Donald Trump had first floated the idea of buying Greenland already in 2019. I had written an opinion piece, that the Danish government should put everything aside and prioritize Greenland. But then the war in Ukraine broke, and the Danish government forgot all about safeguarding their own treasure, Greenland, and started investing in the war in Ukraine. This was done in the blind faith that the United States will remain a staunch supporter of the Danish state and its integrity.
The Danes have been shaken in their assumption, and Rasmus Jarlov, a Danish Member of Parliament from the Danish Conservative party, went on the Danish television to say that he had not slept for several nights as he was worried about the remarks on Greenland made by Donald Trump.
Denmark has had nearly 800 years of connection with Greenland. Ejnar Mikkelsen, a Danish researcher and scientist, spent his entire life till the age of 90 in travelling and mapping the unchartered territory of Greenland. Most of the Greenlanders speak Danish and the so-called colonization, howsoever faulty, has been far more generous than the British colonization of India.
For decades the Greenlanders have had their health insurance, their education and other rights guaranteed by the Danish tax payers. Danes have been travelling to work there in almost sectors of public and private life.
Unlike the British, who sat in their exclusive villas in Shimla watching cricket, the Danes have married Greenlanders and have formed families with them. Today many of the Greenlandic children are children of mixed marriages. So, when Trump questions the legal engagement and right of Denmark over Greenland, then he has not studied the European and Danish constitutions. Greenland is part of the Danish commonwealth of nations. It is referred to as “Rigsfælleskabet” in Danish. The Danish democratic tradition makes it possible to be an autonomous region, and this constellation also works with another set of islands called the Faroe Islands, and Iceland a former colony of Denmark is now a sovereign nation.
Students from Rigsfælleskabet can travel and study everywhere, where the Danish jurisdiction is applicable. Two seats in the Danish parliament are reserved for representatives of Greenland and two for the representatives from the Faroe Islands. Aaja Chemnitz, is one of the Greenlandic members of the Danish parliament, who along with the Republican Senator Lisa Murkowski, who represents Alaska, has issued a statement today that Greenland is “open for business, but not for sale.” This statement is issued after the recent U.S. President Donald Trump’s threats to acquire Greenland.
On 27th January, Kaja Kallas, EU’s foreign policy chief, has issued a statement that The European Union is “not negotiating” on Greenland, refuting Donald Trump’s desire to annex Greenland by force or by sanctions.
The Danish government is in action mode and has set aside millions of kroners to address the issue of racism against Greenlanders in Denmark. Historical mistakes are being rectified and after all Greenlanders will be far happier to be with their Nordic brethren, than with alien crony-capitalists of America, who are hovering around their island like vultures in search for prey in the shape of minerals and new sea routes.
Donald Trump has to watch out before America ends up like the chicken coming home to roost. Bad karma will hit America. While, Donald Trump Junior’s remark that Greenlanders should be not be treated as second class citizens is welcome, people in Europe are well aware of how little rights one enjoys as a newcomer to the American society. The income inequality, the prevalence of violence even in schools, the liberal gun laws, lack of reproductive rights for women, and the modus operandi of Americans with the Native Indian American community who resided before the Europeans arrived in the continent, is a well-known fact. Nobody in Europe buys the narrative that the Americans just have good intentions when they invade or annex another country.
It is time for the entire European Union community to defend the integrity of the Danish nation. Denmark has been a faithful ally of US for three decades. It was one of the founding members of NATO. The backlash against Trump’s wish to coerce his decision can have huge repercussions. All the Nordic prime ministers gathered yesterday for dinner in Copenhagen. Mind you, when the Vikings start eating together, they are also making plans to defend each other.
The Nordic nations are realizing that a bankrupt man is trying to forcefully marry them in order to make them pay his bills. The prosperous Scandinavian nations have distributed wealth and hence they are happy countries. Right now, the Vikings are quiet, but they will put up a fierce fight and Trump might not be able to make America great by getting into a Greenlandic imbroglio.
Disclaimer
Views expressed above are the author’s own.
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