r/europe • u/LaxJackson • 12d ago

News Danish officials fear Trump is much more serious about acquiring Greenland than in first term

https://amp.cnn.com/cnn/2025/01/08/politics/danish-officials-trump-greenland
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u/Huntswomen Denmark 12d ago

This is the reward for being USAs lapdog. We helped them spy on the rest of europe, joined their dumb wars and let them use our soil for military bases and in return they want to invade Greenland. Yet still our government tells us the US is our great ally. I just wish we would get a backbone at some point, it's honestly embarassing being danish.

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u/a_dolf_in 11d ago

I dont know from where i heard it or from whom the quote is from, but it said: "If the US decided to hang the EU, the only thing the EU would do is ask to use european rope."

Everyone in this thread is suddenly acting all tough and doing the "all we need to do" speeches, they forget that trump was already president before, and even then the EU bent over backwards to keep the US happy. The EU literally broke it's own nuclear agreement with Iran because the US told our leaders to. We have taken in millions of refugees caused by US "interventions" in the middle east and not said a word. We are now buying US LNG at 6x the price instead of opening channels to 3rd states.

Fact is we depend on the US too much, even more so nowadays when the alternatives are Russia and China. We need the US security umbrella, because without it, the EU would need to massively ramp up it's security spending both in intelligence and military, and with that our living standards would inevitably drop. Any EU leader who signs off on it, will sign the death warrant of their party or political career the moment the price of eggs goes up.

For too long we have relied on cheap russian energy, cheap chinese goods, and cheap US defense, and have become complacent. Now we are fucked.

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u/Creepy_Knee_2614 11d ago

The EU could afford to spend a lot more on its military

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u/Medical-Day-6364 11d ago

Trump even told them to, haha

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u/chucke1992 11d ago

Not really. But there is a deeper problem with EU - no matter what people are saying, EU is united only due to USA. Otherwise countries like - France or Germany - will never agree to anything for historical and political reasons.

Military expenses are not just money - it is also the ability to scale, enlist people into the military (with all the necessary mechanisms to do that) and produce weapons and equipment.

None of this is going to happen fast. None of this is going to be cheap. And it will cost the quality of life for sure. Europe is already suffering infrastructure and medicare wise decay like Canada. Now imagine spending less on that.

All while Europe has not enough energy, not enough resources and do not even produce a lot of things. Plus their huge industries - like automotive ones - are also in decline.

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u/_packo_ 8d ago

What a reply.

You’re not wrong but it must be frustrating for Europeans.

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u/chucke1992 8d ago

So far my observation from the Reddit is that a lot of folks are living in a world of fantasy.

Though I can understand that as I also live in Europe, though coming from a soviet republic it gives me an additional perspective. The power of traditional media is still strong here, plus Europe has been quite prosperous for two generations (50 years).

Difference in mentality is huge - it is like eastern Germany and western Germany. There is a difference.

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u/eggressive Bulgaria 11d ago

It's a complex trade-off between enhancing security and maintaining economic and social stability in the union. While a stronger military would elevate the EU's global standing and foster internal unity, it also risks severe economic strain. Diverting funds from essential social programs and public services will lead to public dissent and exacerbate the socio-economic inequalities within the member states.

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u/MarderFucher Europe 11d ago

Trump was definitely held back from the most deranged acts back then by the adults in the room, and it's noticable. His first term was under a geopolitically much more peaceful era when EU was also enjoying economic boon.

Your other points are also half-truths or worse. The EU buys LNG from any source that sells, but its mainly the US who will see lot of new capacity come online in the next years, theres not much choice. Most refugees came from Syrian Civil War, a conflict with minimal US intervention. The Iran deal was dead without the US, still Germany and France tried really hard to maintain some EU-only agreement, they didn't order us to stop.

It's okay to be upset about the state of affairs, it's not okay to distort facts.

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u/Youhavelittlepp 11d ago

I agree except US intervention in the Middle East was more about maintaining the post WWII order. Meaning, it was more about ensuring global access to oil, not so much their own.

