark can and will take Arctic defence seriously. Trump is doing very scathing about Denmark’s capabilities for doing so, saying that Denmark’s forces here amounted to dog sleds.”
“But also, there is an element … of deterrence in all of this…No one is thinking that any of the troops here could stop a US invasion if that happened, but it would make it more complicated, because these are now Nato allies who are coming here with their military personnel.”
“And that’s a strange thought, isn’t it? That’s in this day and age, a group of Nato countries is considering deterrence against in the United States itself!”
Russia’s take
On the one hand Russia, whose own ongoing war in Ukraine will enter the fifth year on February 24 with no ceasefire in sight, has offered to ‘mediate’ between the US and Iran!
But on the other, Moscow criticised “references to certain activity of Russia and China around Greenland as a reason for the current escalation.”
“First they came up with the idea that there were some aggressors, and then that they were ready to protect someone from these aggressors,” Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said of the West’s actions on Greenland.
The current situation, she said, “demonstrates with particular acuteness the inconsistency of the so-called ‘rules-based world order’ being built by the West”, she said.
“We stand in solidarity with China’s position on the unacceptability of references to certain activity of Russia and China around Greenland as a reason for the current escalation,” Zakharova said.
Russian ambassador to Belgium Denis Gonchar had blamed Nato for “militarisation of the Arctic”, stating that the arrival of the alliance’s personnel was a matter of serious concern. “In his opinion, Russia’s position is that the Arctic should remain a territory of peace and equal cooperation,” she added.