Denmark warns Washington to respect its sovereignty, while Greenland says it will decide its own future.

Donald Trump has sparked a fresh row with Denmark after appointing a special envoy to Greenland, the vast Arctic island he has said he would like to annex.

In response to a question from the BBC about the new role of Jeff Landry, the Republican governor of Louisiana, Trump said the US needed Greenland for “national protection” and that “we have to have it”.

Landry, he said, would “lead the charge” as special envoy to Greenland, a semi-autonomous part of the Kingdom of Denmark.

The move has angered Copenhagen, which said it would call the US ambassador for “an explanation”. Greenland’s prime minister said the island must “decide our own future” and its “territorial integrity must be respected”.

Gov Landry said in a post on X that it was an honour to serve in a “volunteer position to make Greenland a part of the US”.

Since returning to the White House in January, Trump has revived his long-standing interest in Greenland, citing its strategic location and mineral wealth.

He has refused to rule out using force to secure control of the island, a stance that has shocked Denmark, a Nato ally that has traditionally enjoyed close relations with Washington.

“We’ll have to work that out,” Trump added. “We need Greenland for national security, not minerals.”

Trump specifically mentioned Chinese and Russian ships as potential threats in the nearby seas.

  • TrickDacy@lemmy.world
    2·
    18 hours ago

    Okay, well if what you say is true then there was definitely a misunderstanding somewhere because I tagged you as “forgiving of trump voters”. Maybe you were feeling particularly generous that day and I ran further with that than you meant it.

    • Buffalox@lemmy.world
      2·
      18 hours ago

      No way, I may have been forgiving towards Americans that voted Democratic, absolutely not Trump voters or Jill Stein voters.
      It remains incomprehensible and reprehensible to me how people can vote for either of those two.
      I am personally sanctioning American goods and services, and I blame USA as a society for Trump.
      But of Americans with voting rights, the ones that voted Democratic are not to blame for Trump.

      PS: How do you “tag” people on Lemmy?

      • TrickDacy@lemmy.world
        3·
        17 hours ago

        All sounds reasonable to me. It disgusts me that the culture I grew up in was so insidious as to produce trump. Still hard to fathom, even knowing about the cultural problems we have…

        Some of the mobile apps have the tagging feature. I use boost on Android which also has it. You basically just long press a username and select “tag user”.

        • Buffalox@lemmy.world
          2·
          16 hours ago

          Thanks, I use the “normal” browser interface. Never used an app for lemmy, maybe I should try it?

          • TrickDacy@lemmy.world
            2·
            14 hours ago

            I would recommend a mobile app, yes. Just feels a little more solid and to me the notifications, video play and a few other features feel smoother on a native app. Boost is great but I wouldn’t necessarily recommend the free version because it has ads. No ads in the $5 version which I found worth it because it’s a great app.

            There are a lot of other choices (https://join-lemmy.org/apps/) but I definitely tried a lot and liked Boost and Connect the best. Sync is okay and I’ve heard good things about Voyager. Most of the apps have a user tagging feature and I’m certain the ones I’ve mentioned here do. Only caveat is in Connect it’s called “Notes” instead of tags, but it’s the same idea. Hope this helps!