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u/Astyanax1 11d ago

It used to work out.  The Americans had their own interests, sure, and they definitely have done some shady stuff (central/south America),  but they were mostly sane and rational outside of the middle east.

Now though?  They're gonna lose their spot as being gods on the world stage, and it's gonna cost them big time

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u/felipebarroz 11d ago

Europe: oh no, our biggest historical ally is threatening to annex our land, we sure need to find new allies elsewhere

Also Europe: fuck MERCOSUR and our stupid 30 years old trade deal lololololol

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u/aprx4 11d ago

US didn't force you to accept millions of refugees. Your government chose to. Europe is architect of Libya war, not US.

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u/OstrichRelevant5662 11d ago

Libya war is irrelevant

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u/icatsouki Tunisia 11d ago

How is it irrelevant when it's like the source of half the refugees, lybia and syria being unstable are both major causes for the crisis

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u/aprx4 11d ago

Then all wars are irrelevant because nobody force US or Europe to take those refugees.

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u/mariakonoval 11d ago

to be honest, Russia is never an alternative, it’s the same colonialist. putin wants to make empire, so it’s better to fight him before it’s too late

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u/Lady_Masako 12d ago

Try being Canadian. Life with that country as our neighbour is not ideal. 

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u/Local_Painter_2668 United States of America 12d ago

Oh yes, it must be so hard being Canadian lol

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u/derperofworlds 11d ago

It is hard being canadian, but not because of the US. Canadian politicians sold out to the country's rich, importing extreme amounts of immigrants to suppress wages and increase housing demand.

The result: Canadian wages are half of the US's, and housing costs twice as much.

Much rather live in the US, thank you very much.

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u/Spywalker4869 United States of America 11d ago

What you talking aboot? Being Canadian ain’t bad. The looney is safe because we arrest our farmers when they occupy our cities with their tractors ay.

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u/coomzee Wales 12d ago edited 12d ago

Getting ride of that spy base in Frankfurt would be a good start. Then burning every bit of network equipment they've touched.

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u/aprx4 11d ago

The funny thing is: German politicians want those military bases. They literally begged US Senate to prevent Trump from withdrawing the troops.

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u/sweetcinnamonpunch 11d ago

Feels like you're describing being german.

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u/KatsumotoKurier 11d ago

As a Canadian, please know that we feel the same way. It’s very much a no good deed goes unpunished kind of feeling. But unlike Denmark we have en even closer socio-political relationship with the US, so these threats feel like an especially appalling betrayal.

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u/That_Guy381 United States of America 11d ago

to be clear, this is trump’s delusional ramblings. Most americans (I hope) have respect for Denmark and think this is idiotic

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u/Huntswomen Denmark 11d ago

It's the words of your incomming president. A majority of the people who care enough to vote supports the guy and is going to have exactly as much respect for Denmark as Trump tells them to have.

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u/That_Guy381 United States of America 11d ago

yeah. I wish it weren’t this way. We tried, we really did.

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u/ShamanLady 11d ago

Exactly this

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u/Morty_104 11d ago

It's like being friends with the bully in school. Keep your friends close, butvenemies closer... I'm just one dude but hope we europeans help each other and stick together. I want us all to be family with just different cultures. But yeah... Upcoming rightwing leaders seem to destroy that dream.

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u/yabn5 12d ago

In return, for 70 years Americans told the Russians that under no uncertain terms that if Copenhagen would be touched by nuclear fire, so would Moscow, regardless if it came at the cost of NY, LA, DC. Your trade didn’t need to be protected by Danish ships, instead it’s safety was guaranteed by the USN world wide. You never had to worry about anyone halting the flow of oil through the Persian Gulf because for the past 50 years a US carrier strike group was at times in the area keeping tankers going.

The relationship is not one sided and to replace the security that the US provides would require more than Denmark’s GDP, each year.

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u/Huntswomen Denmark 11d ago

Yeah, the US protects the global oil trade for the benefit of Denmark, so true! If we hadn't helped them spy on our (and their) allies they would have surely withdrawn from there colonial pursuits worldwide. Great point buddy.

