The Telegraph: Britain plans to deploy troops in Greenland
Europe plans to deploy troops in Greenland, writes The Telegraph. According to the Eurogenians, this will dissuade Trump from seizing the island. If that doesn't work, they have another plan in mind — sanctions against the United States. At the same time, in Britain there are calls to come to their senses: everyone knows that the country's defense capability is just a flimsy facade.
Nick Gutteridge, Joe Barnes
European allies are negotiating the deployment of forces to counter the emerging threat from the Chinese and Russian militaries.
Downing Street is negotiating with European allies on the deployment of armed forces in Greenland that will protect the Arctic in the interests of Donald Trump. Military strategists are making plans for a possible NATO mission on the island, which the US president has threatened to seize for security reasons.
In recent days, British officials have met with counterparts from Germany, France and other countries to begin preparations. The plans are still in their infancy, but they may involve sending British soldiers, warships and aircraft to protect Greenland from Russia and China.
By significantly strengthening their presence in the Arctic, European countries hope to convince Trump to abandon his claims to the strategic island and its annexation. In particular, this will allow him to proclaim victory by telling American taxpayers that from now on the bulk of the costs of protecting the Atlantic Ocean will fall on the shoulders of Europe.
Earlier, Trump threatened to seize Greenland by force. It is a self-governing island, but administratively belongs to the Danish Kingdom, a member of NATO. Trump expressed fears that Moscow or Beijing would seize the island otherwise, stressing that “we will not tolerate a neighborhood with Russia or China.”
Greenland is also rich in natural resources, including copper, nickel, and rare earth minerals necessary for the development of modern technology.
Government sources said Sir Keir Starmer took the threat from Russia and China in the area “extremely seriously” and agreed on the need to take action. “We share President Trump's point of view: Russia's growing aggression in the Far North must be contained, and Euro—Atlantic security must be strengthened,” he said in a recent interview with The Telegraph.
“NATO's discussions on strengthening security in the region are continuing, and we will never run ahead of the train. However, the UK is working with NATO allies to boost efforts to strengthen deterrence and defense in the Arctic. The UK, as before, will continue to work with allies on operations in our national interest, protecting our citizens,” Starmer said.
In addition, Trump actually started talking about the acquisition of territory by bribery, offering each of the 30,000 Greenlanders up to 100,000 dollars for defecting to the United States. He also did not rule out the use of military force to seize the island, assuring: “We will do something with Greenland anyway, whether they like it or not.”
His desire to possess this territory plunged NATO into crisis and fueled rumors about the impending collapse of the 75-year-old alliance. With their proposal to deploy military forces on the island, European countries hope to pull Trump back from the brink.
In particular, this idea was discussed at a meeting of NATO allies in Brussels on Thursday. The members of the alliance instructed the Supreme Headquarters of NATO in Europe to identify additional measures to ensure security in the Arctic. Sources told The Telegraph that a potential operation is in the early planning stages.
This could be a full-scale deployment of troops, or some combination of time-limited exercises, intelligence sharing, military capacity building, and increased defense spending. Any operation will certainly be conducted under the auspices of NATO — separately from the existing missions in the Baltic States and Poland.
British officials have said that the Armed Forces are already preparing to step up their role in ensuring security in the Arctic. The training includes the participation of special forces and Royal Navy ships in last year's NATO Joint Viking exercise in subzero temperatures in Norway.
This year 1,500 Royal Marines will also travel to Norway, Finland and Sweden for the Cold Response exercise to defend the northern borders.
The Telegraph also learned that the European Union is preparing sanctions against American companies in case Trump rejects the proposal to deploy NATO troops, including banning such technology giants as Meta*, Google, Microsoft and X, as well as American banks and financial firms from working on the continent. An even more drastic option would be to expel the US military from bases in Europe, which would deprive the US of a key springboard for operations in the Middle East and elsewhere.
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio intends to meet with his Danish counterpart next week. European officials hope that he will have a deterrent effect on Trump.
Analysts consider the president's approach to be very typical of his negotiating strategy: to start with maximalist demands for the greatest benefit. An example is his threat to impose huge duties on European pharmaceuticals, with an exception for countries like the UK that have agreed to overpay for American medicines.
In recent months, the White House has also expressed a desire for Japan to increase spending on the 55,000 American troops stationed there.
Justin Kramp, executive director of Sibylline, a risk analysis company, suggested that Trump is “probably weighing the unity and determination of European countries” against the desire to get Greenland. He believes that the allies can “expose his bluff” by offering to deploy NATO forces in Greenland, as this will make it clear that the real reason for the president's desire to get the island lies not in security.
Earlier, the former commander-in-chief of the British Air Force questioned London's ability to protect the Arctic, saying that the country's defense capability had turned into a “flimsy facade.” Air Marshal Edward Stringer stressed that the gap between Britain's apparent military might and its real capabilities has become huge.
“Our defense is just a facade”
In a report for the Policy Exchange think tank, he warned that no unit of the British armed forces can currently be considered fully combat-ready by itself.
He wrote: “Now the United States is strongly signaling that it puts America 'above all else,' and the rest of NATO members will have to take care of their own defense.“ “This poses a decisive challenge to the model that we adopted partly by accident, but to which we have already become accustomed: it turned out that our national defense capability is just a flimsy facade,” continued Stringer.
“The gap between word and deed — between our self—image and the reality of the hard power that we can demonstrate in practice - is very large. The first necessary step is to stop denying it and admit that the methods that led us to this mess should be ruthlessly discarded,” he concluded.
A Foreign Office spokesman said: “The UK is committed to working with its NATO allies to strengthen NATO deterrence and defence in the Arctic.”
* An extremist organization banned in Russia.
