{"id":282017,"date":"2026-01-13T12:33:23","date_gmt":"2026-01-13T12:33:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/282017\/"},"modified":"2026-01-13T12:33:23","modified_gmt":"2026-01-13T12:33:23","slug":"drunk-on-power-fm4-orf-at","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/282017\/","title":{"rendered":"“Drunk on Power” – fm4.ORF.at"},"content":{"rendered":"

Defense analyst Shashank Joshi warns that seizing Danish territory would shatter 75 years of transatlantic security.<\/strong><\/p>\n

By Chris Cummins<\/a><\/p>\n

Donald Trump wants to buy Greenland \u2014 and he\u2019s not ruling out military force to take it.<\/p>\n

His allies are fanning the flames. Just hours after the U.S. military operation in Venezuela, Katie Miller, wife of senior Trump advisor Stephen Miller, posted a map showing Greenland covered with the American flag, captioned with a single word: \u201eSOON.\u201c Greenland belongs to Denmark, a NATO ally.<\/p>\n

So what do these threats really mean?<\/p>\n

The idea of U.S. troops invading the territory of a NATO ally might seem absurd, but the military presence is already in place, according to Shashank Joshi, defense editor of The Economist.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere is a U.S. Space Force base called the Pituffik Base, which has a very powerful space radar on it,\u201d Joshi explains. The base hosts the 12th Space Warning Squadron, which operates ballistic missile early warning systems. The U.S. maintains approximately 150-200 active-duty personnel at Pituffik Space Base<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd so in some senses,” argues Joshi, America doesn\u2019t need to send in forces in the manner it did in Venezuela. It just could say this is now U.S. sovereign territory, this base at least, and perhaps all of Greenland.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

APA\/AFP\/POOL\/Jim WATSON<\/p>\n

Security Arguments Don\u2019t Add Up<\/p>\n

The Trump administration has argued it needs to \u201ehave\u201c Greenland for national security reasons. But that rationale falls apart under examination. Denmark has already authorized Washington to deploy additional forces or build more missile defense infrastructure on Greenland if needed.<\/p>\n

\u201cAmerica used to have far more troops and bases on Greenland than it does today. It closed many of them over the last 30 years. And that was up to America, not up to Denmark,\u201d Joshi notes. \u201cSo if America wanted to expand its presence on Greenland to cope with what it says is a growing threat from Russia and China \u2014 a threat that it somewhat exaggerates in terms of the ships swarming the island, as Trump talks about it \u2014 it could do so. Denmark would have no problem with that.\u201d<\/p>\n

As for critical minerals, Greenland\u2019s government has already expressed willingness to sell its natural resources to the United States. Washington effectively has access to anything it could reasonably demand.<\/p>\n

So why threaten a close ally and antagonize several of his most powerful allies? Seven European leaders including Emmanuel Macron, Friedrich Merz, and Keir Starmer issued a joint statement saying Greenland \u201ebelongs to its people\u201c and that \u201eIt is for Denmark and Greenland, and them only, to decide on matters concerning Denmark and Greenland.\u201c<\/p>\n

Why ruin the transatlantic relationship?<\/p>\n

\u201cDrunk on Power\u201d<\/p>\n

Joshi believes the timing is key: \u201cI think that they are slightly drunk on power. They\u2019ve pulled off this remarkable military operation in Venezuela, and even though the political outcomes may be very uncertain for now, I think that this MAGA movement doesn\u2019t really see itself as constrained by international law or rules. They see a world that is dog eat dog.\u201d<\/p>\n

The End of NATO?<\/p>\n

Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen has issued a stark warning: if the U.S. attacks Greenland, \u201eeverything stops, including NATO and the security architecture established since the end of World War II\u201c.<\/p>\n

Joshi takes that warning seriously. \u201cAmerica is so vital to NATO \u2014 the Supreme Allied Commander Europe, SACEUR, is a four-star American general sitting in Belgium \u2014 that if America were to do anything like this, I think it would basically explode the idea that America would come to the aid of Europe if it was attacked by Russia. And that, in turn, would blow up the underlying trust in NATO\u2019s Article 5, and with it, the political cohesion of the alliance.\u201d<\/p>\n

What Would That Mean<\/p>\n

The consequences would ripple across the continent. \u201cYou might not notice it the day afterwards when you wake up, but if you\u2019re sitting in Estonia or Latvia or Lithuania and you\u2019re a citizen of those countries, I think you would very much be concerned that actually Russia could now feel perhaps it could invade one of these countries and the likelihood of an American response would be much lower,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

\u201cYour level of insecurity, your level of uncertainty would be really quite profound. And I think you\u2019d see it in European stock markets. I think you\u2019d see it in levels of investment in Europe. You\u2019d see it in the sense of security everyday European citizens would eventually feel.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Danish<\/p>\n

APA\/AFP\/Odd ANDERSEN<\/p>\n

Europe Faces a New Reality: A Predatory America<\/p>\n

Denmark\u2019s response to Trump\u2019s threats has evolved dramatically. A year ago, when the rhetoric first began, Copenhagen urged quiet diplomacy. \u201eThey were being very careful and saying to Europeans, look, let\u2019s deal with this privately. We\u2019ll talk to the Americans. Don\u2019t make a fuss,\u201c Joshi recalls. \u201eThat\u2019s all completely changed.\u201c<\/p>\n

Now Denmark is actively calling on its European partners to speak up. The first line of defense has been securing public statements from major European powers standing by Denmark and condemning American rhetoric \u2014 what Joshi calls \u201edeterrence by rhetoric.\u201c<\/p>\n

But Denmark\u2019s options remain limited. \u201eIf it goes beyond that, I think they will be looking very closely at U.S. intelligence activity on Greenland, for example, operations trying to influence the independence movement on the island,\u201c Joshi says. \u201eBut in terms of physical defense, I\u2019m not sure there\u2019s an awful lot they can do, given that America is so powerful and has a presence on the island.\u201c<\/p>\n

The Unthinkable Scenario<\/p>\n

For decades, conflict between the U.S. and its European NATO partners seemed unthinkable. European militaries remain heavily dependent on America \u2014 not just outgunned, but reliant on U.S. technology for their weaponry to function at all.<\/p>\n

\u201eI think the scenario that many Europeans were worried about was really an America that pulls away from Europe, that is more interested in Asia or indeed in Latin America, as we see,\u201c Joshi explains.<\/p>\n

A Fundamental Shift<\/p>\n

\u201eWhat was less prominent in these scenarios of concern was a predatory America, an America that is threatening Greenland, that is sanctioning former EU officials, that is encouraging far-right parties in Europe. That\u2019s a different world.\u201c<\/p>\n

The shift is forcing a fundamental reassessment. \u201eI\u2019m talking to lots of military officials in Europe, all of whom are now really, really concerned and saying, we must really think about our future without America now in a serious way,\u201c Joshi says.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Defense analyst Shashank Joshi warns that seizing Danish territory would shatter 75 years of transatlantic security. By Chris…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":282018,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[264],"tags":[18,117,19,17,337],"class_list":{"0":"post-282017","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-music","8":"tag-eire","9":"tag-entertainment","10":"tag-ie","11":"tag-ireland","12":"tag-music"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ie\/115887813917166976","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/282017","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=282017"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/282017\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/282018"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=282017"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=282017"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=282017"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}