GREENLAND: EUROPE TANGLES TRUMP IN PUTIN'S ARCTIC TRAP
NEW ANALYSIS: Europe's bold action exposes the incoherence in Trump's Arctic policy, but is it enough to delay war in Greenland?
A SPECIAL EARLY EDITION OF THE NARATIV: TRUMP IN DAVOS AS GREENLAND TENSIONS ESCALATE
When Trump threatened to buy Greenland in 2019, I warned: “Russia, China, and the U.S. (under Trump)—three bully nations, united in grabbing peaceful territory, enriching themselves, trampling rights.”
Seven years later, a U.S. invasion of Greenland is on the table. But Europe’s swift, united response may have upended Trump’s plans- at least for now. Trump was expecting compliance, instead he got Danish troops landing in Greenland—crushing his “Europe did nothing to stop Russia” excuse for his invasion
Back in April, I exposed how Vladimir Putin —not Trump— laid the groundwork for this crisis. My piece, “Putin’s Arctic Narrative,” revealed how he reframed Trump’s Greenland ambitions as a justified continuation of American history—cherry-picking the 1860s and glossing over Russia’s Arctic Council expulsion after Ukraine.
With Putin’s implicit blessing, Trump felt emboldened to move against Greenland, blaming Russia and China while scolding Europe for “not doing enough.” It was a ploy to sell the invasion to his base.
Trump slapped 10% tariffs (soon rising to 25%) on eight NATO allies opposing his Greenland move—until UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer exposed the glaring contradiction at the heart of Trump’s policy.
Starmer delivered the strongest rebuke yet, calling the tariffs “completely wrong” and a blow to collective security —but this isn’t just incoherent policy; it’s deliberate Kremlin confusion. Trump punishes allies for defending the Arctic, disassembling NATO, all while working with Putin to annex territory for the autocrats’ benefit.
Former Danish intelligence chief Jacob Kaarsbo puts it plainly: “if it walks like a duck and talks like a duck, it’s a duck.” A Kremlin duck. Trump’s attack on our allies for not being proactive in defending NATO is not American policy gone astray. It’s a coordinated execution of Russian objectives.
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