Danish government capitulates to Trump over Greenland

Since Trump returned to the White House, the United States has been relentlessly trying to take over Greenland through a mix of blackmail, purchase offers, and threats of punitive tariffs and military intervention. After several months of secret negotiations between Danish, Greenlandic, and US authorities, Trump announced on social media on 19 September that they had now reached an agreement on a new security pact. This agreement was subsequently signed by all parties with great fanfare in New York.

[Originally published in Danish at marxist.dk]

But if you look past the diplomatic smokescreen, the ugly reality becomes apparent. In reality, this agreement is an imperialist horse-trade in which an entire country, over the heads of its people, has been de facto handed over to the greatest imperialist power on the planet. This shows that the Danish ruling class views Greenland in exactly the same way as the American ruling class does: as a commodity. The Danish ruling class is therefore just as cynical as the American imperialists.

According to the Danish media, there is essentially nothing new in the new agreement, which is presented as a repetition of the existing base agreement from 1951. The message is that the cunning Danish politicians have managed to outwit the foolish Trump and his naive negotiators, and that the agreement is therefore a victory for Denmark and Greenland.

To avoid losing face in front of the Danish and Greenlandic people, who rightly hate American imperialism, Danish politicians have done everything they could to present the agreement as a victory and portray it as if they had stood up to the US. Weekendavisen even asks rhetorically in an article: “Isn’t the attitude that we stood up to the superpower and won?”

But there is a chasm between the actual facts and the self-aggrandising picture painted by the media and politicians.

Under the agreement, Denmark retains formal ownership of Greenland on paper, and Danish politicians have thus avoided total humiliation and the dissolution of the kingdom. In return, Washington now has complete control over Greenland and its population.

The agreement amounts to a complete capitulation by the Danish leadership to Trump; a humiliating defeat for Danish imperialism and a blow to the politicians’ narrative of Denmark as a humane and democratic colonial power.

When the agreement was announced, Mette Frederiksen commented that the agreement recognises “the kingdom’s sovereignty and territorial integrity and the Greenlandic people’s right to self-determination.” A reading of the text of the agreement, however, reveals that the opposite is true.

Here is a summary of what the agreement actually contains:

The agreement amounts to a complete capitulation by the Danish leadership to Trump / Image: Staff Sgt. Benjamin German, US Air National Guard

According to the agreement, none of the US’ rivals may ever establish military bases in Greenland or make investments in Greenland without US approval, which amounts to a veto. Whereas the old base agreement from 1951 defined US powers within the framework of NATO, the new agreement establishes US powers based on the US’ own security interests. This is evident, for example, in the US’ right to construct the so-called Golden Dome missile defense system in Greenland, which has nothing to do with NATO.

The US is also granted the opportunity to expand its military presence in the country and have expanded military powers. According to the agreement, new US military installations require the consent of the Danish and Greenlandic authorities, but there is no doubt about how the agreement is perceived in the White House, where Trump has stated that the agreement gives the US “permanent control over security, and all other needs, in Greenland” – and the US will act accordingly. Furthermore, the agreement is in effect in perpetuity, and even if Greenland were to secede from Denmark, the new independent state would be bound by the agreement and forced to become a member of NATO.

This is what politicians and the media are trying to portray as a recognition of Greenland’s sovereignty!

According to the Danish Dictionary, the word “sovereignty” means “a state’s legal independence from other states and its power to determine its own affairs.”

But when another country can determine who is allowed to invest in Greenland, while simultaneously exercising virtually unrestricted military control over the country’s territory, it is difficult to see how Mette Frederiksen can claim that the agreement recognises Greenland’s sovereignty.

The claim that the agreement recognises the “Greenlandic people’s right to self-determination” also rings extremely hollow, given that Washington will in the future be able to determine with whom Greenland may enter into economic and security cooperation, even if Greenland were to become an independent country.

The Greenlandic people’s ability to determine their own affairs was already extremely limited by the Danish state. In every respect, politicians at Christiansborg still treat Greenland in a condescending and patronising manner, as if it were a colony, and the most important issues concerning Greenlandic society are not decided in Nuuk, but in Copenhagen.

However, due to the historical weakness of Danish imperialism, the Greenlandic elite was occasionally able to wrangle small concessions from Copenhagen. This gave Greenland a little leeway to determine its own affairs. This leeway is now disappearing, as the US will be sitting at the head of the table for all of the most important decisions.

The agreement was adopted without the Greenlandic people ever having the opportunity to raise objections to its content. In fact, the content was kept secret and was not made public until after the agreement had been signed.

