4 h. ago The transatlantic order is crumbling. Greenland is a moment of great rupture | Christopher S Chivvis

Trump’s demand for Greenland is a throwback to the 1884 Berlin conference: a transaction of land and people driven by a might makes right worldviewThe announcement on 17 January that Washington will impose punitive tariffs of 10% to 25% on eight European allies – unless they facilitate the “complete and total purchase” of Greenland – is likely to be the death knell of the post-1945 transatlantic order. By linking the territorial sovereignty of a Nato ally to trade access, the US has transitioned from Europe’s security guarantor to a 19th-century imperial rent-seeker.This is a moment of profound rupture. For decades, the western world believed that raw imperialism had been relegated to the past among advanced industrial powers. Even China, for all its assertiveness, largely couches its ambitions in the language of revanchism – the “reclaiming” of lost territory. Washington’s current demand for Greenland, by contrast, is a throwback to the age of the 1884 Berlin conference: a transact...

Politics

36 h. ago Extraordinary moment crowd at NBA game in London cheers shout of 'leave Greenland alone' during US national anthem after Trump's 'gangster' threats of trade war over island

In the wake of Donald Trump's bombastic demand that the US be handed the Danish island, singer Vanessa Williams was overshadowed as she performed the Star Spangled Banner.

Events

4 d. ago Panicking over Greenland plays into Trump’s hands – it’s time for cool heads and stalling diplomacy | Simon Jenkins

European countries sending troops to the island is only raising the temperature and generating fear – exactly what the US president wantsIs Greenland Donald Trump’s 25th-amendment moment? Last time around, this was when the Washington “grownups” debated his capacity to be president, notably in the final fortnight of his presidency, after the January 6 Capitol insurrection. Under the constitution, a president can be replaced should the vice-president and a cabinet majority decide their leader is “unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office”. The trouble today is that there are no grownups.The US president’s designs on Greenland are clearly mad. He claims Russia and China are scheming to seize the island and that Denmark should be forced urgently to transfer its sovereignty. Denmark had long allowed the US extended military access to Greenland, but Trump seems to want to own it. None of his staff has been able to say why.Simon Jenkins is a Guardian columnist and the author...

Politics

1 week ago Forget Big Ben! Try Telford’s Frog Clock: why Hollywood should stop destroying the same old landmarks

As the Gerard Butler film Greenland 2 becomes one more addition to the list of action movies to tamper with the Eiffel Tower, Statue of Liberty or Golden Gate bridge, isn’t it time they mixed it up a bit?Realistically there was never going to be a good time to release a sequel to 2020’s Greenland. This is partly because Greenland was one of those films in which Gerard Butler runs around looking as if he’s desperately trying to hold in a whopper of a fart. However, releasing a film about Americans focusing all their effort on Greenland at this precise moment in time feels a little on the nose.Also, and hopefully this isn’t a spoiler, but it’s weird to make Greenland 2 when the entire world was destroyed at the end of Greenland 1. In that film, you will remember, Butler and his family had to get to Greenland because the planet was about to be pummelled by meteors. Continue reading...

Politics

1 week ago US seizes two tankers as Trump widens oil grab and says Venezuela will buy American goods with proceeds from oil sale – live

US takes over two tankers, one Russian-flagged in the North Atlantic and the other Venezuela-linked in the Caribbean; Trump says Caracas will be ‘purchasing only American Made Products’Explainer: why so much interest in a rusty tanker in the Atlantic?Meanwhile, in the UK, Nigel Farage has offered his take on Trump’s plans to control Greenland, saying it would be “outrageous” for the US to seize it from Denmark.Farage says he agrees with Starmer that the fate of Greenland must be decided by Greenland and Denmark, not the US – but sided with Trump on “some genuine security concerns” that require further presence there.“What I will say is this. There are some genuine security concerns around Greenland and that becomes ever more relevant with a retraction of the ice caps as we head towards the North Pole. There is a strong feeling in British intelligence circles, and many in Nato, that there needs to be a significant Nato base located directly on the north of Greenland.At the moment, it...

Politics

1 week ago ‘No state has the right to use force against ships,’ says Moscow after US seizes Russian

Marinera, also known as the Bella 1, has been taken over in North Atlantic with second Venezuela-linked vessel seized in CaribbeanPeople in Greenland, share your views on Donald Trump’s commentsMeanwhile, in the UK, Nigel Farage has offered his take on Trump’s plans to control Greenland, saying it would be “outrageous” for the US to seize it from Denmark.Farage says he agrees with Starmer that the fate of Greenland must be decided by Greenland and Denmark, not the US – but sided with Trump on “some genuine security concerns” that require further presence there.“What I will say is this. There are some genuine security concerns around Greenland and that becomes ever more relevant with a retraction of the ice caps as we head towards the North Pole. There is a strong feeling in British intelligence circles, and many in Nato, that there needs to be a significant Nato base located directly on the north of Greenland.At the moment, it would appear that is something Greenland is not particul...

Politics