Greenland

The dispute about Greenland has been conducted by the US as a zero-sum game. Either ‘ownership’ over Greenland would be handed over to Washington, or else economic sanctions or worse would be applied to Denmark and her European allies. It was all or nothing until earlier this week.  There is a general sense that NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte managed to orchestrate a face-saving climbdown for Mr Trump while at the Davos World Economic Forum. Suddenly, on Wednesday, the US President announced that he was no longer threatening the use of force to capture Greenland. A little later, he added that the Greenland issue was solved. It appears that there has at least been a compromise about basic principles for a settlement, to be followed by a more detailed framework agreement yet to be negotiated. The key step in reaching the compromise was, it appears, is the application of the precedent of the UK Cyprus sovereign bases. This may turn out to be a significant mistake for all sides.