Greenland attack would end Nato, says Denmark

An attack by the United States on a Nato ally would mean the end of the military alliance and “post-second world war security”, Denmark’s leader warned yesterday after Donald Trump threatened again to take over Greenland.

- Miranda Bryant

Fresh from his military operation in Venezuela, Trump said on Sunday the US needed Greenland “very badly” - renewing fears of a US invasion of the largely autonomous island, which is a former Danish colony and remains part of the Danish kingdom. Greenland’s foreign and security policy continues to be controlled by Copenhagen.

Mette Frederiksen, the Danish prime minister, warned yesterday that any US attack on a Nato ally would be the end of “everything”.

Frederiksen told the Danish television network TV2: “If the United States decides to militarily attack another Nato country, then everything would stop - that includes Nato and therefore post-second world war security.”

Her comments came after Greenland’s prime minister, Jens-Frederik Nielsen, made a bracingly direct statement in which he urged Trump to give up his “fantasies about annexation” and accused the US of “completely and utterly unacceptable” rhetoric, declaring: “Enough is enough.”

In a social media post, Nielsen said: “Threats, pressure and talk of annexation have no place between friends. That is not how you speak to a people who have shown responsibility, stability and loyalty time and again. Enough is enough. No more pressure. No more innuendo. No more fantasies about annexation.”

Greenland, he said, was “open to dialogue” but it had to be through appropriate channels and in line with international law, “not random and disrespectful posts on social media”. He added: “Greenland is our home and our territory. And that is how it will remain.” Keir Starmer publicly backed the Danish prime minister.