DONALD Trump has reignited claims that the US will annex Greenland, ignoring Danish protests and NATO threats.
The President expressed confidence in the plan during a meeting with NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte at the Oval Office.
“I think that it will happen,” he told reporters at the White House while hosting a meeting with NATO chief Mark Rutte.
“I didn’t give it much thought before, but I’m sitting with a man who could be very instrumental.”
“You know Mark, we need that for international security, not just security, international,” Trump said, addressing the Dutchman directly.
“We have a lot of our favourite players cruising around the coast and we have to be careful and we will be talking to you.”
Denmark has firmly stated that Greenland is not for sale in response to Trump’s attempts to pressure Greenland’s PM Mute B Egede regarding the purchase of the territory before his re-election.
Rutte promptly stated that he would not interfere in the matter of the US and Greenland, however, he acknowledged that Trump’s concerns about the Arctic region were valid.
“The Chinese are now using these routes, we know that the Russians are already arming,” the NATO head said.
“Apart from Russia, there are seven Arctic countries collaborating under US guidance to ensure the safety of the region and that part of the world,” he emphasized.
“We know things are changing there and we have to be there.”
An election held on Tuesday in the Danish territory, saw a win for pro-business opposition Demokraatit Party which is seeking gradual independence from Denmark.
The US president called their win a good thing for the US after he vowed last week that America will take control of the Arctic island “one way or another”.
The day before polls opened in Greenland, Trump said he could make the island’s 57,000 residents “rich” if they decided to link up with the US.
He bullishly went headfirst into his second term warning Copenhagen that they would be committing an “unfriendly act” if they refused to hand over the island as Russia and China move into the region.
Both nations have ramped up efforts to take control of the region, and there are concerns that America has been caught off-guard.
Russia, which owns 40 per cent of the Arctic coastline, has been particularly proactive in cranking up military activity.
It is currently building the world’s largest fleet of nuclear icebreakers that will dominate the Arctic waters and open up new routes shipping in the winter.
Meanwhile, China’s plan to take control of the Arctic is dubbed the “Polar Silk Road”, and was formally announced in 2018.
Rutte’s reluctance to comment on America’s Greenland ambitions comes after NATO allies discussed deploying troops to Greenland in the event of a US attempt to seize it.
Trump’s latest comments come as the alliance is already on shaky ground with the US and appears to be more fractured than ever – something its adversaries could benefit from.
Last month sources told The Telegraph that questions were raised by officials as to if Article 5, NATO’s mutual defense clause, would be triggered if the US made forceful attempts to claim the territory.
But, Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen was quick to quash growing tensions by thanking the US for its concerns about security in the Arctic but reiterating that Greenland is not for sale.
To address concerns, the PM said she would increased Denmark’s military presence on Greenland.
Other Danes have been less diplomatic, with Anders Vistisen, a Danish member of the European Parliament, bluntly telling the Republican to “f*** off”.
During a session at parliament in January he said: “Dear President Trump, listen very carefully. Greenland has been part of the Danish kingdom for 800 years.
“It’s an integrated part of our country. It is not for sale.
“Let me put it in words you might understand. Mr Trump F*** off.”
The Sun previously reported on how SAS-style Arctic forces who train under ice will defend the island from any threat – including Trump.
ISLE TAKE THAT!
EXCLUSIVE by Patrick Harrington, Foreign News Reporter
Trump could storm Greenland and claim it within 24 hours in the “world’s shortest war”, analysts have revealed.
If Trump did invade, America’s military might would end the war in a day, politics professor Anthony Glees told The Sun.
Speaking to The Sun, Glees said Trump will be surrounded by “people who think he is great” – and it means he will be able to go ahead with any wild ideas he has.
Glees said: “In other words, we have to take him seriously.
“And if Trump wanted to take Greenland by force, he could do it in 24 hours.”
Ulrik Pram Gad, a senior researcher at the Danish Institute for International Studies, told Politico that “there is no defensive capacity in Greenland”.
And it means it would be “the shortest war in the world”.
The conflict would present an “unchartered” situation after the US entered a pact with Denmark in 1951 to defend Greenland against any attack.
The US has a nuclear base on the island that is constantly manned by troops.
Kristian Søby Kristensen, a military researcher at the University of Copenhagen, said: “Who would the Americans be fighting? Their own military?”
Glees said it was likely that, in the event of a US invasion, “there would be no military response to it because it is unthinkable that any Nato member would attack the US”.
