Sagas are often filled with unexpected twists and turns, and the one involving President Donald Trump and Greenland is no exception.
In our most recent episode, Second Lady Usha Vance announced that she would take her three children for a cultural tour of Greenland, including its famous dog sled race. National Security Adviser Mike Waltz and Energy Secretary Chris Wright are joining Vance on the excursion to the Arctic island, against the backdrop of Trump wanting Greenland for strategic reasons.
Now Usha’s husband has announced he will be heading to Greenland this Friday.
In this fun video, Vance mentions the excitement around his wife’s upcoming visit.
“Hey guys, It’s JD Vance, the vice president,” Vance said in a video posted to social media. “And you know, there was so much excitement around Usha’s visit to Greenland this Friday that I decided that I didn’t want her to have all that fun by herself, and so I’m going to join her.””I’m going to visit some of our guardians in the Space Force on the northwest coast of Greenland, and also just check out what’s going on with the security there of Greenland,” Vance continued. “As you know, it’s really important.A lot of other countries have threatened Greenland, have threatened to use its territories and its waterways, to threaten the United States, to threaten Canada, and, of course, to threaten the people of Greenland. So we’re going to check out how things are going there.”
The Vice President also took a diplomatic tone, noting the visit aims to “celebrate the long history of mutual respect and cooperation between our nations.”
It appears that the new itinerary will not include attending Greenland’s national dogsled race but will focus on the American base there.
The new itinerary is for Mr. and Ms. Vance to visit Pituffik Space Base, high above the Arctic Circle, “to receive a briefing on Arctic security issues and meet with U.S. service members.”…Initially, the plan was for Ms. Vance and one of her sons to watch a dog sled race, a cherished Greenland tradition, in Sisimiut, one of Greenland’s bigger towns. But the organizers of the race made a pointed statement on Sunday that while the race was open to the public, they had not asked the Vances to attend.A spokeswoman for Ms. Vance denied that, saying she had received “multiple invitations.” Still, the White House announced on Tuesday that she would no longer be going to the race.
I am angry that our mainstream media has forgotten that there was a recent election in Greenland, and the current Prime Minister was jettisoned for a less socialist and more independence-minded crew. Our elite media keep asserting there is a “backlash” and the American posture is aggressive…forgetting that once the coalition government has formed, the man they keep quoting so fervently will no longer hold any power.
“We are now at a level where it can in no way be characterized as a harmless visit from a politician’s wife,” Egede told Greenlandic newspaper Sermitsiaq on Sunday, according to a translation. “Because what is the security adviser doing in Greenland? The only purpose is to show a demonstration of power to us.”
Now, in the interest of fairness, it must be noted that Greenland’s next leader wasn’t thrilled with the move.
Jens-Frederik Nielsen, leader of Greenalnd’s Demokraatit party and poised to be the country’s next prime minister following elections earlier this month, said the visit showed a “lack of respect for the Greenlandic people.”
But the complete story is that Greenland’s newly elected officials are having difficulty forming a ruling coalition, as the more independent-minded second-place finisher Naleraq has withdrawn from any coalition plans.
Greenland’s pro-independence party Naleraq has withdrawn from government formation talks, citing irreconcilable differences with the centrist party Demokraatit — a move that comes at a politically sensitive moment, as a U.S. congressional delegation visit draws outrage across Greenland and Denmark, reports DR.dk.Demokraatit leader Jens-Frederik Nielsen announced Naleraq’s exit in a press release, stating that while his goal had been to form a broad coalition, negotiations broke down over disagreements on activating Section 21 of Greenland’s Self-Government Act — the legal mechanism that could initiate a process toward independence from Denmark.“It has always been my intention to form a broad coalition, as I believe that is the right thing to do in the situation our country is in,” Nielsen said “But that requires agreement on the terms of such a deal, and that has proven too difficult in the talks with Naleraq.”While the parties reportedly aligned on several policy areas, Demokraatit insisted on a cautious, step-by-step approach to independence — a strategy Naleraq could not support.
Finally, Trump notes that Greenlanders were reaching out to him.
At a cabinet meeting Monday, Trump rejected the notion that the planned visits were in any way confrontational.”This is friendliness, not provocation. We’re dealing with a lot of people from Greenland that would like to see something happen with respect to them being properly protected and properly taken care of. They’re calling us. We’re not calling them,” Trump said on Monday.
So, the situation in Greenland is chaotic and quite fluid. In the end, I am sure better security and economic arrangements will be made,
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