FLASH
Shkruar nga Pamfleti
The foreign ministers of Denmark and Greenland met at the White House on Wednesday with U.S. Vice President J.D. Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio for high-profile talks about President Donald Trump's demands that Washington take control of Greenland, an autonomous territory of Denmark.
The meeting lasted 50 minutes and aimed to find a diplomatic path.
The meeting between Danish Foreign Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen, his Greenland counterpart Vivian Motzfeldt, Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio presented an opportunity for Copenhagen and Nuuk to defuse the crisis and find a diplomatic path to meet U.S. demands for more control, analysts said.
"The ultimate goal is to find some form of accommodation, or to make an agreement that would meet this need, or at least sufficiently calm Donald Trump's rhetoric," Andreas Osthagen, research director for Arctic and ocean policy at the Oslo-based Fridtjof Nansen Institute, told Reuters.
Noa Redington, an analyst and former political advisor to former Danish Prime Minister Helle Thorning-Schmidt, said concerns were high in Denmark and Greenland that Motzfeldt and Rasmussen could be treated in the same way as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, when he suffered a public humiliation in a meeting with Trump and Vance at the White House in February 2025.
"This is the most important meeting in the modern history of Greenland," he told Reuters.
Why does Trump consider it vital?
"It's vital to the Golden Dome that we're building," Trump said in a social media post just hours before the meeting, which began shortly after 10:00 local time (15:00 GMT), referring to a proposed missile defense system.
Greenland's strategic location along the shortest route from Europe to North America is vital to the US ballistic missile warning system. The US military currently maintains a permanent presence at Pituffik Space Base.
The base houses early warning radar systems that are part of the Space Delta 4 missile defense mission and is strategically located ahead of NORAD's Northern Warning System, a line of radar installations designed to detect missile launches against North America crossing the Arctic.
A 1951 agreement between the United States and Denmark established the US right to build military bases in Greenland under the NATO framework, as long as Denmark and Greenland are notified.
Following the Trump administration's comments, Danish lawmakers agreed to allocate more funding and have admitted that they have long neglected the protection of Greenland.
The mysterious White House post
The White House posted an image on X showing two possible routes to Greenland. On the left, the White House and the rising sun appear.
On the right, China and Russia with apocalyptic storms. The image was posted at 11:31 am (16:31 GMT).
'It's not for sale'
Trump also said that NATO would become much stronger and more effective with Greenland in U.S. hands. “Anything less than that is unacceptable,” he wrote.
In a follow-up tweet citing Russia and China, Trump wrote: “NATO, tell Denmark to get them out of here, Now! Two dog sleds can’t do it! Only the US can!!!”
Greenland and Denmark say the island is not for sale and that threats of force are reckless and security concerns should be resolved between allies. EU countries have backed Denmark, which is a member of the NATO alliance.
Ahead of the meeting, which lasted less than two hours and ended around noon, Greenland and Denmark said they had begun increasing their military presence in and around Greenland in close cooperation with NATO allies, as part of their pledge to strengthen Arctic defenses.
The increased military presence will include a series of training activities throughout 2026, according to the Danish defense ministry.
Lini një Përgjigje