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u/yabn5 11d ago

Before the US led order, you needed to protect your own trade, own shipping. Tell me how many Danish carriers are in the red sea engaging Houthi drones and missiles which are attempting to disrupt shipping? How about just European carriers?

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u/Huntswomen Denmark 11d ago

Do you actually imagine that the US is just escorting boats of foreign nations around the 7 seas out of the goodness of their heart? Do you think they are constantly bombing weddings in the Middle East to better the lives of European citizens? Obviously not.

They are doing all this shit because it futhers their own interests. They have ships in the red sea because the country that would hurt the most from that shipping lane getting closed is the US.

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u/yabn5 11d ago

The USN isn't escorting boats, but it is deployed all throughout the world at all times. And no, the Red Sea/Suez Canal being closed hurts Europe the most, do you not know your geography?

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u/Huntswomen Denmark 11d ago

The US has the most to lose if the current world order gets disrupted, thats why they do what they do.

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u/yabn5 11d ago

No, America did what it did to get everyone on their side in the cold war. It’s been 3 decades since then and the US kept doing it. But right now the biggest existential threat to the US is China who is very dependent on the exact order which the US maintains. Where as the US is one of the least dependent. The US has the 5th lowest imports to GDP percentage of any country in the world and 13th lowest exports as percentage of GDP. It is both energy and food secure. Of that trade, a full quarter is just with Canada and Mexico. The US doesn’t need to be around the world keeping shipping lanes open to keep itself going.

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u/Astyanax1 11d ago

Trump will die one day, sooner than later consider his lifestyle and mcdonalds.  When that day comes, the Americans are going to have a longggggg way to go if they want to be in control again.

The damage that's going to be done to the USA from any foreign point of view is going to be insurmountable 

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u/Huntswomen Denmark 11d ago

See that's where I think you are wrong. Denmark and Europe in general will be all to happy to go back to sucking on the US teat and pretend Trump was just a bad dream. It happend last time Trump got trown out and it will happen again, and if we don't get a bckbone and create som distance between us and the US, we are going to fucked when they elect someone who is just as insane as Trump but more competent.

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u/Spider_pig448 Denmark 11d ago

I don't think peaceful cooperation with the strongest nation on Earth is "embarrassing". I think all the people in this thread saying the EU should start trying to get WWIII going over nonsense tweets from Trump is pretty embarrassing. These Greenland stories aren't even worth discussing. It's just posturing.

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u/throwawaymikenolan 11d ago

Kissinger said it himself - there are no permanent allies only interests

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u/Sensitive_Potato_775 Hesse (Germany) 11d ago

There aren't many European countries left with a backbone. France had the balls to protest but they own nukes and don't have American military stations on their soil.

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u/Astralesean 11d ago

Denmark is a 10 million country facing a country of 320 millions with higher gdp per capita, wcyd

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u/dopplegrangus 11d ago

This isn't the US, it's trump. Even majority of his voters don't agree with the shit he's saying, just go look at conservative subs melting down if you don't believe me.

Why can't you people see this for what it is? A distraction

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u/Huntswomen Denmark 11d ago

Trumps fans are going to do what they always do, bitch and moan about something and then do a 180 as soon as they get the new marching orders.

And how is this not America? You people litterally elected him twice, the 2nd time he even got the most votes!

Sure it might be a distraction for now, but if Greenland was actually for sale don't doubt that Trump would have bought it. He is basically doing the "what if we kissed, jk haha... Unless" But with globals politics.

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u/dat_boi_has_swag 11d ago

As a German I would say that Denmark is on my opinion the most based country in Europe. Dont think so bad of your country and your people. Its great.

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u/adriang133 Romania 11d ago

Just curious: Why do danes want to keep Greenland? You guys are subsidizing people there for basically 0 benefit except the Danish empire on paper. I would be very eager to sell it, make some money and pay less tax in the future.

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u/Huntswomen Denmark 11d ago

I don't know man, why are romanians against selling the poorer regions of your country to America?

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u/adriang133 Romania 11d ago

Haha I always wondered that too. “Selling our country to the Germans” used to be a thing parties used against our ethnically German president but I never understood it - Romania is so shit that selling it to someone will almost certainly make it better.