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Why Is This Man Smiling?
Because he may be getting exactly what he wants
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Somewhere deep inside the Kremlin, Russian leaders must be beside themselves. They can’t believe their luck. Vladimir Putin’s usual scowl has no doubt been replaced by a grin.
Donald Trump may accomplish what Russia has been trying to do for decades — destroy NATO.
If the United States invades Greenland, NATO as we know it will be finished, Europe will be on edge, and Americans will be living in a much more dangerous world.
Perhaps it was fortuitous on the Russians’ part, or perhaps not. Many have speculated that it could have been the plan all along. Putin helped elect Donald Trump in 2016 through election interference, and the two have long had a “special relationship.”
Who would have thought a land grab for a sparsely populated, ice-covered island in the Arctic Circle could bring a decades-old Western security alliance to its knees? Thanks to Trump and his moving target motivations, that is exactly where we are.
When Trump first expressed a desire to purchase Greenland in 2019, he was turned down flat by Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen. Most just laughed off the absurd offer as “Trump being Trump.” In this country, it was prime fodder for late-night comedians.
Now, Trump says if he can’t buy it, he will take the island territory by force. Even though that would mean attacking an ally and member of NATO. And even though Denmark, which governs Greenland, says the United States is free to reopen bases it closed after the Cold War when the Soviet threat dissipated.
A 1951 U.S.-Danish pact allows for 16 U.S. military installations, including all the things Trump says are needed to ensure America’s safety: deep-water ports, radar stations, long runways, icebreakers, army and naval bases, launch sites, and a missile defense shield.
Trump claims he needs all of these things to defend against Russia and China, which have reportedly become more active in the region.
When asked why having unrestricted access to Greenland wasn’t enough, Trump told The New York Times that acquiring the country was “psychologically necessary for success” for him personally.
His reasoning took an even stranger turn Sunday when a letter he wrote to the Norwegian Prime Minister and shared with multiple European leaders surfaced. In it, Trump linked not winning the Nobel Peace Prize with his continued and hostile push to “own” Greenland.
“Considering your Country decided not to give me the Nobel Peace Prize for having stopped 8 Wars PLUS, I no longer feel an obligation to think purely of Peace,” Trump wrote in the letter.
Only in Trump’s mind has he “stopped” eight wars.
The White House has floated the idea of having Greenlanders vote on a U.S. takeover referendum. You can imagine how well that is going over — about as well as the idea of invading Greenland is polling at home. Nine out of ten Americans oppose taking Greenland by force, according to the latest Quinnipiac poll. You can’t get 90% of people to agree that the sky is blue.
Trump has plenty of options that could save face and don’t include invading a sovereign nation, but it’s clear he doesn’t want to deal. Like a petulant toddler, he wants what he wants, and he wants it now. “We are going to do something in Greenland, whether they like it or not. If we don’t do it the easy way, we’re going to do it the hard way,” Trump warned on Friday.
Next on his list of cudgels to employ: tariffs!
Yup, on Sunday, Trump said he would impose an additional 10% tariff on eight NATO-member nations starting February 1 “until such time as a Deal is reached for the Complete and Total purchase of Greenland,” he threatened in a social media post. On June 1, the tariff would increase to 25%.
Unsurprisingly, the European Union countered Trump’s blackmail with proposed retaliatory tariffs of its own.
Is Trump willing to destroy the 77-year-old NATO alliance because conquering Greenland is good for his psyche or is there something more at play?
NATO is strategically important to the stability not just of North America but of the world. Upon its founding in 1949 as a bulwark against the kind of aggression that led to World War II, the organization ushered in the largest expansions of democratic prosperity ever seen.
You know who has never wanted stability in the region or to spread democracy? Putin. According to Kremlin insiders, splitting up the Western alliance has been a decades-long pipe dream of his.
“This is a big win for Putin. If he can split the Western alliance, if the Americans can insist on any part of our territory, and he can split, maybe even destroy NATO, then he is the big winner,” Rasmus Jarlov, member of the Danish parliament, said on France 24 TV.
Considering Trump’s cozy relationship with the Russian dictator, it is within the realm of possibility that he is doing Putin’s bidding. Even if that is not the case, it is stunningly ironic — some might say idiotic or even suspicious — that annexing Greenland to guard against Russian activity in the Arctic could result in killing an organization that guards against Russian expansion.
One of Trump’s favorite tactics to distract from things he doesn’t want to deal with and burnish his ego is a good old saber-rattling. Unlike the one-and-done bombing of Iran’s nuclear site or the quick extraction of the Venezuelan president, this threat to international order could mean sustained and irreparable damage.
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Dan
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