US has Greenland (and foreign policy) exactly upside down

If you're sitting in Copenhagen or Nuuk and looking for bespoke lessons from the trade war that President Donald Trump just declared on the world, here are two.

- Andreas Kluth

First, what this American president signals, he also carries out. Second, it does not matter whether the object of his fixation is obviously self-defeating or nonsensical; he'll press on regardless, just because. Put both insights together, and you may conclude that when Trump says he'll "get" Greenland from Denmark-"100%" with or without force - he will try. Among the latest indicators is the firing of Colonel Susannah Meyers. She commanded the Pituffik Space Base (formerly named Thule Air Base), an American outpost in Greenland that monitors the Arctic skies for incoming enemy missiles. At first blush, Meyers might seem to be just one more victim in the ongoing purge of national-security and military officials deemed disloyal to Trump or suspiciously woke. In this case, though, the Pentagon specified that actions "to subvert President Trump's agenda will not be tolerated."

What could have been Meyers' transgression? It occurred just after a visit to the base by JD Vance and his entourage, during which the vice president wantonly snubbed the host country. "Our message to Denmark is very simple," Vance said. "You have not done a good job by the people of Greenland." Danes and Greenlanders were understandably offended. So Meyers sent an internal email to all her staff, including the American service members and the Danish and Greenlandic contractors working with them, reassuring them that Vance's "concerns" are "not reflective of Pituffik Space Base." And now she's out, on grounds of subversion.