But if the agreement is really as good as we’re told in the media, why not hold a referendum in Greenland on it? No, that was never even considered.

With classic colonial mentality, the population has not been consulted / Image: Christian Ursilva

With classic colonial mentality, the population has not been consulted. Instead, the future of the entire country has been decided by Trump, Mette Frederiksen, and Greenlandic Prime Minister Jens-Frederik Nielsen.

The backroom deal that has now been struck will only have reactionary consequences for the Greenlandic people. Greenland is now further away than ever from controlling its own future. The agreement increases American imperialist dominance over Greenland and pushes the prospect of freedom from imperialist oppression far into the horizon.

Since January, when Trump ramped up pressure to take over Greenland, there has been widespread fear in Greenland that Trump would carry out his threats to invade the country. Trump has exposed the aggressive and oppressive nature of US imperialism to the Danish and Greenlandic people more clearly than ever before. Many Greenlanders are therefore not exactly comfortable with the prospect of the US building more military bases in their country and, going forward, gaining “permanent control over the country’s security.”

By virtue of its increased military presence, American imperialism is holding a gun to the heads of the Greenlandic people. In addition to the new powers outlined in the agreement, the US will therefore undoubtedly have the final say in Greenlandic politics going forward, and Greenlandic and Danish leaders have shown that they will go out of their way to give the US everything it asks for.

While the Greenlanders are being sold out by their ‘humane colonial masters’, they are also being let down by the Danish parliamentary left.

Pelle Dragsted of the Red-Green Alliance has presented himself as one of the most vocal critics of Trump in Danish politics, but after the deal was announced, he didn’t say a word. Was there really nothing to criticise when Trump wrote that Denmark would give “the United States permanent control over security, and all other needs, in Greenland”? Or that the US would have more bases in Greenland? Apparently not, according to Pelle Dragsted.

Instead of criticising the agreement’s content, Pelle Dragsted and the Red-Green Alliance are hailing it and acting as loyal supporters of the Danish government and state.

If Pelle Dragsted truly wanted to fight Trump and US imperialism, he would mercilessly expose the fact that the government has bowed to US demands. Instead, he is helping the government sell the agreement as a victory, even though it strengthens American imperialism’s control over Greenland.

If Pelle Dragsted truly wanted to fight Trump and US imperialism, he would mercilessly expose the fact that the government has bowed to US demands / Image: Revolution

Throughout the entire conflict over Greenland, Pelle Dragsted has proven himself to be among the most ardent defenders of the Realm, which in reality is nothing more than a defence of Danish dominance over Greenland. In his statement after the agreement was signed, he even said: “[…] when we stand together. In Denmark. In the Kingdom. In Europe. And when we stand firm on our principles. On international law. On a rules-based world order. Then we can win.”

Gone is all criticism of Denmark’s brutal oppression: the Spiral case [in which the Danish government forced contraception on thousands of Greenlandic women and girls] has been forgotten, as have the forced adoptions, and the miserable conditions under which Greenlanders suffer today. Instead, the Red-Green Alliance has chosen to fully support the Kingdom and the government’s negotiations with Trump.

In other words, they are backing the very same rulers who have just surrendered Greenland’s sovereignty to American imperialism. This is what the Red-Green Alliance calls ‘winning’!

The news of the new agreement was met with great relief at the top of society. That relief was clearly expressed by the employers’ organisations Dansk Erhverv and Dansk Industri, which reacted to the news with the words: “It can provide certainty for investors heading to Greenland to strengthen the Greenlandic economy, as well as to strengthen Danish investments in Greenland. So it is unquestionably a good thing to enter into an agreement.”

Similar sentiments are echoed by the media, which hopefully conclude that “the Kingdom’s greatest crisis since World War II appears to be over.” But it may soon turn out that they are counting their chickens before they hatch.

The US is deeply embroiled in the war against Iran, which has turned into a humiliating defeat for American imperialism. Washington’s decision to reach an agreement on Greenland is inevitably influenced by the desire to bring one conflict to a close, so that American imperialism’s full attention can be directed toward the Middle East. Above all, Trump desperately wants a foreign policy victory that he can highlight in the midterm elections – which is precisely what he has achieved with the new security agreement.

Although a new agreement on Greenland has now been reached, this in no way precludes the United States from returning with new demands in the future. This is precisely what happened with the trade agreement between the United States and Canada, which has led to the ongoing trade war between the two nations.

