There are moments in historical past which might be tough to neglect, which change the course of occasions. Danes have skilled a number of such moments in the previous couple of months, however to me, probably the most defining one occurred a couple of weeks in the past, when Vice President JD Vance stated Denmark is “not being a good ally” to the USA.
Danes had been shocked and stung. Our nation has been nothing lower than a stalwart ally of America. Many people felt as if we had been shedding a longtime good friend — virtually as if a brother had been abandoning us: The USA has been Denmark’s closest ally for 80 years. Now we have adopted American presidents into wars that many Danes felt weren’t ours to battle.
Because the finish of World Warfare II, the USA and Denmark have had a powerful partnership — each international locations are founding members of NATO. Since 1949, NATO’s Article 5 precept of collective protection has been on the coronary heart of this partnership, making a safer world for us all. The one time Article 5 has ever been invoked was on Sept. 12, 2001. Lower than 24 hours after the terrorist assault on the USA, its European and Canadian allies stood as much as help Individuals.
1000’s of Danish troops went on to serve in Iraq and Afghanistan after Sept. 11. Greater than 50 of them died. That isn’t a small quantity, particularly in a rustic of solely six million individuals. Denmark misplaced roughly as many service members per capita in Afghanistan as the USA did.
In 2011, Danish pilots flew missions in Libya alongside U.S. and different NATO forces. When America has referred to as, Denmark has stepped up.
Anger and grief prevail once we take into consideration what to say now to the Danish dad and mom who misplaced their kids in these wars. How are those that have sacrificed what’s most expensive to them speculated to interpret the notion that Denmark isn’t a great ally?
It hasn’t all the time been straightforward to clarify to the Danish individuals why they need to be concerned in American-led wars, however general, we perceive the significance of alliances and cherish our partnership with the USA.
I perceive that adjustments in American political management carry adjustments in coverage — that’s the proper of any administration. If President Trump has considerations about safety within the Arctic, after all, our international locations ought to work collectively to deal with them. However that isn’t the identical as suggesting that Denmark is failing to uphold its commitments in Greenland or wherever else. And it’s not a pretext for America buying Greenland, because the president has prompt.
It’s also true that Denmark and different European international locations have lengthy lived beneath the safety of the U.S. army, within the sense that the USA has invested extra in its personal protection than the remainder of us. And it’s true that it took us too lengthy to do what a number of American presidents had urged us to do: spend extra on our personal safety.
It took a warfare on our continent to make us notice that peace can by no means be taken with no consideration. Since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Denmark has been the second-largest donor of weapons and help to Ukraine as a share of G.D.P. and among the many largest donors in complete. In the present day, Denmark invests over 2 p.c of our G.D.P. in protection — above the NATO guideline — and in each 2025 and 2026, we’ll spend greater than 3 p.c.
As our international minister, Lars Løkke Rasmussen, stated in March: “We are going to shoulder our share of the duty. Nobody ought to doubt that.”
In Greenland, Denmark has invested billions to assist present authorities providers. It’s unfair to say, as the vice president did final month, that Danes “have underinvested within the individuals of Greenland.”
He could have a degree when he stated that we’ve underinvested in Greenland’s safety. However on this regard, we don’t bear the duty alone. In relation to the army protection of the Arctic, NATO acknowledges that it’s a shared duty.
And the USA, too, performs a particular function on this. Within the 1951 Greenland defense agreement between the USA and Denmark, the USA has had virtually limitless entry to spend money on protection services in Greenland. On this settlement, the governments of the USA and the Kingdom of Denmark acknowledge “their respective and joint tasks in Greenland, in accordance with NATO plans.”
All of us might have accomplished higher. Within the post-World Warfare II period, there have been over a dozen American army installations in Greenland. In the present day, just one American base stays, with round 150 permanent personnel — the Pituffik Area Base, which Mr. Vance just lately visited. The Danish army presence isn’t strong both. However as Mr. Rasmussen stated final month in a post on X: “We respect that the USA wants a better army presence in Greenland” and “we, Denmark and Greenland, are very a lot open to discussing this.” Denmark has simply determined to extend spending on Arctic safety by more than $2 billion. America is welcome to extend its funding, too. We are able to even do it collectively.
Danes hope that our partnership with Individuals can proceed. We need to preserve this friendship, however we’ll stand agency on our rules. I’ll depart the ultimate phrase to our prime minister, Mette Frederiksen, who made a strong assertion throughout her go to to Greenland on April 3: “The U.S. is an enormous nation, and Denmark is a small one. Now we have regarded as much as you, and you’ve got impressed us.”
However, she added: “Once you demand to take over part of the Kingdom of Denmark’s territory — once we are met by strain and by threats from our closest ally — what are we to consider in in regards to the nation that we’ve admired for thus a few years? The nation that, if any, has stood up for others’ freedom. You understand us, you recognize what we stand for, and you recognize that we don’t give in.”
