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Trump's US Threat to Greenland (which belongs to Denmark)

From last night:
Mette Frederiksen: Vi står i en svær situation (DR.dk, Mar 26, 2025 - CET 19:42)
Hun mener, man skal gøre sig klart, at Trumps interesse i Grønland ikke går væk. Men at amerikanerne også udmærket er klar over, at Grønland ikke er til salg, og at grønlænderne ikke ønsker at blive amerikanere.
🇩🇰 PM Mette Frederiksen: We are in a difficult situation
She thinks that one should know that Trump's interest in Greenland doesn't go away. But that the Americans also are also well aware that Greenland is not for sale, and that the Greenlanders don't want to become Americans.

USA sponsorerer stadig hundeslædeløb trods aflysning (DR.dk, Mar 26, 2025 - CET 20:26)
The USA will still sponsor the dogsled race in spite of the cancellation [of Usha Vance's visit to Sisimiut]

Greenland essential to the security of the USA and the world
It includes a short (39 sec.) video from Trump's press briefing yesterday:
Trump: We need Greenland for national security and international security. So, well, I think we'll go as far as we have to go. We need Greenland. And the world needs us to have Greenland. Including Denmark. Denmark has to let us have Greenland. And, you know, we'll see what happens. But, uh, if we don't have Greenland, we can't have great international security. If we look at the ships outside of Greenland, China, Russia, places, we have to be there. If we're not there, we can't have national or international security. So, viewed from a security standpoint, we have to be there.

From this morning:
A senior correspondent about the USA and security politics criticizes the Danish minister of foreign affairs, Lars Løkke Rasmussen, who talked about a de-escalation of the conflict yesterday:
'Man kender ikke dynamikken i Det Hvide Hus, hvis man kalder det en deeskalering' (DR.dk, Mar 27, 2025 - CET 8:25)
- Det kan være Løkke ved noget, jeg ikke ved. Han har et stort et stort embedesapparat bag sig.
- Men jeg synes ikke rigtig, man kender dynamikken i Det Hvide Hus, hvis man kalder det, der er sket i går for en deeskalering. Det minder mig lidt om dengang Løkke kom hjem fra en ferie og sagde, at der slet ikke var nogen krise, siger han i P1 Morgen.
'You know nothing about the dynamics in the White House if you call it a de-escalation'
- Maybe Løkke knows something I don't. He has a big apparatus of civil servants to back him up.
- But I don't think that you know the dynamics in the White House if you call what happened yesterday a de-escalation. It reminds of that time when Løkke returned from a holiday and said that there was no crisis, he says to DR Morning Radio P1.

Troels Lund: USA optrapper konflikten (DR.dk, Mar 27, 2025 - CET 9:43)
Troels Lund (🇩🇰 minister of defense): The USA is escalating the conflict
 
There's something that I think I haven't mentioned. I read about it yesterday and forgot about it.
Jørgen Boassen (see post 430), the Greenlander who seems to have negotiated with the people responsible for the dogsled race, turns out to be a private contractor paid by Tom Dans, whose company, American Daybreak, appears to be the direct sponsor of the dogsled race.
It is unclear who pays Tom Dans and his company.
When Trump talks about what Greenlanders want, he is probably talking about Jørgen Boassen, while implying that Boassen represents the entire population of Greenland.
 
So much for the U.S 'charm offensive' in Greenland!

