Category Archives: Greenland

Russia may interfere in Danish election, exploiting chaos sown by US, spies warn

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US threats to seize Greenland have created ‘new international fault lines’ that can be used to spread disinformation, Danish intelligence agencies say

Denmark’s intelligence services have warned that a foreign power may try to sway the general election on 24 March, saying the main threat was from Russia over support for Ukraine but also citing the chaos caused by US efforts to seize Greenland.

The PET police intelligence service and FE military intelligence said in a joint statement the election campaign could be marked by disinformation and cyberattacks “to sow division, influence the public debate or to target candidates, parties or specific political programmes”.

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Danish PM calls an early election seeking ‘Greenland bounce’

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Mette Frederiksen hopes to profit from her stand against Donald Trump’s attempt to claim the Arctic territory

Denmark’s prime minister has called an early election to take advantage of a “Greenland bounce” after Donald Trump’s threats to invade the Arctic territory.

Mette Frederiksen, who has been in office since 2019, is required by Danish law to call an election by 31 October. Setting a date with eight months to go appears to be an attempt to ride improved poll ratings after disastrous local elections in November that saw her Social Democrats lose control of Copenhagen for the first time in a century.

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Denmark plans payout for Greenlandic women affected by forced IUD scandal

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Mette Frederiksen announces ‘reconciliation fund’ plan on same day decision to remove Greenlandic woman’s baby is reversed

Denmark intends to pay reparations to Greenlandic women who were fitted with contraceptive coils by Danish doctors and to other people in its former colony who were subjected to “systematic discrimination because they are Greenlanders”, the Danish prime minister has said.

In a historic move for relations between Copenhagen and Nuuk, Mette Frederiksen said on Monday she would discuss a planned “reconciliation fund” when she visited Greenland on Wednesday for an event to mark Denmark’s official apology for the IUD (intrauterine device) scandal.

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Denmark summons US diplomat over alleged Greenland influence campaign

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Danish media reports three men with ties to Donald Trump are accused of attempting to infiltrate Greenlandic society

Denmark has summoned the US charge d’affaires for an urgent meeting over an alleged influence campaign in Greenland aimed at shaping public opinion and the future of the Arctic territory.

It comes after reports from Danish media, confirmed by the Danish foreign office, that at least three US men with ties to Donald Trump and the White House had been accused of trying to infiltrate Greenlandic society.

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Macron criticises Trump’s threats to take over Greenland during visit

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French president is first foreign head of state to visit Arctic territory since US president made comments

Emmanuel Macron has criticised Donald Trump’s threats to take over Greenland as he became the first foreign head of state to visit the vast, mineral-rich Arctic territory since the US president began making explicit threats to annex it.

“I don’t think that’s what allies do,” Macron said as he arrived in the Danish autonomous territory for a highly symbolic visit aimed at conveying “France’s and the EU’s solidarity” with Greenland on his way to a summit of G7 leaders in Canada.

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Norway hands over Arctic Council intact after ‘difficult’ term as chair

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Ukraine conflict and Trump’s threat to seize Greenland have caused internal tensions within intergovernmental body

Norway is to hand over the leadership of an intergovernmental body comprising countries with territory in the Arctic after what its foreign minister called a “difficult two years”, during which there have been unprecedented tensions within the group’s membership related to Russia’s war in Ukraine and Donald Trump’s threat to seize Greenland.

The Arctic Council requires consensus from all eight Arctic states – the US, Russia, Canada, Finland, Iceland, Norway, the kingdom of Denmark, which includes Greenland, and Sweden – for all decisions and statements.

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US considers special status for Greenland amid Trump push for control

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Officials float idea of compact of free association (Cofa), used by US to keep close ties with Pacific Island nations

US officials are discussing a plan to pull Greenland into America’s sphere of influence using a type of agreement that the United States has used to keep close ties with several Pacific Island nations, according to two US officials and another person familiar with the discussions.

Under the plan being considered, the Trump administration would propose to Greenland’s leaders that the island enter into a so-called compact of free association, or Cofa, with the United States.

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Trump says he ‘doesn’t rule out’ using military force to control Greenland

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President has repeatedly expressed idea of expansion into autonomous territory within fellow Nato member Denmark

Donald Trump would not rule out using military force to gain control of Greenland, the world’s largest island and an autonomous territory within Denmark, a fellow Nato member with the US.

Since taking office, the US president has repeatedly expressed the idea of US expansion into Greenland, triggering widespread condemnation and unease both on the island itself and in the global diplomatic community. Greenland is seen as strategically important both for defense and as a future source of mineral wealth.

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Greenland documentary forces Danes to confront their colonial heritage

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As Donald Trump threatens to take over the territory, film claims its cryolite mine was plundered by Denmark

For two weeks in Denmark the subject of the documentary was “bigger than Trump”, says producer Michael Bévort. The broadcast of Grønlands hvide guld (Greenland’s white gold), a 55-minute film about the Danish exploitation over several decades of a cryolite mine in southern Greenland and the vast sums of money it generated, made waves in February in both Greenland and its former colonial ruler, Denmark. But the reaction between the two could not have been more polarised.

In Greenland, which remains part of the Danish kingdom, with Denmark still controlling its foreign and defence policies, there were feelings of anger and deep sadness. The country was in the middle of an election being watched by the world thanks to Donald Trump’s threats to take control of the Arctic island. According to a poll for Greenlandic newspaper Sermitsiaq, more than a third of voters said the documentary would influence their vote.

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Head of US military base in Greenland fired after JD Vance visit

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Col Susannah Meyers removed amid reports she distanced base from Vance’s criticism of Denmark’s oversight of territory

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The head of the US military base in Greenland has been fired for criticising Washington’s agenda for the Arctic island after JD Vance visited two weeks ago.

