Vance's lie about an allied country to claim a part of its territory

The White House is issuing increasingly embarrassing messages regarding an allied country, the Kingdom of Denmark.

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Trump intends to take over the Danish territory of Greenland

Donald Trump has been expressing for months his intentions to take over Greenland, a territory in North America that has been part of the Kingdom of Denmark since 1814, with autonomy since 1979, with extensive self-government since the 2008 referendum and which currently forms a commonwealth with the aforementioned European country. Currently, Denmark's powers over Greenland are limited to defense and foreign policyIn addition to providing a considerable percentage of the territory's annual budget for basic services, as is the case with the Faroe Islands.

Vance says Denmark “is not being a good ally”

In recent hours, the White House's messages about Denmark have taken a qualitative leap with statements by Vice President J.D. Vance in which he states:

Denmark, which controls Greenland, is not doing its job, it’s not being a good ally. If that means we need to take more territorial interests in Greenland, that’s what Trump is going to do. Because he doesn’t care about what the European scream at us

Apparently, Vance cares as little about the cries of Europeans as he does about the truth, international law, and Danish sovereignty over Greenland. It's outrageous to see a US vice president lying like this about one of the US's staunchest allies, Denmark, to justify a future invasion of Greenland.

The US State Department contradicts Vance

It's worth remembering that the Kingdom of Denmark was one of the founding members of NATO in 1949, along with the US and ten other countries. If Vance wants to know what a good ally Denmark is, he only has to read what the US State Department website says about the Nordic country:

Denmark is a strong NATO Ally and a reliable contributor to multinational stability operations, as well as to international assistance initiatives. Denmark has forces deployed worldwide to several NATO missions, UN peacekeeping operations, and the Global Coalition to Defeat ISIS. Denmark led NATO Mission Iraq from November 2020 until May 2022.

Denmark hosts Pituffik Space Force Base in Greenland, which hosts a U.S. military presence and provides great strategic value for U.S. and NATO military forces. Since the 1950s, Pittufik, formerly known as Thule Air Base until 2023, has enabled space superiority and provided a critical early-warning radar system that improves U.S. and NATO military capabilities in the Arctic region.

Denmark is the second country that has contributed the largest percentage of its GDP to Ukraine.

On the other hand, according to the Ukraine Support Tracker of the Kiel Institute for the World Economy, Denmark is the country that has contributed the second largest percentage of its GDP in military aid to Ukraine, 2.48%, surpassed only by Estonia, which has contributed 2.51%. The United States has contributed 0.53%. Again, I refer to what the US State Department website says:

Denmark has been a committed and reliable partner of Ukraine since Russia’s further invasion of Ukraine, providing approximately €657 million ($678 million) in support, including €510 million ($526.5 million) in military assistance (including artillery, ammunition, military training, and demining support), and €147 million ($151.7 million) in humanitarian funding. Denmark is also providing troops and military equipment to NATO Allies Latvia and Estonia to strengthen deterrence and defense.

“The United States and Denmark have a healthy defense trade relationship”

Likewise, the US State Department adds the following about Denmark and its defense trade relationship with Washington:

The United States and Denmark have a healthy defense trade relationship that advances U.S. foreign policy and national security objectives by strengthening the military capabilities of Denmark, a NATO Ally, while supporting the U.S. defense industrial base.

The United States has approximately $2.2 billion worth of active sales cases for U.S.-origin defense articles and services to Denmark under the Foreign Military Sales (FMS) program.

It's outrageous that Vance would lie this way about an ally, while ignoring these facts about Denmark, whose relationship as an ally with the US should deserve all the praise and thanks from the White House. It seems that the rapprochement between the US and Russia is leading Trump and his team to adopt the Kremlin's habits, which consist of resorting to lies to justify their actions against other countries. The only difference is that this time the messages are directed not at an enemy country, but at an ally.

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Photo: Gage Skidmore.