Donald Trump is ‘destabilising global order with Greenland seizure threats’

A new global order could arise not from Eastern Europe, led by Vladimir Putin, or the Middle East or the South China Sea, but from the Arctic.

Donald Trump’s threat to deploy the US military to capture Greenland – an autonomous Danish territory – could be the catalyst.

Any attempt to forcefully take land belonging to a Nato ally would shatter postwar norms, fracture alliances and invite retaliation from rivals already watching for signs of American overreach. 

Responding to the renewed calls for takeover, Russia expert Keir Giles told Metro that the global destabilisation caused by America’s ‘return to naked imperialism’ is ‘careering out of control downhill’.

‘We are already in a situation of a wider conflict – even as a hangover from the Joe Biden administration – because there is no longer the restraint that previously was put in place by the US that had a strong interest in the rules-based international order,’ he explained.

‘The number of conflicts worldwide has proliferated, and there has been a spike not only in number of conflicts, but in the number of people that are being killed with them.

‘We have entered an age of global insecurity, and the latest US actions will only encourage those regional aggressors that think the time is now to expand their territory or to settle scores with neighbours.

‘So, the global destabilization that results from the new policy track of the US, with its return to naked imperialism of the 19th century, is underway, and this will just accelerate the process.’

Denmark and Greenland are seeking a meeting with US secretary of state Marco Rubio after the Trump administration doubled down on its intention to take over the strategic Arctic island.

Danish prime minister Mette Frederiksen warned earlier this week that a US takeover would amount to the end of Nato.

Maria Martisiute, a defence analyst at the European Policy Centre think tank, stressed that the Nordics do not lightly make statements like this.

She added: ‘But it is Trump, whose very bombastic language bordering on direct threats and intimidation, is threatening the fact to another ally by saying “I will control or annex the territory.”‘

The leaders of Britain, France, Germany, Italy, Poland and Spain joined Frederiksen in a statement on Tuesday reaffirming that the mineral-rich island ‘belongs to its people.’

Giles hopes that European leaders are handling some behind the scenes conversations and not just relying on the single statement.

He said: ‘It is hard to see how the framing of that joint statement would influence US thinking, since it appeals to principles and institutions that the US has demonstrated carry little weight from its decision making.

‘What we have to hope is this is part of a multi-trust conversation where Europe is explaining to the US what the costs and consequences of any such move would be, and ensuring that whatever leverage they may have is clear in advance.’

French foreign minister Jean-Noël Barrot confirmed he spoke by phone with Rubio, who dismissed the idea of a Venezuela-style hit in Greenland.

Barrot told France Inter radio: ‘In the US, there is massive support for the country belonging to Nato – a membership that, from one day to the next, would be compromised by – any form of aggressiveness toward another member of Nato.’

Asked if he has a plan in case Trump does claim Greenland, Barrot said he won’t engage in ‘fiction diplomacy.’

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