“It’s very disrespectful.”
That’s how Danish veteran Gerth Sloth Berthelsen, who grew up in Greenland, stated he feels concerning the United States’ current habits. Berthelsen served alongside American forces in a peacekeeping mission to North Macedonia in 1996 and 1997. Now, he’s one among a number of veterans saying they’re bowled over by the hostility coming from an ally whose troopers had been as soon as their brothers-in-arms.
Berthelsen, who is half Greenlandic and now works in a non-combat function for the military in Denmark, described how emotions of worry, unease and betrayal have been permeating by way of communities in each locations, after the Trump administration repeatedly made threats to “acquire” Greenland earlier than strolling them again this week.
Mere hours after demanding “right, title, and ownership” of the autonomous Danish territory on Wednesday, US President Donald Trump did a U-turn, saying he had “formed the framework of a future deal” on Greenland following a gathering with NATO chief Mark Rutte.
European allies welcomed information of the framework, however some warned that the injury to the EU-US relationship is already carried out, even after the US backed away from threats to hit them with extra commerce tariffs over their opposition to a US takeover.
Meanwhile, the temper in Nuuk and Copenhagen stays tense as Greenlanders and Danes wrestle with a brand new actuality during which the US has turn out to be a menace.
“When you experience this kind of hostile behavior, you kind of get shocked,” Berthelsen informed NCS in an interview final week. “When it comes from an ally, it’s not understandable how that even can happen.”
The Danish army has a protracted historical past of serving alongside the US – on NATO missions, United Nations peacekeeping missions, and within the US-led conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan. Denmark has obligatory army service for each males and ladies, however the small variety of Greenlandic troopers who be part of the Danish protection forces are all volunteers.
The Kingdom of Denmark suffered important casualties in Afghanistan, the place its forces deployed to Helmand Province – one of many deadliest theaters of the battle. Denmark’s involvement started in 2001, following the September 11 assaults on the US and through the years that adopted it deployed almost 20,000 personnel by way of the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF).
At least 41 Danish troopers had been killed there – a really excessive per capita price in comparison with the opposite nations who joined the power, provided that Denmark and its autonomous territories have a inhabitants of solely 6 million. It suffered additional casualties within the Iraq War, dropping eight troopers, in response to research from the Danish Defence Medical Command.
“Many of our veterans that we work with have served alongside Americans, and there’s no – absolutely no – respect for their service and their office,” Berthelsen added.
He and fellow veteran Mads Rasmussen collectively chair the Veteranprojekt Grønland, a company primarily based in Denmark that helps veterans by way of social connections and nature rehabilitation. It facilitates an annual journey to Greenland for Veterans’ Day, the place they meet up with serving Greenlandic troopers and vets.
“Greenland belongs to the Greenlandic people. At the same time, we are shocked by the United States’ conduct and the disrespect we are witnessing in general and in relation to international law,” the chairmen beforehand stated in a joint assertion, additionally noting that they don’t converse on behalf of different veterans of their group.
Another Greenlandic soldier, Salik Augustinussen, penned an open letter to the American folks earlier this month – earlier than the Trump U-turn – emphasizing that Denmark and its autonomous territories didn’t hesitate to assist the US following the September 11 assaults.
“I stood side by side with my brothers and sisters in arms from the US, from Europe, from NATO in Afghanistan to fight with you after what happened in the US (on) 9/11,” wrote Augustinussen in a social media submit. He likened threats to Greenland to a “blue on blue” assault on NATO members.
“If the US president decides to let the military to go invade Greenland, you are attacking me and my family,” the Greenlandic soldier stated. “You are attacking the brothers and sisters who stood side by side with you when you were attacked.”
The solely time in historical past that NATO has invoked Article 5, which states that an assault towards one member is an assault towards all, was following the 9/11 terrorist assaults on the US.
Trump backed off the thought of utilizing army power to take Greenland on Wednesday, simply earlier than his climbdown and deal announcement. But his different harsh rhetoric in relation to the Arctic territory and NATO allies continues to be reverberating throughout the alliance.
In an interview with Fox News on Thursday, he added baselessly that NATO troops had stayed “a little off the front lines” within the Afghan battle, sparking outrage amongst some US allies who misplaced greater than 1,000 troops within the battle.
After Trump claimed in his speech in Davos, Switzerland, that NATO international locations wouldn’t defend the US if it got here beneath assault, including “ what we have gotten out of NATO is nothing,” a barrage of European troopers took to social media to remind the US president of their intensive service within the Middle East and Afghanistan.
“Here’s me a Norwegian soldier doing nothing for America in Afghanistan 2007 and 2012,” one man wrote on Reddit, alongside a photograph of himself in a firing place. Like many different NATO allies, Norway’s civilian and army involvement in Afghanistan stretched from 2001 to 2021, in response to its protection ministry.
Posts from folks saying they served in Afghanistan for Germany, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom adopted swimsuit.
Another man posted a photograph in his army fatigues, captioned: “Here’s me a Canadian soldier doing nothing for America in Afghanistan 2008.” Canada additionally deployed to Afghanistan for greater than a decade, with greater than 40,000 Canadians serving there and 158 dropping their lives.
In feedback to Danish Media outlet TV2, one other Greenlandic veteran, Kununguak Iversen, stated he felt “a bit backstabbed” by the Trump administration’s habits, following his personal deployment to Iraq as a part of a US-led coalition in 2006.
“It’s about the fact that we picked up the phone when they called. The fact that they then treat us the way they are doing now is not okay,” Iversen told TV2 earlier this month.
Greenland deal nonetheless unclear
An emergency summit of EU leaders that was known as to debate Trump’s threats towards Greenland went forward on Thursday. Sweden’s Deputy Prime Minister Ebba Busch went as far as telling NCS on Wednesday: “We’re not out of the woods.”
Meanwhile, the small print of the framework deal on Greenland are nonetheless unclear.
Trump and Rutte reached a verbal understanding on Wednesday, however no doc has but been produced laying out a future deal, folks conversant in their dialogue informed NCS.
They agreed to additional discussions about updating a 1951 settlement between the US, Denmark and Greenland that governs the US army’s presence on the island, the sources stated. The framework additionally ensures that Russia and China will probably be barred from any investments in Greenland and stipulates an enhanced function for NATO in Greenland, they stated.
A NATO official informed NCS one proposal that was mentioned within the conferences on Wednesday amongst NATO officers, and that has been floated in earlier talks between members of the alliance and Rutte, was the opportunity of Denmark permitting the US to construct extra army bases in Greenland and that land thought of sovereign US territory.
“It is not clear if that proposal would ultimately be part of the framework US President Donald Trump alluded to on Wednesday as he stepped back from his tariff threats following a meeting with Rutte, but broadly, an increase in the US military presence in Greenland has been a through- line in discussions,” the official stated.
The US already has one base in northwestern Greenland, the Pituffik Space Base, made attainable by way of the defense agreement penned in 1951, which was up to date in 1981, and re-signed in 2004. The US had a a lot bigger army presence in Greenland in the course of the Cold War, however selected to shutter different bases as the obvious menace receded.
NCS’s Natasha Bertrand, Kevin Liptak, Todd Symans, Issy Ronald and Madalena Araujo contributed to this story.