Denmark Now Giving Greenland Some Much Needed Attention
Danes invest about $250 million in Greenland’s infrastructure and host military exercises.
The last time I wrote about Greenland, the Danish foreign minister had summoned the top U.S. diplomat in Copenhagen after Denmark’s national broadcaster reported that at least three people connected to President Donald Trump were carrying out covert influence operations in Greenland, allegedly trying to sway residents to align more robustly with U.S. interests.
In the wake of this drama, there are indications that the Danes are taking the needs of their semi-autonomous territory a bit more seriously. To begin with, Denmark recently announced plans to invest about $250 million in Greenland’s infrastructure.
The Danish government is expected to unveil a proposal in the coming weeks for increased Arctic defense spending. This follows ongoing joint training exercises in Greenland this month, which bring together Denmark and several of its NATO allies with more than 550 personnel participating.
The latest initiatives build on a major defense agreement from earlier this year. On February 22nd, the Danish Government and the parties behind the defense agreement decided to accelerate the build-up of Danish Defense with an additional $7.9 billion allocated over 2025 and 2026. The plan will put Denmark above 3% of GDP in allocated defense spending. The agreement was concluded in the wake of intelligence assessments warning that Russia could regain sufficient military strength within two years to wage war against one or several NATO countries.
At the same time, Copenhagen is facing new pressure from Greenland’s own leaders for more substantial economic support. In August, Greenland’s government demanded increased financial backing, linking today’s economic challenges to a controversial birth-control campaign from the 1960s and 70s. Finance minister Múte B. Egede said Denmark carried “historic responsibility” for the island’s weak economy. According to Egede, the forced contraception policy created a demographic imbalance where too few workers must now support a growing elderly population.
Denmark Announces Large Investment in Greenland’s Infrastructure | Zolta Győri, The European Conservative
Denmark announced plans to invest about $250 million in Greenland’s infrastructure, a move aimed at reinforcing ties with the Arctic island as U.S. President Donald Trump… pic.twitter.com/vISErDaXYp
— Owen Gregorian (@OwenGregorian) September 17, 2025
The $250 million infrastructure investment is about twice what the Trump administration proposed simply for the development of a rare earths mine. Still, it’s a start.
Demark also seems to be taking Arctic security slightly more seriously as well. The Danes held a large-scale international military exercise on Greenland this week.
However, as they are still upset over President Donald Trump’s intention to acquire the Danish territory, the U.S. was not invited to participate.
The exercise, the largest in Greenland’s modern history, comes amid increased interest in the Arctic region and its vast natural resources from other large powers, such as Russia and China.
It included contributions from the militaries of several European NATO allies, according to the Danish military. More than 550 people and soldiers took part, including more than 70 from France, Germany, Norway and Sweden.
Military observers from the United States were present, and U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth was invited, but Denmark’s Arctic commander, Soren Andersen, told reporters that the United States’ military was not invited to participate in the training.
“We work together with colleagues on the U.S. Pituffik Space Base, but they were not invited with units for this exercise,” Andersen said. He added that the Danish military had “a very good relationship with the U.S. military.” Pituffik Space Base is the only U.S. base in the country, located in northwestern Greenland. The Danish military later said that Danish F-12 fighter jets visited the base, and that the pilots had coffee with the U.S. base’s deputy commanderand U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth was invited, but Denmark’s Arctic commander, Soren Andersen, told reporters that the United States’ military was not invited to participate in the training.
The exercise seems timely, as the Russians appear to be confused about their own airspace.
NATO says it has responded after Russian military jets “violated” Estonian airspace.
In a statement, the Estonian government said the incident involved three Russian MiG-31 fighter jets that flew near Vaindloo Island, in the Gulf of Finland, for a total of 12 minutes without permission.
A NATO spokesperson said the Russian jets “violated Estonian airspace” and “NATO responded immediately and intercepted the Russian aircraft”.
“This is yet another example of reckless Russian behaviour and NATO’s ability to respond.”
In just the past week, Russia has violated the airspace of three NATO members:
• Poland
• Estonia
• RomaniaSanctions NOW! Not in two weeks. pic.twitter.com/n2koLphVgd
— Kareem Rifai 🌐 (@KareemRifai) September 19, 2025
We’ll see if this is a case of “better late than never”.
Donations tax deductible
to the full extent allowed by law.
Comments
Why is Denmark so determined to hold onto what is a mostly uninhabitable ice sheet?
Natural resources and strategic location.
.
and TDS.
Two great comments.
The Danish could arrange a very favorable royalty arrangement with the United States when it comes to Greenland’s abundant natural resources.. The Danish have neither the inclination or the money to exploit those resources. Nor are the Danes in any position to exploit Greenland’s strategic significance.
So it comes down to a combination of hubris and TDS.
Sewards icebox 2.0
“According to Egede, the forced contraception policy created a demographic imbalance where too few workers must now support a growing elderly population.”
Forced, eh?
These are the sort of unintended consequences you get when governments stick their noses into places where they have no business.
“Here’s an example of the state at work, concerning a certain social club in Edmonton, Alberta (Canada) whose laudable purpose is to provide a social outlet for ex-alcoholics. So no alcoholic beverages were served, but otherwise they drank soft drinks, played billiards, smoked and chatted.
Trouble is, the state doesn’t allow smoking in most public places: to do this, you have to get a liquor permit. And the liquor board says that you can only get a liquor permit if you actually serve liquor.
So either the club closes or it sells booze, thus defeating the entire point. That’s the state at work, folks.”
–JAN NARVENSON, ‘MINARCHISM” (ETHICS & POLITICS, 2003)
They could get the license and offer for sale a single $10,000 can of Pabst. The administrative class is a domestic terror organization.
“Danish F-12 fighter jet”??
I think you mean the F-16.
The F-12 reference is part of a quote of an article from Time magazine. Time was once a respected news magazine that published weekly on paper. The name is now attached to a website that can’t even get the name of a common aircraft right.
It’s the Dutch. They probably have a fleet of Larson F-12 Babies.
550 participants in the exercise? Oooh, so impressive. College bands have more people than that
“Giving Greenland Some Much Needed Attention”
It’s going to take more than a bouquet of daisies, a bottle of aquavit, and a corner table at Neils’ Palace of Fiskefrikadeller..
Once Denmark realizes how much it will cost to do wha they should have been doing all along, they will probably make an offer to the Vance Administration.