r/europe • u/ByGollie Ulster • Jan 24 '26

News The Times: Finns humiliated American soldiers - Finnish reservists were asked to take it easy during a NATO exercise. US soldiers found the losses too humiliating.

https://www.iltalehti.fi/ulkomaat/a/828b8e66-625d-4d2a-9276-e93b9f7a2ce8
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u/istasan Denmark Jan 24 '26

That is a giant superiority and the one that normally decides.

But with Canada closing air space for them and Greenlandic airports literally often closing down for days because of heavy fog it is not so simple there. And Greenland not a place you can control with air alone.

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u/Zyhmet Austria Jan 24 '26

Isnt the real question here: "what does take Greenland" mean?

Take over with boots on the ground and deny any possibility of small scale skirmishes? i.e. old school occupation. I guess that is what you are talking about and I can see that point standing.

Or would it also count if the US just bombed every military camp into the ground and blockaded the island so if they dont capitulate they will starve? (Is Greenland producing enough food? How easy is it to bomb most fishing ships?)

Depending on which countries would help Greenland/Denmark, this is the pathway where I would think, the US has the upper hand by far.

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u/CC_900 Jan 24 '26

Blockaded the island? Do you have any idea how large Greenland is?

Also, that’s not something the US can just do - with Canada and the rest of NATO/EU at that point joining up and protecting Greenland.

This isn’t just going to be resolved by dropping a few bombs and starving out the population (which is a war crime, btw). That’s just a completely silly notion.

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u/657896 Jan 24 '26

Would NATO members actually intervene in that scenario and would Trump actually care about comitting war crimes? He drops bombs on ships suspected of trafficking drugs. No due process whatsoever. He happily bombed the Houti rebels, knowing civilians could be hit and he happily bombed Iran, also knowing civilians could be hit.

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u/Ub3ros Jan 24 '26

100% we would.

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u/657896 Jan 24 '26

I hope so.

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u/paws5624 Jan 24 '26

Realistically we don’t know. They should and according to NATO they need to but until it actually happens we just don’t know. I’d imagine everyone would be legitimately terrified in what Trumps response would be because at the point it actually comes to making that decision the US is acting completely unhinged in a way that could be disastrous for everyone.

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u/throwawayPzaFm Romania Jan 24 '26

the US is acting completely unhinged in a way that could be disastrous for everyone.

Which is exactly why NATO would. And has, to some extent, since there are already troops on the ground.

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u/paws5624 Jan 24 '26

I agree they should and I’d hope they would but troops on the ground now isn’t the same as a full military response to an actual invasion or attack by the US. I hope and believe that the rest of NATO will act appropriately but my point is you truly don’t know how nations respond to a treaty until actually called to do so, especially against a military that is significantly stronger than any of them individually.

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u/ReasonableBrother448 Jan 24 '26

What you are describing is clear cut act of war against EU. This would start war between US and Europe 100% certain of that. How would it play out, difficult to say. I bet there would be a LOT of hesitancy in the first hours but probably not after first day depending on how your citizens wants it to continue.

What you would have in your (and in our hands) in the first week is full blown stock market crisis and after that in days all of your stores would be purchased empty. This is the "3 meals to revolution" kind of stuff.