Amerikanere stemte dørklokker i Nuuk før aflyst besøg, siger Steinmetz (TV2.dk, Mar 26, 2025)
Repræsentanter for den amerikanske regering har i de seneste dage stemt dørklokker i Grønlands hovedstad, Nuuk, forud for det nu aflyste besøg fra USA's andendame, Usha Vance.
Det siger TV 2s korrespondent i Nuuk, Jesper Steinmetz.
- Amerikanske repræsentanter har gået rundt nærmest og banket på den ene dør efter den anden de seneste dage for at høre, om de dog ikke havde lyst til at få besøg af vicepræsidentens kone. Alle steder lød det samme svar: "Nej, ellers tak", siger Steinmetz.
- Og det er derfor, at planerne er blevet ændret, tilføjer han.
Two translations:
Americans rang doorbells in Nuuk before canceled visit, says Steinmetz (TV2.dk, Mar 26, 2025)
Representatives of the US government have been ringing doorbells in Greenland's capital, Nuuk, in recent days, ahead of the now canceled visit from the US Second Lady, Usha Vance.
This is what TV2's correspondent, Jesper Steinmetz, says.
- American representatives have been going around knocking on one door after another in recent days to ask if they would like to have a visit from the vice president's wife. Everywhere the answer was the same: "No, otherwise thank you," says Steinmetz.
- And that's why the plans have been changed, he adds.
Orla Joelsen on X, Mar 26, 2025:
Representatives of the American government have been going door to door in Greenland’s capital, Nuuk, in recent days ahead of the now-canceled visit by the U.S. Second Lady, Usha Vance.
This is according to TV 2’s correspondent in Nuuk, Jesper Steinmetz.
“American representatives have been walking around, practically knocking on one door after another in the past few days to ask if people might be interested in a visit from the Vice President’s wife. Everywhere, the answer was the same: ‘No, thanks.’
Source; TV2.

Orla Joelsen's 'No, thanks', is the correct translation. The other one is a too direct word-for-word translation of a Danish idiom.
 
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On Danish TV tonight (at 20:00 CET):
Debatten: Truer Trump Kongeriget? (DR.dk)

"Danmark er nødt til at lade os få Grønland" gentager Trump i denne uge, hvor vicepræsident Vance og hans hustru rejser til Grønland. Det er "for langt ude" og en "skjult trussel" lyder svaret fra regeringen. Er USA stadig en allieret, eller er det slut? Har Kongeriget fælles front mod USA?
The Debate: Is Trump Threatening the Kingdom?
"Denmark has to let us have Greenland," is what Trump has been repeating this week when vice president Vance and his wife are going to Greenland. The Danish government response is that it is "too weird" and "a veiled threat."
Is the USA still an ally, or is that no longer the case? Does the Kingdom stand united against the USA?
 
25 minutes ago:
Løkke angriber USA for falsk fortælling om Grønland (DR.dk, Mar 27, 2025)
- Der er nok en eller anden i USA, der er begyndt at fange, at det der narrativ om, at der stod en grønlandsk befolkning med vidt åbne arme og havde en voldsom ambition om at blive amerikanere, er et falsk narrativ. Og det er sådan set godt.
- Vi kan ikke genkende billedet, som man fornemmer visse steder i det amerikanske politiske miljø, at Grønland er et sted, der er fyldt med kinesiske investeringer. Mig bekendt er der nul, siger Løkke.
Han bliver også spurgt ind til, hvorfor den amerikanske vicepræsident ikke bliver modtaget af danske politikere i morgen på Pituffik Space Base.
- Der er tale om en amerikansk vicepræsident, der skal besøge sin egen militære installation i Grønland. Det har for så vidt ikke noget med os at gøre.
- Det er kun godt, hvis folk kommer ud og får briefinger og bliver klogere. Jeg håber, det bliver en god briefing, for vi har også brug for, at vidensniveauet vokser i den her sag, siger Løkke.
Løkke [Danish minister of foreign affairs] criticizes America's false narrative about Grenland
- There are probably people in the US who are beginning to see that the narrative about the population of Greenland embracing the USA and desiring to become Americans is false. And it's good so.
- We don't recognize the picture that we see in some parts of the American political establishment, i.e. that Greenland is a place full of Chinese investments. As far as I know, there aren't any, says Løkke.
He is also asked about why the American vicepresident will not be received by Danish politicians tomorrow at Pituffik Space Base.
- This is an American vicepresident visiting his own military installation in Greenland. It hasn't really got anything to do with us.
- It is good if people visit places, are briefed and get wiser. I hope it will be a good briefing, because we also need the level of knowledge to increase in this case, says Løkke.
 