Furthermore, American imperialism’s aggression toward Greenland and Denmark is not just a whim of Trump, it reflects the interests of American imperialism. American imperialism is in relative decline on a global scale, and this weakness has led Trump to focus on securing complete US dominance over the Western Hemisphere, from Argentina in the south to Greenland in the north. We are in a new era of undisguised imperialism, in which the great powers are dividing the entire world into their respective spheres of influence.

American imperialism’s aggression toward Greenland and Denmark is not just a whim of Trump, it reflects the interests of American imperialism / Image: Iecs

The American ruling class cannot tolerate the risk that its rivals – Russia and, in particular, China – might gain a foothold in Greenland. Instead of controlling Greenland as before, with the Danish state as an intermediary, the US therefore needs more direct control over Greenland to secure its security interests in the Arctic amid the escalating conflict between the imperialist great powers.

The Greenland Agreement is thus a reflection of the shift in the international balance of power among the major imperialist powers. As the balance of power shifts further with the continued weakening of US imperialism and China’s growing influence – including in the Arctic – the desire to gain definitive ownership of Greenland may very well resurface.

And if the US decides in the future to take over Greenland, it will be easier than ever before. The new security agreement has expanded the US’ legal authority, and the American imperialists are well on their way to strengthening their tangible presence on the ground.

In addition to plans to build two new military bases, the US opened a massive consulate earlier this year, spanning 3,000 square metres in downtown Nuuk. Over the past several months, Greenland has been flooded with American businesspeople, and wealthy Americans close to the Trump administration are bestowing gifts worth several million kroner on the elite in Nuuk.

The US export credit agency EXIM is happily pouring hundreds of millions of kroner into projects in Greenland, and the US-run Greenland Energy Company has begun searching for oil in east Greenland without waiting for permission from the Greenlandic authorities.

Although Denmark’s name still appears on the deed, the US is already acting as Greenland’s new owner and is rapidly pushing the Danish state completely out of the country.

The new agreement, with its far-reaching concessions to US imperialism, is a humiliating defeat for the establishment in Denmark and the rest of Europe. It exposes once again that Europeans can protest loudly and puff themselves up, but when it comes down to it, they bow to US imperialism, just as they always have.

In the Revolutionary Communist Party, we have previously warned that workers and young people in both Denmark and Greenland cannot have any confidence that Danish politicians will fight American imperialism.

But how is it that the Danish ruling class still clings so tightly to American imperialism, even though the US is viewed as an ally by only about 7 percent of the population in Denmark?

On the world stage, Denmark is a small, weak, and utterly insignificant imperialist power that can only serve its own interests by latching onto US imperialism like a parasite. Since the end of World War II, relations with Washington have guided the ruling class’ foreign policy. Over the past 30 years, successive Danish governments have unconditionally backed all of the US’ imperialist projects in Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria, Libya, Ukraine, and many other places.

On all significant issues, the Danish bourgeoisie shares common interests with US imperialism. This is why the Danish bourgeoisie and their political representatives at Christiansborg are so desperate to keep the US in NATO and are willing to relinquish some of their own influence in Greenland to satisfy the US. The Danish bourgeoisie has turned Denmark into a vassal state of the US, and they would prefer it to remain that way.

That is why, during the signing ceremony for the agreement, we heard Mette Frederiksen showering Trump with praise.

The Danish bourgeoisie wants nothing more than to return to the old world order, where the Danish rulers, as loyal servants, obeyed the United States’ every whim and in return received a few crumbs that fell from the Americans’ table. But that time is over.

To fight Trump and American imperialism, we must fight the capitalist system, which is the very driving force behind imperialism / Image: Revolution

The only ones with a real interest in fighting American imperialism are the working classes: the Danish, the Greenlandic, and the American.

To fight Trump and American imperialism, we must fight the capitalist system, which is the very driving force behind imperialism. As long as capitalism exists, the fundamental driving force in the world will be the pursuit of profit and the competition among great powers to secure control over markets, resources, and spheres of influence. In other words, there can be no real freedom for small nations like Greenland (and Denmark, for that matter) as long as the capitalist system exists.

If we are to fight against imperialism, we must therefore fight for the working class to take power – in Denmark and throughout the rest of the world – and to oust the capitalists and their politicians. This is the only way to put an end to the imperialist oppression of Greenland and ensure a dignified and equal relationship among all nations.

In other words, a socialist revolution is the only path to liberating humanity from imperialism, colonialism, and oppression, and to putting an end to the oppression of some nations by others.