Greenland’s Prime Minister has blasted the idea of Usha Vance, lawyer and wife of US Vice-President JD Vance, visiting the country – saying it is causing a “big mess” and warned “American aggression” was increasing. Greenlandic leader Múte Bourup Egede slammed the three-day trip by Ms Vance and her son, which is scheduled to last from Thursday to Saturday, as part of a cultural tour and to see the country’s annual dogsled race.
Ms Vance will also be accompanied by the Trump administration’s national security adviser and energy secretary, prompting fears the US is forging ahead with President Donald Trump’s plan to take control of the nation, which at present is administered by NATO ally Denmark. On Sunday, Vice-President JD Vance blasted Denmark for “not doing its job” and “not being a good ally” during an appearance on the Trump-friendly TV network Fox News.
He said: “So you have to ask yourself: How are we going to solve that problem, solve our own national security? If that means that we need to take more territorial interest in Greenland, that is what President Trump is going to do, because he doesn’t care about what the Europeans scream at us.”
Greenland straddles strategic air and sea routes in the North Atlantic and is home to the US Pituffik Space Base, which supports missile warning and space surveillance operations.
The world’s biggest island, with a population of 56,000, people there are mostly from Indigenous Inuit backgrounds. It also has large deposits of the rare-earth minerals needed to make everything from mobile phones to renewable energy.
Greenland is also in the process of political transition. The pro-business Demokraatit party, which favours a slow path to independence, won a surprise victory in the recent elections, outpacing the two left-leaning parties that formed the last government.
Greenlandic Prime Minister Múte Bourup Egede, who remains in the post until a new government is formed, acknowledged in a Facebook post on Sunday that there is worry on the island about US intentions.
The visit of “the wife of the United States vice president and the United States president’s highest security adviser cannot be seen only as a private visit,” he said. “We can already see now, how big a mess it’s caused.”
Egede said there would be no official meetings with the US visitors because a new government has yet to be formed.
The likely next Greenlandic leader, Jens-Frederik Nielsen of Demokraatit, sought to calm nerves and said he was working on building a new coalition government “with the clear goal of creating security for our country and our people.”
He said in a statement “When foreign dignitaries travel to our country on what are called private visits, it rightly causes concern. There is no reason to panic. But there is good reason to stand together and to demand respect. I do. And I will continue to do so.”
President Trump had mused during his first term about ‘buying’ Greenland, even as Denmark insisted it wasn’t for sale. The people of Greenland have also firmly rejected Mr Trump’s plans.
Source : https://www.express.co.uk/news/world/2031784/greenland-pm-explodes-jd-vance-wife-donald-trump