Trump is quoted in this MSNBC video:
‘Fundamentally disrespectful’: Fmr. Amb. to Denmark bashes Trump’s Greenland approach (MSNBC on YouTube, Mar 27, 2025 - 5:04 min.)
President Trump has repeatedly emphasized his desire to acquire Greenland as U.S. territory, pushing for it as a national security issue. Vice President Vance is expected to visit the island Friday despite calls from Greenlanders to cancel the trip. Former U.S. ambassador to Denmark Rufus Gifford joins Ana Cabrera to discuss the Trump administration’s approach to Greenland and how it may be hurting an otherwise healthy relationship.
0:20--> Here he [Trump] was just yesterday when he was asked if the people of Greenland wanted to be U.S. citizens. Watch.

Trump: "I don't know. I don't think they're uneager, eager, but I think that we have to do it, and we have to convince them, and we have to have that land, because it's not possible to properly defend a large section of this earth, not the, not just the United States, without it. So we have to have it. And I think we will have it."
The rest of the video is Rufus Gifford's reaction to the quotation. Rufus Gifford was appointed by Obama as at the U.S ambassador to Denmark.


This French video mentions the 1968 Thule Air Base B-52 crash (Wikipedia):
'Trump saying Greenland must be ours: Reminiscent of what Saddam Hussein said about Kuwait in 1990' (France24 on YouTube, Mar 27, 2025 - 6:50 min.)
Ahead of US Vice President JD Vance's unilateral visit to Greenland, Denmark's Defence Minister Troels Lund Poulsen warned that the Nordic country would not let the United States decide what the Danish realm, including Greenland, should look like in the future. For in-depth analysis and a deeper perspective on soaring tensions between the US and their once-closest allies, FRANCE 24's Oliver Farry welcomes Matt Qvortrup, Senior Research Fellow in the Centre for European Studies and a Visiting Professor of constitutional law in the ANU College of Law at Australian National University.
This is the first time I see the reference to Saddam Hussein and Kuwait in this context.
 
This video is great. It's the first time I see footage from one of the protests in Greenland - including sound! It doesn't matter that there are no subtitles and I understand Greenlandic as little as Americans do:
Vance & wife get UNWELCOME SURPRISE in Greenland (Brian Tyler Cohen on YouTube, Mar 28, 2025 - 9:14 min.)
BREAKING #news - Trump officials get UNWELCOME SURPRISE in Greenland

Danish reporter Jesper Steinmetz (at 1:24-->):
"It is an expression of the fact that the Americans finally realized what the reality was. Namely, that if they had come here to Nuke--> Nuuk as planned tomorrow, they would have been met with riots, demonstrations and a massive police presence simply to ensure their own safety. They realized that they were not wanted here.
American representatives have been going around practically knocking on one door after another in the past few days to ask if they would like to be visited by the vice president's wife. And everywhere, the answer was the same: "No. Otherwise, thank you." And that's why the plans have been changed."


Jesper Steinmetz was dubbed from Danish into English, and since this is the second time this particular error occurs, let me explain in more detail:
It is an attempt to translate from Danish: Nej, ellers tak. In Danish, a simple "No" when somebody offers you something is considered to be impolite. We learn as children to say: Nej tak! = No, thanks = No, but thank you for offering me (whatever).
The addition of the word ellers, which in other contexts may mean otherwise --> Nej, ellers tak! means that we vehemently refuse to accept what is being offered: No, you can take your .... and stuff it!
I am not surprised that this idiomatic difference is lost in translation.
 
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Yes, I am! I copied it from the YouTube's transcription and didn't notice the mistake.
I have corrected it now. Thanks!
 
Usha apparently also wanted to visit the Nuuk art museum, but it fell through.

Salient points
- they (us representives) wanted it closed for the public during the visit, which was out of the question
- they announced the visit for the public while the museum was still considering
- the museum director had appointments away from the museum the day of the visit, and their budget is 1.5 mio Dkr, so probably only 1-2 other employees.
- worries about political undertones
- in Nuuk there a not a lot of alternatives when you want some cultural photo op

 
Greenland forms new unity government on eve of JD Vance visit
Four of the five parties elected to Greenland’s parliament two weeks ago have agreed to band together in a broad coalition.

 
Apparently OANN went all manifest destiny last night, fantasizing about all of the territory the US is meant to take over and rule.
 

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