Col Susannah Meyers, who had served as commander of the Pituffik space base since July, was removed amid reports she had distanced herself and the base from the US vice-president’s criticism of Denmark and its oversight of the territory.

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Danish PM tells US ‘you cannot annex another country’ on visit to Greenland

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Mette Frederiksen, who met island’s new and outgoing PMs, says she wants to cooperate with Trump on Arctic security

The Danish prime minister has put on a show of unity with Greenlandic leaders in her first visit to the Arctic island since Donald Trump’s renewed threats to acquire the territory, telling the US: “You cannot annex another country.”

Speaking onboard an inspection ship in front of a military helicopter, alongside Greenland’s new prime minister, Jens-Frederik Nielsen, and its outgoing prime minister, Múte B Egede, Mette Frederiksen switched from Danish to English to address the diplomatic standoff with the Trump administration.

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Greenland’s new PM rejects Trump’s latest threat: ‘We do not belong to anyone else’

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Newly sworn in Jens-Frederik Nielsen says ‘Trump says that the United States is getting Greenland. Let me be clear: the United States won’t get that’

The US will not get Greenland, its new prime minister, Jens-Frederik Nielsen, has said in response to Donald Trump’s latest statements that he wants to take control of the vast Arctic country.

“President Trump says that the United States is getting Greenland. Let me be clear: the United States won’t get that. We do not belong to anyone else. We determine our own future,” Nielsen said.

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Skygazers gather across northern hemisphere to glimpse partial solar eclipse

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Eclipse peaked in London at about 11am on Saturday and was visible in parts of UK between about 10am and noon

People across the northern hemisphere have gathered to catch a glimpse of the partial solar eclipse.

The eclipse peaked in London at about 11am on Saturday and was visible in parts of the UK between about 10am and noon.

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Denmark hits back at ‘tone’ of US vice-president’s criticism over Greenland

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‘This is not how you talk to your close allies,’ says Danish foreign minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen

Denmark has hit back against JD Vance’s comments that Copenhagen has not done enough for Greenland.

The US vice-president made his remark on Friday during a trip to the Pituffik space base in north-western Greenland, viewed by both Copenhagen and Nuuk as a provocation.

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JD Vance says US needs control of Greenland to fend off China and Russia

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Vice-president criticises Denmark’s treatment of Arctic island and says it should come under US ‘security umbrella’

JD Vance told troops in Greenland that the US has to gain control of the Arctic island to stop the threat of China and Russia as he doubled down on criticising Denmark, which he said has “not done a good job”.

Under increasingly strained relations between the White House and Greenland and Denmark, the US vice-president said during a visit to Pituffik space base on Friday: “Our message to Denmark is very simple: you have not done a good job by the people of Greenland. You have underinvested in the people of Greenland and you have underinvested in the security architecture of this incredible, beautiful landmass.”

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Putin’s endorsement of Trump’s Greenland takeover reflects their vision of a new world order

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As US pivots toward territorial ambitions in the west, the Kremlin’s support signals a deeper alignment in their challenge to global norms

As JD Vance touched down in Greenland, the Trump administration received an unlikely endorsement for the US’s first potential territorial expansion since 1947: Vladimir Putin.

Speaking at an Arctic policy forum in the northern Russian city of Murmansk on Thursday, Putin presented a more comprehensive case than any US official yet for Donald Trump’s plan to annex Greenland, crafting a historical argument that sounded suspiciously convenient in terms of Russia’s own territorial designs on Ukraine.

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JD Vance to expect frosty reception in Greenland amid diplomatic row

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Visit by US vice-president and wife met with hostility by leaders after Trump’s threats to acquire territory

The US vice-president, JD Vance, and his wife Usha are due to touch down in Greenland on Friday in a drastically scaled down trip after the original plans for the unsolicited visit prompted an international diplomatic row.

The visit to Pituffik, a remote ice-locked US military base in northwestern Greenland, will be closely watched by leaders in Nuuk and Copenhagen, who have aired their opposition to the trip amid ongoing threats by Donald Trump to acquire Greenland, a semi-autonomous territory of Denmark.

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Danish PM accuses US of ‘unacceptable pressure’ as JD Vance says he will join Greenland visit

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US vice-president says he will join unsolicited visit to Arctic island, which Mette Frederiksen says is ‘not what Greenland needs or wants’

Mette Frederiksen, the Danish prime minister, has accused the US of putting “unacceptable pressure” on Greenland – which she has vowed to resist – before an unsolicited visit to the Arctic island by members of the Trump administration.

Later, just hours after her comments, the White House sprang a fresh surprise, as the US vice-president, JD Vance, announced he would join his wife on a trip to the territory this week.

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More than 1,100 detained in Turkey amid huge demonstrations over mayor’s arrest – as it happened

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Tens of thousands gathered in Istanbul with unrest likely to continue over treatment of presidential challenger to Erdoğan

The Danish national police force said it has sent extra personnel and sniffer dogs to Greenland as the island steps up security measures ahead of a planned visit this week by second lady Usha Vance, AP reports.

Spokesperson René Gyldensten said the extra officers were part of regular steps taken during visits by dignitaries to Greenland, a self-governing, mineral-rich territory of American ally Denmark.

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Anger in Greenland over visits this week by Usha Vance and Mike Waltz

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Greenland’s prime minister says trip is ‘demonstration of power’ and accuses US of interfering in its political affairs

Greenland’s prime minister has accused Washington of interfering in its political affairs with the visit of an American delegation this week to the Arctic island coveted by the US president, Donald Trump.

“It should be said clearly that our integrity and democracy must be respected without foreign interference,” Múte Egede said on Monday, adding that the planned visit by the second lady, Usha Vance, along with the national security adviser, Mike Waltz, “cannot be seen as just a private visit”.

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