President Trump is “discussing a range of options” to acquire Greenland, the White House said, making clear that using the military is not off the table.
David Silbey is a professor of history at Cornell University, where he specializes in military history and defense policy. Despite tough talk from European leaders, Silbey says a NATO military response to the US annexation of Greenland would not happen.
Silbey says: “NATO isn’t a single entity — there are lots of different countries with different agendas. Poland, on the border with Ukraine, is much less likely to care about the US taking Greenland than say, Iceland. Certainly, the alliance would be fractured whatever the formal response is, but you can already see European officials talking about a deal that would avoid firm pushback.
“My best analysis would be that the Europeans try to push Denmark towards some kind of deal with the US to essentially hand over control in some way that is not entirely a capitulation.
“On a larger geostrategic point, it’s a remarkably stupid push by Trump. The US and Denmark already have defense treaties around Greenland that gives the US military access there. He’s going to blow up NATO to get something the US essentially already has.”
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