Greenlanders embrace Danish PM after JD Vance's disastrous visit
Mette Frederiksen was cheered upon her arrival in the Danish overseas territory for a three-day visit that has been characterised as a show of solidarity in the face of repeated US take-over threats.
One resident shouting from a window said: 'Hey Mette! Thanks for being here,' according to Danish public broadcaster DR. Footage of the prime minister descending the steps of her aeroplane shows two people embracing her.
The scenes marked a stark contrast from the arrival of Mr Vance and his wife at a US airbase on the island on 24 March, when no official representatives from Greenland or Denmark came to greet them.
'It is clear that with the pressure put on Greenland by the Americans, in terms of sovereignty, borders and the future, we need to stay united,' Ms Frederiksen said after arriving.
Her visit is timed to reassure the island's 57,000 residents, the vast majority of whom want to become independent from Denmark but do not wish to become part of the United States, polls show.
Donald Trump has repeatedly said the US should take over Greenland for security reasons and has not ruled out the possibility of using military force to do so, causing relations with Denmark to sour.
In a pointed message to Mr Trump, Mette Frederiksen said 'you cannot annex another country.'
Holy Cow!
Denmark's Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen just sent a very stern, serious and condemning message to Donald Trump about his attempts to annex Greenland!
"When you ask our businesses to invest into the US. They do. When you ask us to spend more on defense. We do. And… pic.twitter.com/YkIVqYh8oy
— Ed Krassenstein (@EdKrassen) April 3, 2025
The vice president and his wife were widely mocked when the second lady's plans for a solo visit to the island were jettisoned after locals refused to turn-out to greet her.
Mrs Vance had originally been slated to visit the territory with one of her sons to watch the Avannaata Qimussersu dog-sled race in Sisimiut.
However, the programme was reorganised amid diplomatic backlash, with Mr Vance announcing he would join his wife at the last minute.
Reports later emerged that US representatives had spent a week canvassing door-to-door in Nuuk ahead of the diplomatic sojourn to sound out if residents would welcome a visit from Mrs Vance.
The US advances were shot down by Greenlandic residents, according to TV 2 reporter Jesper Steinmetz, who said the 'Americans' charm offensive mission has failed'.
During the visit, which lasted only a matter of hours, Mr Vance addressed US troops at a Pituffik military base, where he criticised Denmark for not having 'done a good job by the people of Greenland' by 'underinvesting' in security.
Mr Vance declared that the US could no longer 'bury our head in the snow' and ignore China's attempts to establish itself in the semi-autonomous territory.
He also explicitly urged Greenlanders to vote for independence from Denmark, urging its citizens to join the US's 'security umbrella' in comments that caused outrage in Copenhagen.
Lars Lokke Rasmussen, Greenland's foreign minister, responded in a post on social media that 'we are open to criticisms, but let me be completely honest, we do not appreciate the tone in which it's being delivered'.
Meeting on the sidelines of a Nato summit in Brussels on Thursday, Marco Rubio, the US state secretary, reassured Mr Rasmussen of the 'strong' ties between the countries.
According to The Washington Post, the White House is currently estimating the cost for the US federal government to control Greenland, and the potential revenues it could derive from exploiting its largely untapped natural resources.
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Daily Mirror
an hour ago
- Daily Mirror
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NBC News
8 hours ago
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Calls to strip Zohran Mamdani's citizenship spark alarm about Trump weaponizing denaturalization
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The naturalization application form itself asks a series of questions probing good moral character, such as whether the applicant has been involved in violent acts, including terrorism. The form also queries whether people have advocated in support of groups that support communism, 'the establishment in the United States of a totalitarian dictatorship' or the 'unlawful assaulting or killing' of any U.S. official. Failure to accurately answer any of the questions or the omission of any relevant information can be grounds for citizenship to be revoked. In 2015, for example, Sammy Chang, a native of South Korea who had recently become a U.S. citizen, had his citizenship revoked in the wake of his conviction in a criminal case of trafficking women to work at a club he owned. The government said that because Chang had been engaged in the scheme during the time he was applying for naturalization, he had failed to show good moral character. 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Ogles cited rap lyrics that Mamdani wrote years ago in which he expressed support for the 'Holy Land Five.' That appears to be a reference to five men involved in a U.S.-based Muslim charitable group called the Holy Land Foundation who were convicted in 2008 of providing material support to the Palestinian group Hamas. Some activists say the prosecution was a miscarriage of justice fueled by anti-Muslim sentiment following the 9/11 terrorist attacks. Ogles' office and Mamdani's campaign did not respond to requests seeking comment. Speaking on Newsmax in June, Ogles expanded on his reasons for revoking Mamdani's citizenship, suggesting the mayoral candidate had 'failed to disclose' relevant information when he became a citizen, including his political associations. Ogles has alleged Mamdani is a communist because of his identification as a democratic socialist, although the latter is not a communist group. The Trump administration, Ogles added, could use a case against Mamdani to 'create a template for other individuals who come to this country' who, he claimed, 'want to undermine our way of life.' (Even if Mamdani were denaturalized, he would not, contrary to Ogles' claim, automatically face deportation, as he would most likely revert his previous status as a permanent resident.) In an appearance on NBC's ' Meet the Press' on June 29, Mamdani said calls for him to be stripped of his citizenship and deported are 'a glimpse into what life is like for many Muslim New Yorkers and many New Yorkers of different faiths who are constantly being told they don't belong in this city and this country that they love.' Targeting Mamdani for his rap lyrics would constitute a very unusual denaturalization case, said Taufa, the immigration lawyer. But, she added, 'they can trump up a reason to denaturalize someone if they want to.' McKinney, a former president of the American Immigration Lawyers Association, said the relatively low number of denaturalization cases that are filed, including those taken up during Trump's first term, shows how difficult it is for the government to actually strip people of their citizenship. 'But what they can be very successful at is continuing to create a climate of panic and anxiety and fear,' he added. 'They're doing that very well. So, mission accomplished in that regard.'
The Herald Scotland
12 hours ago
- The Herald Scotland
Donald Trump considering tax break that would impact housing market
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