Trump links Greenland threat to Nobel Peace Prize snub

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00:00Well, we're joined now by Keravan Gorgistani, who is our international affairs editor for

00:04more on this.

00:05Hi, Keravan.

00:06So Trump kept saying this was all about national security, and we are now learning that it

00:11is slightly linked to him not winning or being awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.

00:17That's at least what the U.S. president himself wrote in a letter that he sent to the prime

00:24minister of Norway.

00:25The letter was first obtained by PBS, the U.S.'s public broadcaster, and it was sent

00:31to the prime minister, but it was also shared by the White House with all of the European

00:36ambassadors that are in post in Washington, D.C., to share with their own heads of states

00:43and government.

00:44And there are a few things that are important in that letter.

00:47The first line, of course, is important.

00:49Considering your country decided not to give me the Nobel Peace Prize, he goes on, I know

00:55no longer feel an obligation to think purely of peace.

00:59He also questioned whether Denmark had an actual claim to Greenland, saying, it's only that

01:07a boat landed there hundreds of years ago.

01:09We had boats landing there, too.

01:12And finally, the last sentence, also very important, he says, the world is not secure unless we have

01:18complete and total control of Greenland.

01:21Now, there are a few things that need to be fact-checked here.

01:24First of all, the link with the Nobel Peace Prize.

01:29This is something that is completely independent from the Norwegian government.

01:33So the fact that he's writing this to the prime minister of Norway in itself is a little

01:37bit odd, because the Nobel Committee has nothing to do with the Norwegian government.

01:42That is, without even wondering whether or not he has indeed ended eight wars or more, and

01:49even without considering the fact that he has also bombed several countries in the past

01:54few months.

01:55Then you have the issue of national security.

01:58The United States already has a military base in Greenland.

02:02It also has a treaty that dates back to World War II that allows the United States to increase

02:09or decrease the troop presence in Greenland, with the authorization of Greenland and of

02:14Denmark.

02:15And Greenland, being part of Denmark, is a NATO member territory and therefore is protected

02:23by NATO in the case of a foreign attack under Article 5.

02:28So if you want to defend Greenland, that is totally fine.

02:32But you don't need to necessarily annex it in order for it to be protected by NATO.

02:37And finally, there's a little bit of a history lesson, maybe, for Donald Trump about who

02:43got to Greenland first and who can lay claim.

02:48But it is true that Denmark, after the Norse, have been in Greenland for centuries, even before

02:55the creation of the United States of America.

02:58And when Donald Trump talks about landing boats and laying claim to a land, I think in the United

03:04States, maybe the Native Americans have something to say about people who come with boats and then

03:10lay claim to a land that is not theirs.

03:13Let's not even go there.

03:15In terms of Europe, it's fair to say, you know, European governments, European citizens are

03:20appalled by this plan of Trump's.

03:24How are Americans receiving it?

03:26How much support does he have in America for this?

03:28Well, it seems that he doesn't have that much support.

03:32And it is clear that Americans, by and large, do not want the United States to go and take

03:39Greenland by force.

03:40That is absolutely clear.

03:42There's an overwhelming majority in different polls, from 80 to 90 percent.

03:47There's nothing that Americans agree—90 percent of Americans agree on right now.

03:51So it is pretty significant, including among Republicans who say that they don't want to

03:58take Greenland by force.

04:00When it comes to buying Greenland or getting it by a deal, it's a little bit different.

04:05There is still an overwhelming majority of people who don't want and who don't think

04:10that that is in the interest of the United States.

04:13But there, when you look at it, it's overwhelmingly the Democrats and the independents that are opposed

04:18to taking over Greenland, while there is a small majority of Republicans who would be

04:25totally OK with that.

04:27But that really sort of replicates when you look at Congress.

04:31We've seen Congress, especially the Republicans in Congress, pretty much toe the line with

04:37whatever Donald Trump says.

04:38But on this issue, there have started to be some cracks.

04:42And again, just like the American people, extreme opposition from quite a few Republicans,

04:48and not just the usual suspects who criticize Donald Trump.

04:51But this idea of taking Greenland by force, that has been rejected by a number of Republicans.

04:58For example, Mitch McConnell, he said that it would be a more disastrous decision for Donald

05:03Trump's legacy to invade Greenland by force than it was for Biden to withdraw from Afghanistan.

05:10That is a pretty harsh comment from Republicans.

05:14But there are also some who believe that even the interest and the focus on Greenland and

05:20the threat over the allies is not good.

05:24One senator, John Kennedy, who's usually pretty on the side of Donald Trump, called it weapons-grade

05:31stupid to sort of alienate all of your allies to get Greenland.

05:37And a lot of Republicans, those who didn't want to be critical of Donald Trump, said that

05:42if this was about national security, the United States does not need to own Greenland in order

05:49to do that.

05:50They have NATO, they have military bases, and they can very well send more troops to Greenland

05:55if they want to.

05:56Well, thank you very much.

05:58Kadavan Gurdistani there, our International Affairs Editor.

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