Did Trump just dis Greenland’s healthcare after U.S. sailor is airlifted and treated by Denmark?
As my stay in Nuuk draws to a close, I have been spending more time by the Greenlandic capital’s elysian waterfront, ambling along its icy streets and admiring the bright-coloured timber-framed houses that adorn its sloping fields of glistering white.
As I sit on a rustic wooden bench and stare into the distance, the first movements I encounter are those of ravens, rock ptarmigans, ducks and eiders going about their business, as well as blocks of ice of varying shapes and hues floating along at a much more leisurely pace. Every now and then, there is also the motor boat passing by, a group of friends climbing the wooden boat in front of the old boat yard, and locals and tourists visiting one of the two museums and seaside cafés, or headed to the impressive boardwalk.
As you can imagine, what I had anticipated was a perfectly ordinary weekend in a customarily extraordinary place. The only thing especially noteworthy about Friday evening was the dramatic sunset, which you can see in the first image. As I returned to the waterfront on Saturday morning, there were again only two remarkable events: the same halcyon setting now had a relatively large iceberg perched right in the middle as you can see in the second image, and the national museum was hosting a seminar on sewing with gut skin, which I found completely fascinating. I then sat in my favourite local café and embarked on multiple rounds of chai latte. Again, a perfectly lovely yet entirely ordinary day.
But then the extraordinary happens.
I start hearing accounts of a U.S. submarine being in the waters near Nuuk, which seemed odd given how secretive such missions tend to be. I then hear that the submarine surfaced in the waters around eight miles from Nuuk, which seemed odder still. A few minutes later, I learnt that there was a medical emergency, and that Denmark’s Joint Arctic Command had airlifted a U.S. submariner for treatment at a hospital in Nuuk. How remarkable it was, I thought, that the U.S. could still undertake military activity in Greenland with consent, and that Greenland and Denmark would still come to its aid with surety, despite all the avoidable hullabaloo of recent months!
I suppose I drew great comfort in that moment to see the strength of this old and crucial alliance between two allies I care about prevail over the unhelpful and dangerous rhetoric that risked undermining the Western Alliance as a whole.
Yet, later in the evening, I must say I was rather shocked and disappointed to hear Trump not thank Greenland and Denmark for the medical help they provided a U.S. sailor but claim rather oddly that he was “going to send a great hospital boat to Greenland to take care of the many people who are sick, and not being taken care of there.”
Forgive me for saying this aloud, but how are allies expected to navigate situations where the differences between allies relate not to questions of what constitutes a threat or a response, but to perceptions of reality itself?
Let me reiterate this point: when I set out to build an Arctic think tank 10 years ago, one of my principal motivations was to establish consensus among allies about the strategic importance of the Arctic and how best to secure the region from the nefarious influence and activities of what NATO would consider adversaries. Yet, 10 years later, foreign and security policy analysts find themselves in the middle of the Cirque du Soleil trying to come up with geopolitical backstories to make sense of acts by an ally which evoke “Wow, did that really happen?” as a much more instinctive response.
I have such great admiration for the Prime Minister of Greenland, Jens-Frederik Nielsen, who calmly posted today, “It’s going to be a no thank you from here. President Trump’s idea to send an American hospital ship here to Greenland is noted. But we have a public health system where treatment is free for citizens. It’s a deliberate choice. And a basic part of our society. It’s not like that in the United States, where it costs money to go to the doctor. We are always open to dialogue and collaboration. Also with the U.S. But talk to us now instead of just coming up with more or less random outbursts on social media. Dialogue and cooperation require respect that decisions about our country are made at home.”
The U.S., in recent weeks, has gone through great pains to clarify that it simply seeks to defend, strengthen and save Western civilisation. But surely it must acknowledge that this gargantuan task would require reliable, stable and predictable allies, whose words are measured, whose actions are considered, whose policies are not hostage to whims or impulses, and whose tools of statecraft are not so unseemly as the bullying of elected leaders in Europe on social media and electoral interference in European democracies. As a passionate Yankophile all my life, I can only hope…!
Any opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of Arctic Today.
Dr. Dwayne Menezes is a historian, foreign policy expert, and social entrepreneur specializing in the Commonwealth and Polar Regions. He is the founder of the Polar Research and Policy Initiative, a London-based international think-tank dedicated to Arctic, Nordic and Antarctic affairs.
With a PhD from the University of Cambridge, Dr. Menezes has held academic and policy roles, including advising the Commonwealth and the UK Parliament. He is also a published author and associate producer of award-winning films.
